I have a statistical question about Iraqi terrorists and insuregents, its a many sided one.

How many total are there? How many of those are toerrirists that poured in from other countries, and how many are ones that became terrorists/insurgents after the invasion?

Finally, how many have we killed total, and how much of each of these two types?

The numbers must be out there?

Oh, and if anyone knows how many terrorists total in the world would be sweet too.

we dont do body counts (of those we kill, obviously) - its official!

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"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

Here's a good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_insurgency

The official estimates are classified, but the numbers I've seen indicate there are between 12,000 and 20,000 hard-core fighters; I assume that means thousands more sympathizers, helpers and sometime combatants.

Of those no more than 10 percent are foreign; the rest are Iraqis. Foreigners make up the bulk of the suicide bombers, however.

Most of the Iraqis weren't active before our invasion. They represent Sunni and Baathist groups that have specific grievances, along with Iraqis who simply resent our presence there.

Of the foreign fighters, I'm not aware of any estimates about how many were terrorists/jihadists before the invasion, and how many joined up after the invasion.

In January, Gen. George Casey estimated that 15,000 insurgents had been killed or captured in 2004.
http://www.political-news.org/breaki...or-caught.html

I'd take that with a grain of salt, since Gen. Myers more recently said the insurgency is about as strong as it was 6 months ago. So either Casey's number is exaggerated, or insurgent recruiting is incredibly strong and replacing their losses as fast as they're incurring them.

I don't know.

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Wait, if 90% of the insurgents are natives, how can the foreigners be the bulk of the suicide attacks? What are the other 90% doing?

right now the numbers are classified, but you can rest assured that our president knows what he is doing. good news is that now they're all in Iraq.

it's really a liberal question you ask, what about clinton? you democrats never counted how many there were during his administration!

How absurd! It rather depends on how you define "terrorist". One man's terrorist is another man's "freedom fighter." Nelson Mandela was once a "known terrorist". Menachem Begin was a member of Irgun and committed hideous acts against the British as well as Palestinian civilians. How many terrorists are there? Well, do you count right-wing paramilitaries in Colombia or Left-wing paramilitaries or both? Do you call Chechans freedom fighters or terrorists? Are the Russians fighting the Chechans committing acts of terror or legitimate military operations? Are native Americans in Chiapas and S.America terrorists or are they protecting their homelands?

As for Iraqis, how can the military possibly know if a dead body is that of an insurgent or a civilian when their policy is to shoot first and ask questions later? According to a recent article in the Washington Post, we are training and arming our current and future insurgents:"Building Iraqs Army: Mission Improbable" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...060902245.html

more liberal hogwash. what you democrats seem to missunderstand is that we fight for freedom, and they fight for not freedom. they hate us because of our right ways, and because god blesses USA and not them. they are jealous. they could join us, but they chose not to because they are scum.

we are most diverse country, tolerating all kinds of religions, they only tolerate their religion which teaches to kill kill kill. its all about killing in their religion. killing for 72 versions if you die killing. if you don,t you go to hell. must kill freedom loving people - thats what its all about. you don't believe me? watch fox news. they don't just push propaganda, they report, and we can make decisions. it's very clear. bush is a good man. and media doesn't like bush because he's smart, and theyre all communists freedom hating.

your unpatriotism sickens me. what difference does it make who's dead body it is? as long as there dead, means we are safer. and that's all that bush wants: is for our safety, if he didnt care about our safety, do you think he would have went to war?

I hope this only an ill-conceived attempt at playing devil's advocate.

Though you make some valid points about the subjectivity of the term "terrorist", I think these things are often far more cut and dry than you progressive thinkers would like to make them. In recent times, Americans have come to equate "terrorists" with fanatics who use cowardly means to create fear and chaos. By that definition, a terrorist IS someone who purposely murders civilians. A terrorist IS someone who abducts a harmless man and cuts his head off while screaming "God is great". A terrorist IS someone who encourages a pregnant woman to blow herself up in the midst of civilians to gain her salvation.

Can all the insurgents correctly be labeled terrorists in the dictionary sense? Maybe, maybe not, but let's not start calling those who behead civilians as freedom fighters from "a certain point of view." That sort of moral enlightenment we can all do without.

Gunmen, kidnappings, remote-control bombs, attacks on infrastructure.... take your pick. Most bombings aren't suicide bombings, it would appear.

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Man up.