In Saudi Arabia’s case, some of this money was directed towards the Sunni insurgents in Iraq instead. One tenant of Islam is that followers should give to the poor. Much of this cash comes from donations to religious charities. He mentioned that his group received direct funding from Saudi Arabia, but during the sectarian war of 2006-2007 his benefactors stopped sending money because they thought Iraq was spinning out of control, which reminded them of what happened in Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal. In 2007 he was talked into switching sides to help the Americans to hunt down his former Islamist brethren. Ahmed joined an insurgent group in May 2003, and would later become a leader who worked with Al Qaeda in Iraq. In February 2009 Newsweek magazine interviewed Abu Ahmed, a former Salafist and insurgent leader. however, has prevented the Americans from saying much about that country, which has been one of the main financiers of the insurgency, and accounts for almost half of the foreign fighters that have traveled to Iraq. The close ties between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. has repeatedly blamed both for fomenting violence in Iraq. Iran on the other hand has had extensive ties with Shiite militias such as the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council’s Badr Brigade, Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army, and the break away Special Groups. invasion in 2003 where they took up residence, and began funding and orchestrating the insurgency. Hundreds of former Baathists fled to Syria after the U.S. Two countries are most often mentioned as being direct threats to Iraq’s sovereignty, Syria and Iran.