Posted on 04/14/2006 4:13:02 PM PDT by stan_25
Al Qaeda in Iraq and its presumed leader, Abu Musab Zarqawi, have conceded strategic defeat and are on their way out of the country, a top U.S. military official contended yesterday. The group's failure to disrupt national elections and a constitutional referendum last year "was a tactical admission by Zarqawi that their strategy had failed," said Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, who commands the XVIII Airborne Corps. "They no longer view Iraq as fertile ground to establish a caliphate and as a place to conduct international terrorism," he said in an address at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Gen. Vines' statement came as news broke that coalition and Iraqi forces had killed an associate of Osama bin Laden's during an early morning raid near Abu Ghraib about two weeks ago. Rafid Ibrahim Fattah aka Abu Umar al Kurdi served as a liaison between terrorist networks and was linked to Taliban members in Afghanistan, Pakistani-based extremists and other senior al Qaeda leaders, the military said yesterday. In the past six months, al Kurdi had worked as a terrorist cell leader in Baqouba. Prior to that, he had traveled extensively Pakistan, Iran and Iraq and formed a relationship with al Qaeda senior leaders in 1999 while in Afghanistan.
(Excerpt) Read more at insider.washingtontimes.com ...
They no longer need Iraq they have a safe heaven next door in Iran and those nuclear weapons we have been afraid terrorist would get their hands on, they are working on them.
Thats like Delay saying there was no more cutting to do in the federal budget.....
Not so - al-Qeada to a large degree went "all in" regarding Iraq - They've lost and lost big time.
It will take the MSM another five years to first understand this reality and then another ten years to even admit it.
But nevertheless we continue to fight the most successful unconventional war in history. Our enemies continue to suffer one strategic defeat after another.
Men / leaders like GWB, Cheney and Rumsfeld will find history treats them very well. Regardless of how the spineless and fact-less MSM of today try and spin things.
You lost me
They lost in Afganistan big time were they planned 9-11, in Irag they have attempted to force us out since they are not managing to do it, Iran in my mind would be their next destination.
As soon as there is a 'rat president, victory will be declared.
John Murtha and his minions are not going to like this at all. They have been so fervently hoping for U.S. defeat so as to boost their political clout.
We'll never hear of this in the MSM, but if the general was calling for Rumsfeld's resignation we'd see him several times a day for a month and we'd all be able to remember the name of his book.
Not attacking the messenger here. Thanks for the article.
Point taken.
Guess I'm expecting the "new media" to play a role and help speed up the truth. But you definitely make a valid point.
Lost you, gee I wonder why!?! The remark about DeLay was just a poorly executed attempt to hammer the Hammer. Just another pseudo intellect taking a weak shot at DeLay!
No aggressor survives by retreating to every shrinking “safe havens”. Without multiple host nations, the remainder lack plausible deniability for attacks supported from their territory. Without the appearance of victory, they lose the imagination of the street youth that they depend on to fuel the movement. Al-Qaeda are being soundly defeated in Iraq .
"These groups have suffered increasing casualties over the last year, and that has resulted in fewer wealthy Sunni Arabs putting up the cash to pay the fighters. The increasing casualties caused by American and Iraqi forces has also discouraged Sunni Arabs from taking the money offered. The work has become too dangerous. The word gets around fast when Abdul and his four buddies all get killed when they tried to ambush some Iraqi police (and got spotted by an American UAV, and hit with a counterattack by Iraqi and American forces). "
That is exactly what i am saying I would quarantee that at this point in time there will be agressors that hate the USA
and would be willing, unless challenged by us to give sanctuary to those wishing us harm, if they loose Iran, why would North Korea, Venezuela, some African countries not be their next ally?
Language, geography, religion, culture and in some cases infrastructure and financial difficulties make all that a very rough fit. Not that it’s impossible, just that collaboration would IMO more likely result in a nothing with each. Even moving in mass to Iran would likely result in a loss of autonomy and crippling restrictions. Al-Qaeda needs chaos to thrive, build and train, like what they found in Somalia for awhile, then Afghanistan and finally parts of Iraq. More likely, members will disperse to their home countries or find refuge anywhere, attempting to regain significance from there.
I’ve said al-Qaeda were the walking dead for almost 3 years now, and I think they’re beginning to recognize it.
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