America: Time to Get Out of Iraq. posted by Richard Seymour

Two polls show dwindling support for the war on Iraq, with 63% supporting a full or partial withdrawal in the immediate term, and most wanting to see cuts in expenditure on Iraq to pay for the Katrina clear-up.

Just today, The Guardian has got round to publishing the findings of the latest CSIS study, showing that the occupiers drastically (and for obvious enough reasons) overstates the number of 'foreign fighters' in Iraq. Well, that's true if we look at their public statements, but lower profile CIA analysts have always said it was close to between 5 and 10% of the total resistance. The CSIS was the organisation that previously found that the vast bulk of resistance attacks in Iraq targeted coalition forces, not civilians. The New York Times published similar figures from the Department of Defense. The CSIS notes in the latest report, however, that the 'foreign fighters' entering from Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Syria and all the rest, are likely to be involved in the bloodiest operations, the ones that do target civilians and are intended to provoke civil war. I can only imagine that they are recruited by Tawhid wal Jihad or some such group, and the resistance will have to deal with them - as indeed it has been doing.

The study also corroborates recent evidence from the Saudi government and an Israeli think-tank which suggests that the 'foreign fighters' entering Iraq are not those with a history of involvement in jihadist struggles, but a layer of people recently radicalised by the war.

Parenthetically, I'd like to point out that the great Independent journalist Robert Fisk has been banned from entering the US. He was told his papers weren't in order. It could also just possibly have something to do with dispatches like this.

Tomorrow is only a day away.