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On August 19, coordinated explosions rocked downtown Baghdad, resulting in over 120 deaths. Similarly, in the midst of heightened security measures, twin bombings on October 25 killed over 155 people in Baghdad, marking the deadliest attack since August 2007. Involving the participation of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), the operations suggest militants’ effectiveness in carrying out coordinated and high-profile attacks on supposedly secured targets. With the gradual disengagement of the U.S. military and all combat forces by August 2010, AQI and like-minded insurgents appear to have a growing level of confidence in their operations.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2009 – Iraqi security forces arrested 11 terrorism suspects in operations over the last two days, military officials reported. Iraqi forces and U.S. advisors searched several buildings throughout Baghdad today during a series of operations to search for a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq leader believed responsible for multiple vehicle-borne bomb attacks in the region. Credible intelligence led the security team to several locations across Baghdad in pursuit of the suspected cell leader. When a vehicle traveling at an excessive speed approached a restricted area established by the security team in the city’s Mansour district, the team attempted...

The bombs that ripped through Baghdad on Sunday immediately brought more bloodshed -- and bode only of the promise of more to come. The attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq -- a group affiliated with al Qaeda in Iraq -- and there's nothing to suggest the attacks will come to an end. It's part of a long-running campaign to destabilize the U.S. mission, the Iraqi government and to reignite sectarian civil war. The slaughter is not new but the extent of the killings in these bombings -- 160 dead and more than 500 injured -- do...

President Barack Obama condemned Sunday two deadly car bombs set off in Baghdad near high-profile government offices that killed over 130 people. The Iraqi government initially said that the bombings bore the signature of al-Qaeda in Iraq. The blasts went off near the federal Ministry of Justice and the Baghdad provincial offices. "I strongly condemn these outrageous attacks on the Iraqi people, and send my deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones," Obama said in a statement. "These bombings serve no purpose other than the murder of innocent men, women and children, and they only reveal the hateful...

KIRKUK — Iraqi Police here on Tuesday detained nine suspected al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) members in possession of bomb making materials. One of the nine is believed to be Abdallah Abd Qadir, who is known to have purchased thousands of pounds of ammonium nitrate in 2006. Qadir has ties to known AQI members associated with insurgent activity in Baghdad. Iraqi Police in the Domies neighborhood of Kirkuk city stopped two suspicious vehicles at a routine traffic check point Monday, which led to the discovery of more than 300 pounds of ammonium nitrate and a can of gasoline in the...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Al-Qaeda has staged the majority of violent attacks in Iraq since the end of June, when US troops withdrew from the country's cities, a top US officer said on Thursday. "In the period that we're looking at right now, post-30 June, I consider most of the attacks, the high-profile attacks that you are seeing and that are getting the publicity, are Al-Qaeda attacks," General Charles Jacoby, the number two ranking US officer in Iraq, told reporters via video link. The general spoke after at least 22 people were killed and 45 wounded on Thursday when a suicide...

Biden Warns Iraq Leaders Of Return to Ethnic Fights By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG Published: July 3, 2009 BAGHDAD — Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. told Iraqi leaders on Friday that he and President Obama were committed to helping them resolve their political differences, but he warned that the United States would be unlikely to remain engaged in Iraq if the country reverted to sectarian violence, American officials said. Mr. Biden spent the day in closed-door meetings to assess Iraq’s political and security situation as part of his new role as an unofficial envoy for the Obama administration. He emerged...

ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT, June 30, 2009 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today he’s heartened that al-Qaida hasn’t been able to reignite sectarian violence in Iraq despite its acts of violence leading up to today’s deadline for U.S. troops to leave Iraqi cities. Commanders on the ground anticipated for weeks that al-Qaida and other extremists would take advantage of the U.S. troops’ compliance with the U.S.-Iraq status of forces agreement to launch attacks, Gates told reporters returning to Washington with him after a change-of-command ceremony at U.S. European Command headquarters in Germany. While capitalizing on what they perceive...

WASHINGTON, June 30, 2009 – Iraqi forces, aided by coalition advisors, arrested suspected terrorists June 28 in operations in Iraq, military officials reported. Iraqi special operations forces and coalition advisors arrested a suspected terrorist in Baghdad. The suspect is believed to be the low-level commander of an insurgent group responsible for coordinating a local resident’s murder and an attack against Iraqi army forces. Elsewhere, Iraq’s 7th Regional Commando Battalion, assisted by coalition advisors, arrested two suspected terrorists in Ninevah province. One of the men is suspected of being a financier for a terrorist cell, and the other is believed to...

I redid my video due to the sound being pulled off my original Youtube video. This video contains info on Salman Pak. This Saddam/Iraq-Al Qaeda connection was not made easily available by the Mainstream Press, Democrats or 911 Commission. Please share it

The British Army’s SAS Regiment, which played a vital role in defeating al-Qaeda in Iraq, is now arriving in Afghanistan in one of the biggest deployments of UK special forces since the Second World War. Two squadrons from 22 SAS are being sent to Afghanistan now that Britain’s combat role in Iraq has been wound up, to carry out clandestine operations against the Taleban. The deployment of the SAS, which will be joining the Special Boat Service (SBS) already serving in southern Afghanistan, represents a mini-surge of troops to add to the 700 regular British soldiers going out for a...

Senior intelligence officials yesterday acknowledged that two al-Qaeda operatives, Abu Zubaida and Khalid Sheik Mohammed, had been questioned about alleged links between al-Qaeda and Iraq when the two men underwent CIA interrogation in 2002 and 2003. But the officials denied that the questioning on Iraq had included waterboarding. "The two top priorities driving so-called enhanced interrogation techniques were information on the locations of al-Qaeda leadership and plots against the United States," one intelligence official said yesterday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the subject publicly. "Questions were asked about Iraq, but the notion...

TG-132 SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON-- The U.S. Department of the Treasury today targeted the support network of al-Qa'ida in Iraq (AQI) by designating Syria-based Sa'ad Uwayyid 'Ubayd Mu'jil al Shammari (aka Abu Khalaf) under Executive Order 13224. E.O. 13224 targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. AQI is a Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. "We will continue to aggressively implement the international obligation to target al-Qa'ida-linked terrorists, like Abu Khalaf, who threaten the safety of Coalition Forces and the stability of Iraq," said Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Abu Khalaf...

Last October, as the Bush administration was touting a dramatic drop in the number of suicide bombings in Iraq, four young Tunisian men left their homes for Libya and then on to Syria. There, they were met at the Damascus airport and taken to a safe house. Six tedious months passed until their handlers felt that it was safe to move the men again. In April, they were smuggled across the Iraqi border; within days, two were dead, among the suicide bombers who have killed at least 370 Iraqis in a wave of spectacular attacks over the past several weeks....

April 9, 2009 General Ray Odierno: we may miss Iraq deadline to halt al-Qaeda terror (Karim Kadim/AP) President Obama has pledged to withdraw all combat forces from Iraq by August 2010 The activities of al-Qaeda in two of Iraq’s most troubled cities could keep US combat troops engaged beyond the June 30 deadline for their withdrawal, the top US commander in the country has warned. US troop numbers in Mosul and Baqubah, in the north of the country, could rise rather than fall over the next year if necessary, General Ray Odierno told The Times in his first interview with...

Sheik Hamid al-Hayess is not optimistic. A burly man with a thick black mustache and closely knitted brows, he is one of the founding members of the Anbar Awakening. The grouping of Sunni tribal sheiks in the once al-Qaeda–infested western province turned against the insurgents and sided with the U.S. military, providing the model for what became a nationwide campaign known as the Sahwa. But that model is in trouble. "The Sahwa has been infiltrated by al-Qaeda," he says somberly. "A civil war is coming." If it happens, this time the lines in the sand will more likely be between...

.."60 percent of the detainees who were released and returned to these areas have returned to fighting."

In announcing the US’s plans to withdraw from Iraq, and going as far as setting a date, President Obama has literally given away the Iraqi store. Citing progress, the continually improving Iraqi training cycles, and Afghanistan the United States has given the terrorist organization plenty of times to order new drapes and carpeting.

Iraqi policemen shot dead four US soldiers and their local interpreter in the main northern city of Mosul on Tuesday, an interior ministry official said. "Four US soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter were killed by two Iraqi policemen who opened fire at them in the Dawasa district of (central) Mosul and then fled," the official told AFP, declining to be named. The incident took place during a US army visit to the Mosul headquarters of the Iraqi police in charge of protecting the city's bridges, police said. The bullet-riddled body of the interpreter was taken to the local mortuary. It...

SNIPPET: "Curious, The Mouth asked Multi-National Forces-Iraq in Baghdad a series of questions last November about Iranian subversive activity. Read the questions and answers after the jump. - James Gordon Meek Q: Are Iranian-made Explosively-Formed Penetrator bombs still coming into the country? A: We continue to find caches that include Iranian weapons - many in their original packaging - including Explosively-Formed Penetrators and 107mm, 122mm, and 240mm rockets. Q: How many EFP incidents occur on average per month now? A: Approximately 3-7 per month. Q: Have the EFP attacks decreased at all? A: Yes, we are seeing a reduction in...