Top al-Qaeda leader captured

[Drake Tungsten]

You should be paying more.

[RGBVideo]

Yet another top leader captured!

With this many captured, I guess the war on terror is working! That means, we will naturally see less terrorist attacks from now on

[Dis]

the U.S. hasn't seen any terrorist attacks since 2001.

[Drake Tungsten]

He's a Finn trying to talk about world events, Dis. The proper response is just...

[Ramo]

They are.

No real evidence of that, besides anonymous leaks (generally to second or third rate publications). A lot like the Saddam-AQ connection the Admin was trying to sell in the run-up to the war.

[Ramo]

the U.S. hasn't seen any terrorist attacks since 2001.

The rest of the world (particularly where this fella was hanging out) wasn't so lucky..

WASHINGTON - A State Department report on terrorism due out next week will show a nearly 30 percent increase in terrorist attacks worldwide in 2006 to more than 14,000, almost all of the boost due to growing violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. officials said Friday.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/17145574.htm

[DinoDoc]

Al-Qaeda's Iraq Head Killed in Clashes, Ministry Says (Update5)

By Robin Stringer

May 1 (Bloomberg) -- The leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was killed north of Baghdad during a struggle among members of the group, the Iraqi government said.

The death was denied in an Internet statement purported to be from al-Masri's followers, in which he was described as safe and ``still fighting God's enemies,'' Agence France-Presse said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Abu al-Kareem Khalaf, in announcing al-Masri's death, said, ``We have strong intelligence that he was killed in clashes today'' near the town of Taji. ``The clashes took place between groups within al- Qaeda,'' Khalaf said in a telephone interview aired on state television. ``Our forces were not involved.''

Al-Masri was identified as the new leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq on an Islamist Web site in June, after his predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, died in a U.S. air strike near Baghdad. Al- Zarqawi's death was presented by the U.S. as a major blow to the terrorist network. By contrast, al-Masri's death probably won't make much difference to the group, said Peter R. Neumann, head of the Defence Studies Department at King's College London.

``Al-Qaeda in Iraq has established itself to such a degree it doesn't need one person alone,'' Neumann said in a telephone interview. ``Someone else will take over. They have semiautonomous factions and it will not make a big difference to them.''

The U.S.-led coalition said in an e-mailed statement that it was unable to confirm al-Masri's death.

Samarra Attack

The U.S. military blames the mainly Sunni Muslim al-Qaeda network for attacks on Iraqi civilians, including the February 2006 bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine in Samarra that worsened violence between the majority Shiites and the Sunnis.

``It is probably public enemy No. 1,'' General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said of al-Qaeda's network in the country, at a news conference on April 26.

Al-Qaeda's Iraq organization emerged from Sunni groups that are still fighting to dominate the country, Neumann said.

``There have been struggles for control between Sunni groups from Baghdad and al-Anbar, Sunni Kurds and foreign fighters,'' he said.

Al-Masri, which means ``the Egyptian'' in Arabic, also went by the name Abu Hamza al-Muhajer. He has a history of terrorism dating to 1982, when he joined a group in Egypt led by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the U.S. military said last year.

U.S. Reward

Al-Masri called for nuclear scientists to join the Iraqi jihad against coalition forces during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in an Internet posting in September. In the audio message, he encouraged supporters to increase attacks to ``eradicate the limb of the infidel and the apostate.''

The U.S. Department of State offered $1 million for information leading to al-Masri's capture.

Four years ago today, President George W. Bush announced the end of ``major combat operations'' in Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. Today the Democratic-controlled Congress will send Bush a funding measure that mandates a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. The Republican president has vowed to veto the bill.

Gunmen killed 11 people and wounded three others today in an attack on a bus south of Baghdad, Iraqi state television said. In Latifiyah, near Baghdad, gunmen killed five passengers traveling on a minibus and mortar rounds killed another four people in the town, Agence France-Presse reported.

Did we get another non-#2?

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
You should be paying more.

I'd love to be paying as little as $3/gallon.

It now me costs twice at much to fill up my tank was it did in 2001 when I bought it.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Ramo
The rest of the world (particularly where this fella was hanging out) wasn't so lucky..

So our policies are working?

[RoboCon]

Hello there! I see you are discussing Saddam-AQ connection. Perhaps I can be of assistance.

Who'd have guessed that the usual liberal misfits would be banging the drum slowly? I woke up late and logged in to idiocy. Folks, its real simple, see if you can follow this logic, though I doubt it....

1. Yellowcake is used to enrich partial-birth abortions, and...
2. Kosovo is Enron's largest supplier of incarcerated black youths, therefore...
3. Behind closed doors, a new scheme is being drawn up to eliminate the borders with Mexico and Canada, replacing the Dollar with the "Amero."

Want a few reasons this is a bad idea? How about 911, thugs.

[Ramo]

So our policies are working?

The ones to maximize mayhem? Not really 'cuz we're dragging our feet in invading Iran. Bunker busters

[Ecthy]

Robocon sighting though decreased in quality

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
[q]Al-Qaeda's Iraq Head Killed in Clashes, Ministry Says (Update5)

By Robin Stringer

May 1 (Bloomberg) -- The leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was killed north of Baghdad during a struggle among members of the group, the Iraqi government said.

The death was denied in an Internet statement purported to be from al-Masri's followers, in which he was described as safe and ``still fighting God's enemies,'' Agence France-Presse said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Abu al-Kareem Khalaf, in announcing al-Masri's death, said, ``We have strong intelligence that he was killed in clashes today'' near the town of Taji. ``The clashes took place between groups within al- Qaeda,'' Khalaf said in a telephone interview aired on state television. ``Our forces were not involved.''

Al-Masri was identified as the new leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq on an Islamist Web site in June, after his predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, died in a U.S. air strike near Baghdad. Al- Zarqawi's death was presented by the U.S. as a major blow to the terrorist network. By contrast, al-Masri's death probably won't make much difference to the group, said Peter R. Neumann, head of the Defence Studies Department at King's College London.

``Al-Qaeda in Iraq has established itself to such a degree it doesn't need one person alone,'' Neumann said in a telephone interview. ``Someone else will take over. They have semiautonomous factions and it will not make a big difference to them.''

The U.S.-led coalition said in an e-mailed statement that it was unable to confirm al-Masri's death.

Samarra Attack

The U.S. military blames the mainly Sunni Muslim al-Qaeda network for attacks on Iraqi civilians, including the February 2006 bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine in Samarra that worsened violence between the majority Shiites and the Sunnis.

``It is probably public enemy No. 1,'' General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said of al-Qaeda's network in the country, at a news conference on April 26.

Al-Qaeda's Iraq organization emerged from Sunni groups that are still fighting to dominate the country, Neumann said.

``There have been struggles for control between Sunni groups from Baghdad and al-Anbar, Sunni Kurds and foreign fighters,'' he said.

I don't have a reference, but I believe that other sources are saying that he was killed in an attack by another Sunni faction not part of al-Qaeda, which supports what I've been saying, that al-Qaeda has nothing to gain if the US leaves Iraq. The other insurgent factions will not suffer their presence for very long once we leave.

[Drake Tungsten]

I don't know; I think Sunni Iraqis might like to have some foreign allies when the Shia death-squads come to kill them all...

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Ramo
The Saudis just thwarted a pretty huge attack

http://www.boston.com/news/world/mid..._alleged_plot/

Good for the Saudis, esp the factions that are genuinely anti-AQ

Now the question is, was this done with intell gleaned from Al-Iraqi? IE Al-Iraqi is singing? Or was this network something we and KSA intell knew about already, and it was disrupted now, so AQ would THINK that Al-Iraqi is singing?