You know what really motivates the creation of jihadis in rebel/terrorist ranks? Other types of Moslems (tip to Defense Industry Daily):
Only the Afghan insurgency against the Soviet Union in 1979-89 compares with Syria in terms of the number of foreign fighters. An in-depth study by Norwegian scholar Thomas Hegghammer in the journal International Security in late 2011 estimated that 5,000 to 20,000 foreign fighters had travelled to Afghanistan between 1980 and 1992. As such, the arrival of 5,000 to 10,000 foreign fighters into Syria in only 18 months appears highly significant.
Or Russians motivated them. Amazingly, the Iraq War isn't mentioned.
Yes, foreign jihadis entered Iraq from Syria during the Iraq War. But the numbers in Iraq never matched the pre-war presence when Assad brought in foreign (Sunni) jihadis to staff his Saddam's Fedayeen paramilitary organization. They died in massive numbers during the invasion.
After that, foreigners came in to Iraq in the hundreds per month at peak, but they generally were sent to suicide bomber school. Obviously, they couldn't build up into great numbers that way. So the lack of mention is really only amazing because of what the anti-war side said about how Moslems would react to our campaign in Iraq.
But without America involved (and indeed many Sunni Arabs upset we refuse to help end the Assad slaughter of Sunni Moslems), jihadis are flocking to Syria in record numbers to fight the Assad government.
And of course, the Iranians are funding a Shia foreign legion fighting for Assad. (So it's kind of the Spanish Civil War for our age, no?)
Let the "why do they hate them?" questioning begin!
