Iraq Announces 'Huge Treasure' of Intelligence

AP on AOL News ^ | June 15, 2006 | Kim Gamel

[rightwingintelligentsia]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (June 15) - Documents and computer records seized after the raid on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's hideout have given the Iraqi government the upper hand in its fight against al-Qaida in Iraq, the national security adviser said Thursday.

National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie also estimated that a large number of U.S.-led forces will leave Iraq by the end of this year, and a majority will be gone by the end of next year. "And maybe the last soldier will leave Iraq by mid 2008," he said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, pressed forward with his carrot and stick approach of cracking down on violence in Baghdad while promoting national reconciliation with those willing to cooperate with the political process as Iraqis endured a second day of checkpoints and traffic jams.

Gunmen killed an engineer and kidnapped another, and a detergent workers was shot to death as he was headed to work elsewhere in western Baghdad, police said, but no major violence was reported in the capital, a day after a major security operation was launched.

[Non-Sequitur]

Nice advertising for the laptop and jump drive manufacturers. "Even after getting hit by not one, but two, count 'em, two 500 pound bombs our hardware is still ready for work..."

[Lurker]

Brings a whole new meaning to 'takes a licking and keeps on ticking' doesn't it.

L

[Non-Sequitur]

Brings a whole new meaning to 'takes a licking and keeps on ticking' doesn't it.

I'd be interesting in knowing the manufacturer. If they can survive airstrikes then they just might be able to survive the screeners at the airports.

[Radix]

I wonder if they had good virus protection on those puppies as well.

[Pharmboy]

I once dropped my Dell Latitude down a flight of oak steps in my house (it hit about 3 out of 12 steps on the way down; gravity works). It still ran like new (except for a hairline crack in the shell).

[Dog]

This news just ruined the day for whats left of Al Qaedas leadership :-)

Planting this seed that their plans and whereabouts known and are in Iraqi hands will force the cockroaches to scatter...and a moving target is better to find.

[NonLinear]

Al-Rubaie said a thumbdrive, a laptop and other documents were found in the debris after the airstrike that killed the al-Qaida in Iraq leader last week and more information has been uncovered in raids of other insurgent hideouts since then. He called it a "huge treasure ... a huge amount of information."

When asked how he could be sure the information was authentic, al-Rubaie said "there is nothing more authentic than finding a thumbdrive in his pocket."
"We believe that this is the beginning of the end of al-Qaida in Iraq," al-Rubaie said, adding that the documents showed that al-Qaida is in "pretty bad shape," politically and in terms of training, weapons and media.

[Lurker]

My Dept. is programming some of those Motorola laptops for an emergency communications system. You should see these suckers.

I'm certain I could crank off a mag from my .45 into one and it would still boot up and work.

Of course they go for about 7 grand a pop but hey, if they're that tough...

L

[ko_kyi]

Nice advertising for the laptop and jump drive manufacturers. "Even after getting hit by not one, but two, count 'em, two 500 pound bombs our hardware is still ready for work..

Even better than the gorilla slamming the suitcase around!

[Dog]

Sorry guys this is well worth a second ping..

Did he just allude to us finding a thumbdrive in Zarqawi's pocket?

When asked how he could be sure the information was authentic, al-Rubaie said "there is nothing more authentic than finding a thumbdrive in his pocket."

[Samurai_Jack]

National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie also estimated that a large number of U.S.-led forces will leave Iraq by the end of this year, and a majority will be gone by the end of next year. "And maybe the last soldier will leave Iraq by mid 2008," he said.

THAT'S THE IMPORTANT NEWS

bush just spent 6 yrs denying the terrorists a timetable.

[Non-Sequitur]

I once dropped my Dell Latitude down a flight of oak steps in my house (it hit about 3 out of 12 steps on the way down; gravity works). It still ran like new (except for a hairline crack in the shell).

I had an IBM laptop for work and I swear that those baggage screeners only had to look at it wrong and I'd spend the rest of the day trying to get the damned thing to work right.

[Dog]

That is not the important news...sure the media will run with in their BDS kind of way...but the real news is us finding a computer thumbdrive in Zarqawi's pocket.

Makes you wonder what was so important on that thumbdrive that Zarqawi would have it in his pocket.

[ASA Vet]

MI Ping

Is that a thumbdrive in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?

[LS]

Not really: it's different for the Iraqis to say, "we think we will have killed all the terrorists by 2008" than for Murtha to demand that REGARDLESS of whether we've killed all the terrorists, we leave anyway. That's a huge difference.

Oh, and we are NOT going to leave entirely, for a long, long time. There will be a U.S. base, by Iraqi "invitation," probably in Kurdistan, for years.

[Peter W. Kessler]

There's no equivalent of the ACLU in Iraq, is there?

The captured terrorists will be subject to interrogation tactics that are... uh... more "agressive" than ours.

Of course, Ramsey Clark's phone number is probably on ol' Zarq's speed dial.

[reformedliberal]

It isn't a timetable, it is a negotiating stance by a politician telling his country that the only way to get the US out is to win against the terrorists. Note "estimated" and "maybe". He also seems to be saying that the US isn't in charge, the IG is.

The Iraqi government appears to have decided to survive and thrive against terror. They seem to be following a multi-level strategy. It has a chance of working.

Let's give them that chance before getting outraged.

[Tread]

Here, Here. I was struck by the fact that the IG National Security Adviser was saying it. I can't imagine that he would deliberately imperil an exit strategy by giving terrorists a time-line in order for them to know when to act up. It sounds more like overtones of a warning against such.

[Dog]

I clicked on the full article ..

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060612133509990001 and found it here.

Al-Rubaie said a thumbdrive, a laptop and other documents were found in the debris after the airstrike that killed the al-Qaida in Iraq leader last week and more information has been uncovered in raids of other insurgent hideouts since then.

He called it a "huge treasure ... a huge amount of information."

When asked how he could be sure the information was authentic, al-Rubaie said "there is nothing more authentic than finding a thumbdrive in his pocket."

Bingo!