..next!!
Doogle
Posted on 06/20/2006 5:34:05 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
The US military says it has killed the "right-hand man" of slain Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Major General William Caldwell says Iraqi Mansur Suleiman al-Mashhadani was killed on Friday by US forces in Yusifiyah, south of Baghdad.
"We do know that Sheikh Mansur was a key leader in Al Qaeda in Iraq with excellent religious, military and leadership credentials within that organisation," General Caldwell said.
He describes him as Zarqawi's right-hand man and a liaison between Al Qaeda and tribes in the restive area south of Baghdad.
The Mashhadani are a major tribe of Sunni Arabs.
"He was tied to the senior leadership, including having relationships with both Zarqawi and al-Masri," General Caldwell said, referring to Abu Ayub al-Masri, whom the US military claim to be Zarqawi's successor.
"We do think that his death will significantly continue to impact on the ability of this organisation to regenerate and organise itself."
General Caldwell says Sheikh Mansur was "multifunctional" with responsibilities including spiritual advice, recruitment, leadership and media operations.
A large framed picture showing Sheikh Mansur before and after he was killed has been displayed by General Caldwell in the same manner as a picture of Zarqawi's dead face after he was killed in a US air strike on June 7 near the restive city of Baquba.
One part of the composite picture showed him clean shaven with a thin moustache and wearing a black T-shirt, while the other showed a dust covered, bruised and blood-stained face.
Describing his killing, General Caldwell says US troops had attempted to stop the vehicle in which Sheikh Mansur was travelling with two others.
He says when they kept driving they decided to fire at them from a helicopter that had been backing up soldiers on the ground.
General Caldwell says coalition forces were "following and tracking him for sometime as the intent was to capture him".
"When that proved something that was not able to be achieved by forces involved in that operation, they went ahead and used air assets to engage and destroy that vehicle," he said.
The General says the two others who died with Sheikh Mansur were "foreign fighters, with one Abu Tareq being a cell leader".
Yet another Big Media foreign correspondent?
Excellent news. Perhaps the files found at Zarqawi's house helped to track him down.
..next!!
Doogle
Hellfire rains from above and another Al Queda meets Satan up close and personal. I suspect this guy was in the area the ambush of US forces because he was the field commander for that section.
This isn't who I thought it was- nevertheless- a GREAT GET!
Ping here, too.
More dead scum, and more to follow.
Good! Now go after his left-hand man. His right-foot man. His left-nut man.
Ya' know, the info that can be gleaned from these guys is good. But, just killing them outright sure saves a whole lot of trouble.
However, the rest of us say:
Kill'em all, every last jihadist sob.
1,199,999,998 left to kill.
The WA tail ID used to belong to Nellis.
The best Ammo joke I ever heard....I used to work FTD for a time (an absolute dream job to learn about "the rest" of the airframe)....crunch time for the AMU (F-15 E's) to provide a jet for training, so we combined several different classes (Crew Chief, Egress and Weapons) to do the pre-maintenance safety inspection.
The Weapons Instructor volunteered to conduct the class. When he got to the weapon pylons, little smirk on his face, he tells the 14 students, "These? These are where we carry the F-16's!".
No slam aginst the F-16, understood? I've got serious wrench time on the F-105/G, F-4 C/D/E and G, A-10, F-16 starting with Block 10, and the F-15 C/E. and throw in some A-7 and other things.
Wasn't he a MSM reporter?
This reports been out for a while, but I didn't see it on our evening news. Perhaps the MSM didn't want to bother the public with such a report.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.