Jul 18 2007
Top al-Qaeda Leader Captured In Iraq
It seems we netted a big fish recently in IraqM – which explains somewhat how we are targetting al-Qaeda cells so successfully in the last few weeks:
Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also known as Abu Shahid, was captured in Mosul on July 4, said Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a military spokesman.
“Al-Mashhadani is believed to be the most senior Iraqi in the al-Qaeda in Iraq network,” Bergner said. He said Mashhadani was a close associate of Abu Ayub al-Masri, the Egyptian-born head of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
And make no mistake about how al-Qaeda sees Iraq. They apparently have invested a lot of their leadership into the cause:
“In fact, communication between the senior al-Qaeda leadership and al-Masri frequently went through al-Mashhadani,” Bergner said. He added: “There is a clear connection between al-Qaeda in Iraq and al-Qaeda senior leadership outside Iraq.”
…
But the U.S. military has insisted that there are links between the local al-Qaeda group and the bin Laden clique and has released captured letters from time to time, suggesting the foreign-based leaders provide at least broad direction.
Pointing to the foreign influence in al-Qaeda also undermines support for the organization among nationalistically minded Iraqis, including some in insurgent groups that have broken with al-Qaeda.
The Iraqis are not being fooled. They know that the butchers who are out committing massacre after massacre for the Western News Media are foreign fighters without honor or souls. al-Qaeda is crumbling in Iraq. I suggest the Dems go back to sleep and let our military do their job. Much more here.
Now the Democrats story will change to “since we are winning we can still start pulling troops out. Why do we need so many troops when we are capturing the bad guys.” They will never learn. Hopefully we will have more big victories like this and some people will start seeing the light again.
Now the Democrats story will change to “since we are winning we can still start pulling troops out. Why do we need so many troops when we are capturing the bad guys.” They will never learn. Hopefully we will have more big victories like this and some people will start seeing the light again.
Crzy,
I hope they learn, they may be running the country soon. If they did switch gears and pledge they are behind flushing al-Qaeda from Iraq before withdrawaling I think they would cement their hold on Congress and have a really good shot at the Presidency. It would close their national security gap. Americans understand mistakes. What they cannot accept is not facing up and learning from mistakes. It is the kind of pivot that could neuter the GOP.
AJ
I have seen some speculation on the net that I don’t really support, but wish to point it out for debate.
Some are suggesting that AQ may be in position to do damage here even as I type this, but are simply holding off as long as their media campaign and stand by many politicians are in effect serving their interests.
The view is that a successful attack would move public opinion here back to support of the war. They also say that if debate results in better support of the war through success of the surge and the redeployment forces are weakened then they will let the pre planned attacks go forward.
This is not a particular post I can link, it is a composite view I have seen in the comment threads in multiple places.
AJ I just seen a report(ABC) that Mashhadani has confessed that the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq Al-Baghdadi is a fictional character AQI created to show an Iraqi front man….they use an actor on the tapes. Can you say the media has been duped. Mashhadani, is the big chesse in the PR division. He has already fingered the AQI leader just killed Saturday south of Baghdad.
Merlin:
I think they are afraid of Bush.
AJ I just seen a report(ABC) that Mashhadani has confessed that the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq Al-Baghdadi is a fictional character AQI created to show an Iraqi front man….they use an actor on the tapes.
Which begs the question: “Who’s yer al-Bagdadi?”
Look at the comment I made here at 5:24 am on 10 MAR 2007