No. 2 Leader of al-Qaida in Iraq Killed

[Ramo]

Ansar was a pissant group that operated outside the authority of the Iraqi state, exclusively going after the KDP and PUK, only escaping being crushed because of the conflict between the two secular parties. It got some al-Qaeda funding initially, and when that source dried up, it went to Iran and Iraq (we still don't have any real evidence for this link, but assuming it existed..), both of whose tepid "support" was along the lines of the Soviet "support" to the Spanish Republic. Of all the reasons to go to war, the supposed link between Saddam and "Islamofascism" is among the most idiotic.

We're in a struggle against Islamist ideology, not just a single terrorist group, and it would be nice if some people would wake up to that fact.

You might want to alert the Iraqi gov't we're helping to prop up that we're in a struggle against them.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Darkstar
I remember it was reported at one time that he was paying the Kurds to leave him alone.

Considering that al-Ansar was only attacking the Kurds, it is unlikely that anyone without an axe to grind gave this BS much credence.

[Ramo]

Zarqawi & Saddam:

A CIA report has found no conclusive evidence that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein harbored Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which the Bush administration asserted before the invasion of Iraq.

[...]

Medical trip doubted
The CIA report concludes Zarqawi was in and out of Baghdad, but cast doubt on reports that Zarqawi had been given official approval for medical treatment there as President Bush said this summer, ABC said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6189795/