Posted on 06/15/2006 10:30:04 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
The killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi marks the "beginning of the end" of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the country's national security adviser has said. Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said documents seized after the raid that killed Zarqawi had yielded key information about the militant group.
"Now we have the upper hand," he told a news conference in Baghdad. Zarqawi, the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, was killed last week by a US air strike near Baquba, north of Baghdad. Key records Mr Rubaie said a pocket hard-drive, a laptop and documents were found in the debris after the strike. The documents and records revealed the names and whereabouts of other al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders, he said, adding that more information has since been found in raids on other insurgent hideouts. "We believe that this is the beginning of the end of al-Qaeda in Iraq," Mr Rubaie said. "They did not anticipate how powerful the Iraqi security forces are and how the government is on the attack now." One of the documents showed that Zarqawi was planning to widen the rift between the US and Iran by carrying out attacks on US interests falsely attributed to Iran, the prime minister's office said.
Hundreds of raids According to a US military spokesman, US forces have carried out 452 raids since the killing of Zarqawi, leading to the death of 104 insurgents and the capture of 759 "anti-Iraqi elements". Maj Gen William Caldwell said the raids had also yielded 28 significant arms hauls. He said 143 of the raids had been carried out by Iraqi forces acting alone, while 255 raids had involved US forces working with Iraqi security.
The news comes on the second day of tough new security measures that have been put in place in Baghdad amid fears al-Qaeda in Iraq is preparing new attacks after Zarqawi's killing.
Tens of thousands of Iraqi and US security forces have been deployed across the capital. Citizens have been stopped and frisked at checkpoints as police enforce a ban on weapons, causing long delays on the roads. There were noticeably fewer reports of violence in Baghdad than usual, although a chemicals worker was reported to have been shot dead in the west of the city. In other developments:
Mr Maliki has said he is ready to talk to insurgents as part of a national reconciliation initiative to try to engage the minority Sunni population in the country's political process. However, he has ruled out talking to "terrorist" groups.
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This can't be from the BBC.
But the Sunni/Bathist insurgency will continue without some major whoop ass bringing them to the table. (Or amnesty)
The BBC gets bored once in a while and they actually let news slip out.
More on that here:
Somehow I don't see the American media jumping up and down and cheering like the Iraqi media did! Can we do a foreign exchange program like they do in schools, only exchange media personnel say for about 10 years? I'd take the Iraqi media personnel any DAY over our sorry White House Presstitutes!
Hi! I'm dead now! Isn't that cool?
The Iraqi press also says nice things about President Bush.
Can you imagine such a thing? ;-)
LOL!! Yes it is cool.
"Hi, kids! This is yer old buddy Al Z signing off. Catch you on the flip side and don't forget to drink your Ovaltine..."
It's getting kind of lonely down here. But Beelzebub just told me I'll have company soon. Al-Masri and Saddam are going to be joining me. Can't wait for the party!
Where does the Circus with Saddam stand,....are they ever gonna wrap that up?
Q. Guess who quit smokimg today?
A. al-Zarqawi
U.S. identifies al-Zarqawi's successor - Abu Ayyub al-Masri, a/k/a Abu Hamza al-Muhajir
I don't care who you are, that right there is FUNNY!
maybe, maybe not. Personally, I'll wait for CENTCOM to tell me this news... not the BBC
I sure hope so, but who knows? It's nuts.
They are presenting evidence and moving along, but at a snail's pace. I swear, the Iraqis love the drama of Saddam and his henchmen's outbursts and that's why they're letting that just go on.
I watch the Iraqis watching the trial and you can see that they're highly entertained, nudging each other and laughing, but glued to every word.
I've resigned myself to the fact that things here just happen more slowly than they do at home. And that's everything. LOL
Thanks. It's old but still funny.
LOL!
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