OK I gave it a day to see if once again reports of the deaths of these clowns were greatly exaggerated. Looks like they have actually assumed room temperature. From LWJ. Iraq's Prime Minister and the US military confirmed that al Qaeda in Iraq's top two leaders have been killed during a raid in a remote region in the western province of Anbar. "Abu Ayyub al Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al Muhajir, Abu Omar al Baghdadi and a number of al Qaeda leaders in Iraq were killed during a security operation in al Thar Thar region in Anbar," Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki told reporters at a press conference in Baghdad, according to Voices of Iraq. US Forces Iraq, the US military command in Baghdad, confirmed the report in a press release. "A series of Iraqi led joint operations conducted over the last week resulted in the Iraqi Forces with US support executing a nighttime raid on the AQI [al Qaeda in Iraq] leaders’ safehouse," the press release stated. "The joint security team identified both AQI members, and the terrorists were killed after engaging the security team. Additionally, Masri’s assistant along with the son of al-Baghdadi who were also involved in terrorist activities were killed." During the operation, one US soldier was killed in a helicopter crash, and 16 al Qaeda associates were detained. I did a segment on the Morning Rush radio from North Carolina this morning about this (podcast is here). This is obviously significant and the question seems to be does it mean the Iraqis have turned a corner. I think so and here is why, the insurgency is now basically domestic. The foreign fighters who swelled it's ranks are mostly dead and the new wave is heading to the Hindu Kush. That is partly because that is where the action is, but also because the action in Iraq went against the insurgents. The public grew disgusted with their barbarity, and the fact that most of their victims were Iraqis and the government grew better at taking them out. Granted our forces were a major part of that, but the Iraqi capabilities have greatly increased and their intel has given the terrorists no place to hide. The fact that they identified the safe house where the top two tangos were hanging out is a major coup and it means there is nowhere to run to and nowhere to hide. Iraq has many problems to deal with, but all of those become easier when you don't have al Qaeda killing dozens of your citizens at a pop.
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blackfive/~3/o6WNu5rXaF8/dead-tangos-in-tikrit.html
Posted
Apr 20 2010, 12:42 AM
by
BLACKFIVE