Saddam Hussein’s exhortations to the Muslim world to join him in a war may strike a powerful chord, but there is little sign of active recruitment, and it likely would take time for foreign militants to join the fray. Any attempt to replicate the jihad fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan must overcome a lack of support from key Arab governments and skepticism about fighting for Saddam, said Dia’a Rashwan, an expert on radical Islam at Egypt’s Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. It took months for foreign fighters to rally to the Afghan cause, and even then, they had the backing of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Reagan administration. Rashwan said he expected to see recruiting drives in the future, but believed they would take six to nine months to yield results. Meanwhile, there’s little evidence of recruiting at campuses or on Web sites. Visits to mosques in several Arab capitals also yielded no sign that preachers are trying to mobilize the faithful for jihad. In Iraq, the U.S.-led coalition has detained foreigners suspected of involvement in attacks on Americans, but officials say they are only remnants of the Arab volunteers who came to Iraq before the war. Full Story
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