Who Is Funding The Insurgency In Iraq?

[redstateblues]

Do they have any clue? It must cost $ to continue to kill our soldiers every day- I know RPGs are cheap, but it's amazing that they have been able to continue to resist the occupation with such intensity without some serious financial backing.

[htuttle]

1. There's guns and ammo a plenty in Iraq

And the rest (food, medicine) is supported by the population-at-large. What would they need money for?

on edit:
I wanted to add some things.

All of the religious militias in Iraq had been stockpiling weapons (and training) to fight Saddam Hussein's government over the years before the invasion. Some of this came from Iran, to be sure, but Iraq has also just always had a lot of guns, especially since the Iran-Iraq war. As I understand it, Hussein's own government encouraged gun ownership, especially among the Sunni population.

Just be glad the REALLY big militia, the Badr Brigades, hasn't gotten too involved yet. I heard one report of a few of them fighting on the American side against Fallujans, but I'm not sure how many of them really fought. Those guys were armed and trained by Iran for years, and are much more organized than the rather ad hoc Mahdi army.

[maveric]

2. Part of the 87 billion that has yet to be accounted for?

They want to keep this war going. Plenty of money to be made from profiteering.

[Indiana_Dem]

3. That's a good question. n/t

[Mr_Spock]

4. 1) tons of weapons stashed everywhere in Iraq 2) stolen from US bodies

n/m

[KeepItReal]

5. Not enough troops to secure all the ammo dumps..,plenty of free ammo

Saddam did have one of the world's biggest armies before Gulf War I.

There's a documentary out there called "Off to War" that actually shows some Arkansas Guard troops trying to close up one of those unguarded ammo dumps (it had already been partially looted).

Thanks to Rumsfeld's infinite wisdom (AKA not listening to Generals who said we needed at least a couple of hundred thousand *more* troops to invade and secure Iraq), there's plenty of Saddam's former army's munitions left lying around.