Two al Qaeda in Iraq Leaders Reportedly Vaporized

Always good news seeing these maggots dispatched off to virgin land. Even better when they go in pairs.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced Monday that the two leaders of the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq have been killed.

In a televised news conference, Maliki said Abu Ayyub al-Masri (first photo), the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi (second photo), the head of the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group that includes al Qaeda in Iraq, were killed in a recent raid.

American officials did not immediately confirm the death of the top insurgent leaders.

Iraqi officials have previously falsely claimed to have captured and killed top al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders. They announced last summer that Baghdadi, a shadowy figure, was in custody -- a claim they supported at the time with a video and photos of the alleged insurgent.

On Monday, Maliki said the raid where the leaders were killed occurred in recent days at a house in Salahaddin Province in northern Iraq. He said a team of Iraqi troops working with American soldiers carried out the operation.

Maliki said the two suspected insurgent leaders were found dead in a ditch after an air strike conducted by American forces.

"We have found a lot of documents, and hand-written letters," that implicated the men, Maliki said.

Maliki presented photos allegedly showing the slain leaders during Monday's news conference.

The Islamic State of Iraq has taken credit for a series of powerful attacks that have targeted government buildings, hotels, embassies and other targets in recent month. The group said it sees the Shiite-led government as an illegitimate byproduct of the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.

U.S. Casualties in Iraq Lowest in Four Years; Media, Democrats Hardest Hit

You can't win for winning. Despite enormous progress in Iraq and today's news that casualty figures for U.S. forces are at their lowest level in over four years, we get a headline like this from the Associated Press.

Iraq deaths down, but for how long?

God, these people make me sick. No amount of good news could ever satisfy them. There's always a but.

U.S. military deaths plunged in May to the lowest monthly level in more than four years and civilian casualties were down sharply, too, as Iraqi forces assumed the lead in offensives in three cities and a truce with Shiite extremists took hold.

But many Iraqis as well as U.S. officials and private security analysts are uncertain whether the current lull signals a long-term trend or is simply a breathing spell like so many others before.

U.S. commanders also warn the relative peace is fragile because no lasting political agreements have been reached among the Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish communities.

Talks on returning Sunnis to the government broke down this week, and tensions among rival Shiite parties remain high despite a May 11 truce that ended weeks of bloody fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City district.

Iraqis have experienced lulls in the past — notably after the January 2005 elections — only to see violence flare again.

"The security situation is much better than in the past three or four months, and I am making more money now," said Falih Radhi, who runs a food store in eastern Baghdad. "Despite this, I have a feeling that this positive situation won't last long and that violence may come back again."

Nevertheless, the figures for May are encouraging, especially coming as the United States continues withdrawing the nearly 30,000 reinforcements that President Bush sent to Iraq early last year to curb the wave of Shiite-Sunni slaughter.

All five of the "surge brigades" rushed to Iraq last year will be gone by July, lowering the troop strength to about 140,000, U.S. officials say. There are currently about 155,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

At least 21 American troopers were killed in May — four in non-hostile incidents. That's one more than the lowest monthly figure of the war set in February 2004.

Meanwhile, Iraqi deaths were down, too.

At least 532 Iraqi civilians and security troopers were killed during the month, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press from Iraqi police and military reports. That's down sharply from April's figure of 1,080 and the lowest monthly total this year, according to the AP count.

It's garbage like this why the media is held in such contempt. Of course, that is the media that's actually still reporting from Iraq, considering coverage has declined by 92% since the surge success took root.

Media bias? What media bias?

Thanks to Gateway Pundit for the link.

Tariq Aziz To Finally Go On Trial

It's been quite awhile since we heard any news about this lowlife.

With any luck he'll be swinging like his former boss.

The fourth trial of top figures from Saddam Hussein's regime will begin next week when former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz and six others face charges in the execution of dozens of merchants in 1992, an Iraqi judicial official said Wednesday.

Aziz, the only Christian among Saddam's inner circle, was for years among the most visible leaders of the ousted regime. Among his co-defendants are Saddam's half brother Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan and former Central Bank chief Issam Mula Hawish.

Court spokesman Munir Hadad said the trial is scheduled to start Tuesday and deals with the execution of 42 merchants accused by Saddam's government of being behind a sharp increase in food prices when the country was under strict U.N. sanctions.

The merchants were rounded up from Baghdad's wholesale markets and charged with manipulating food supplies to drive up prices at a time when many Iraqis were suffering economically. All 42 were executed hours later after a quick trial.

Presiding over the trial will be judge Raouf Abdul-Rahman, who sentenced Saddam to death in May 2006 for his role in the killing of Shiite Muslims in the town of Dujail after an assassination attempt in 1982. Saddam was hanged the following December.

Granted, Aziz is rather ill and may not last much longer anyway.

Top Mookie Aide Whacked

What's this ceasefire business they speak of? The only shame of this is it wasn't Al-Sadr himself.

Iraqi police imposed a curfew to prevent an outbreak of violence in the southern Shi'ite holy city of Najaf on Friday, after a senior aide to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was shot dead.

A missile ripped a hole in the second floor of the Palestine Hotel in central Baghdad, killing three civilians outside the hotel, police said.

The hotel, sited across the Tigris River from the Green Zone diplomatic and government compound, houses some international media but is largely vacant. The Associated Press, which has TV staff in the hotel, said none of its people were hurt.

Overnight, U.S. aircraft killed 12 people in strongholds of Sadr's masked Mehdi Army militia.

In Najaf, police set up road blocks and drove through the city with loudspeakers ordering shops closed and people off the streets, a Reuters reporter said, after Riyadh al-Nuri, a top Sadr aide whose sister is married to the cleric's brother, was gunned down.

"We have lost a beloved friend and brother to our hearts. The occupation had its hand in this crime in some way," aide Abdul-Hadi al-Mohammedawi quoted Sadr as saying in a speech at the cemetery where Nuri was buried. "His eminence (Sadr) calls for calm and not to drift into strife."

U.S. and Iraqi forces have clashed repeatedly with Sadr's Mehdi Army since March, when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched a crackdown on the militia in the southern city of Basra.

Basra has been relatively quiet since Sadr called his fighters off the streets of Iraq's second largest city nearly two weeks ago.

In the early morning hours of Friday, however, Iraqi troops were fired upon when they tried to enter the northern Basra district of Hayaniya, a Mehdi Army stronghold, police said.

We'd have saved a lot of headaches had Al-Sadr went bye-bye years ago. Now, however, he and his goons are still defiant.

But in a Mehdi Army statement read over loudspeakers in Sadr City mosques on Thursday night, the militia was defiant.

"They want us to disarm, but they are seeking to take away the dignity and honour of the Iraqi people," it said, according to a Reuters reporter who heard the statement.

"They want to turn Iraq into another Palestine, but we say to the tyrants that we will not abandon our weapons. Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest)."

Al Qaeda on the Run, Tech Support Group Hardest Hit

Help wanted. Video and web skills helpful, but not required. Will train if still breathing.

The U.S. military said on Saturday it had hampered al Qaeda's ability to recruit new members in Iraq by capturing or killing many of the people who make slick videos used to attract disaffected young Muslims.

U.S. military spokesman Rear Admiral Greg Smith said that in the past year, 39 al Qaeda members in Iraq responsible for producing and disseminating videos and other material to thousands of Internet Web sites had been captured or killed.

"The power of this information is obvious. These guys are using material that is used on Web sites to recruit and raise money," Smith told Reuters in an interview.

"We think the vast majority of this media network has been degraded at this point," he said, adding that the arrests had led to fewer Internet postings of al Qaeda beheadings, kidnappings and other attacks in Iraq.

U.S. defence officials have in the past complained the military was losing the propaganda battle against militants who skilfully exploited communication tools like the Internet.

Smith said there has been a steady decline in videos broadcast on 5,000 pro-al Qaeda Web sites since June 2007, roughly coinciding with falling levels of violence across Iraq.

Seems Reuters may unwittingly be admitting a dirty little secret, that more than just al Qaeda members may be tipped off to impending attacks, considering how some media always happens to be there at the right time.

Smith said militant groups had become increasingly sophisticated in their distribution of information, publishing professional-looking videos with narration, music and special effects of attacks on U.S. soldiers and Iraqis.

"Most of al Qaeda's coordinated attacks tend to be so well-planned that they allow for camera crews to be on location filming just before it happens," he said.

These media networks, found mainly in northern Baghdad, then take the crude videos and re-package them into a more polished product for distribution to Web sites, he said. The networks also put out other material to educate and recruit new members.

Speaking of al Qaeda's diminished media capability, just where is Adam Gadahn?

Hmm.

How Many Did Al Qaeda Kill?

A ridiculous piece of propaganda from a group calling itself Iraq Body Count.

US-LED coalition and paramilitary forces in Iraq were responsible for some 24,000 violent civilian deaths in 2007, according to an independent group monitoring casualties in the war-ravaged country.

The Iraq Body Count (IBC) whose figures are tallied from media reports, morgue and hospital data, non-governmental and other sources, said in a report that there were between 22,586 and 24,159 violent civilian deaths in Iraq during the past year.

"Perhaps the most accurate description of the security situation for Iraqi civilians in the past year is that it was less bad than if the worst of the late 2006 levels had been sustained throughout 2007," the group said in a statement.

The IBC lamented security that "remains at an abysmally low level" in much of the country.

"For some 24,000 Iraqi civilians, and their families and friends, the year was one of devastating and irreparable tragedy," the IBC said.

So we're to believe U.S. forces are partly responsible for killing up to 24,000 civilians? Please.

Nowhere is it mentioned that in all liklihood most of the civilians killed were a direct result of terrorist activities, unless that's what the vaguely titled "paramilitary forces" refers to, but apparently it's not.

The group said that as of January 1 2008, the total for violent civilian deaths to the end of 2007 in Iraq was between 81,174 and 88,585.

OK, so another 60,000 or so civilians were killed?

Who killed them?

Any time there are accidents where civilians are killed in Iraq, there are investigations at the highest level. The notion 24,000 civilians were killed by either U.S. forces or those working with them strains credulity.

If even a fraction of that number were killed by U.S. forces, the media onslaught would never end.

Al Qaeda Torture Center Found in Northern Iraq

Surely Harry Reid will remind us this is why we're "losing" in Iraq.

U.S. soldiers found mass graves north of Baghdad next to a torture center where chains were attached to blood-spattered walls and a metal bed frame was still connected to an electrical shock system, the military said Thursday.

Separately, at least 13 Iraqis were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a group of people who had gathered around U.S. soldiers handing out holiday gifts, local authorities said. It was not immediately known if any soldiers were killed or wounded.

The grisly discoveries of the mass graves and torture center near Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, came during a Dec. 8-11 operation.

The torture center, which the U.S. military said it suspected was run by al-Qaida in Iraq, was found based on tips from Iraqis in the area, where the al-Qaida insurgents are very active. Graves containing 26 bodies were found nearby.

"We discovered several (weapons) caches, a torture facility that had chains, a bed — an iron bed that was still connected to a battery — knives and swords that were still covered in blood as we went in to go after the terrorists in that area," said Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, the top U.S. commander in northern Iraq.

Soldiers found a total of nine caches containing a surface-to-air missile launcher, sniper rifles, 130 pounds of homemade explosives and numerous mortar tubes and rounds, among other weapons.

The Dec. 8-11 operation also saw multiple battles between American troops and militants. The military said it killed 24 insurgents and detained 37 others during the operation.

Michael Moore was unavailable to comment on the tactics of his favorite freedom fighters.

More on this and the situation in Diyala at Captain's Quarters.

Shocker: Most al Qaeda in Iraq Fighters from Saudi Arabia, Libya

Good thing they're our friends. Lord knows how many they'd send if they didn't like us.

Most al Qaeda fighters in Iraq are from Saudi Arabia and Libya and many are university-aged students, said a study released on Wednesday by researchers at the U.S. Army's West Point military academy.

The study was based on 606 personnel records collected by al Qaeda in Iraq and captured by coalition troops in October. It includes data on fighters who entered Iraq, largely through Syria, between August 2006 and August 2007.

The researchers at West Point's Combating Terrorism Center found that 41 percent of the fighters were Saudi nationals.

Libyan nationals accounted for the second largest group entering Iraq in that time period with about 19 percent of the total, followed by Syrians and Yemenis each at 8 percent, Algerians with 7 percent and Moroccans at 6 percent.

On a per capita basis, Libyans accounted for the greatest share of foreign fighters entering Iraq.

Previous studies found Libyans accounted for a far smaller percentage of foreign fighters in Iraq, the West Point researchers said. They concluded the U.S. military either underestimated the Libyan contribution of fighters or that the pattern has shifted since a Libyan Islamic militant group strengthened ties with al Qaeda.

Sharp Decrease in Iraq Ramadan Violence

Despite a pledge by al Qaeda to increase violence during Ramadan, there's been a sharp decrease the past two weeks compared to last year.

Of course, this will be widely dismissed, the same as news of decreasing U.S. casualties merits little to no mention in the media.

Violence in Iraq during Ramadan has fallen by almost 40 percent from last year, the U.S. military said on Sunday, despite a warning from al Qaeda that it would increase attacks during the Muslim holy month.

U.S. military spokesman Rear Admiral Mark Fox said a "surge" of 30,000 extra troops into Iraq this year and the new tactic of moving soldiers into small combat outposts instead of "commuting to the war" from large bases had helped bring down violence.

"We are substantially below last year's level. As a matter of fact, in comparison to this time last year, about 38 percent lower in terms of Ramadan violence levels," he told a news conference, adding that that overall levels were still too high.

The most recent number of U.S. troop casualties is 62 according to this site, though this AFP report says it's 70 for September, a 14-month low.

US military losses in Iraq for September stood at 71 on Sunday, but the toll remained the lowest monthly figure since July last year, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.

The US military on Sunday announced the death of another soldier, saying he died when his unit was hit by a bomb and came under small arms fire in eastern Baghdad on Saturday. A second soldier was injured.

The figure marks the fourth consecutive drop in the monthly death toll following a high of 121 in May. June saw 93 deaths, July 82 and August 79, while the monthly toll in July 2006 was 53.

The latest death pushed the overall toll of American losses since the March 2003 invasion to 3,802.

We'll see if this merits even passing notice from the major U.S. media. Since I doubt Media Matters will issue a press release on this good news, that remains doubtful.

Mythical Creature Calls for Ramadan Attacks

Now you know why some sarcastically refer to this period as Bombadan. We're all supposed to honor this as the most holy month of Islam, yet here these cretins are calling for murder.

Religion of Peace, indeed.

Iraq Qaeda leader calls for attacks in Ramadan

The head of an al Qaeda-led group in Iraq, in an audiotape posted on Saturday, announced a new phase of attacks to mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

"I am honoured to declare at the start of Ramadan, an invasion named after the martyr Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ...," Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, said in the 31-minute tape posted on an Islamist Web site.

Baghdadi did not give details but renewed a call from the late Zarqawi -- killed last year by U.S. forces -- on Iraqis to fight the U.S.-led forces and their allies.

He said the campaign in Iraq would last until the seventh day of the Muslim month of Shawwal, which falls around Oct. 19.

Baghdadi also called on Iraqis who had "collaborated" with the U.S.-led forces and the Iraqi government to repent and assured them that they would not face reprisals during Ramadan, a time for Muslims to repent and change their ways.

The Islamic State in Iraq, a group formed last year by al Qaeda's wing in Iraq and other Sunni insurgents, has claimed responsibility for mass kidnappings and a series of major attacks.

Of course, this Baghdadi appears to be a figment of someone's imagination, considering he may not even exist any longer, if indeed he ever did.

Bounty on Swedish Cartoonist

My, these terrorists are so sensitive.

They haven't the slightest problem chopping off someone's head, but if you dare insult kiddie rapist Mohammed (propeller beanie upon him), then they come unglued.

More cartoons, please.

Al-Qaida: Bounty on Swedish cartoonist

CAIRO, Egypt - The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq offered money for the murder of a Swedish cartoonist and his editor who recently produced images deemed insulting to Islam, according to a statement carried by Islamist Web sites Saturday.

In a half hour audio file entitled "They plotted yet God too was plotting," Abu Omar al-Baghdadi also named the other insurgent groups in Iraq that al-Qaida was fighting and promised new attacks, particularly against the minority Yazidi sect.

"We are calling for the assassination of cartoonist Lars Vilks who dared insult our Prophet, peace be upon him, and we announce a reward during this generous month of Ramadan of $100,000 for the one who kills this criminal," the transcript on the Web site said.

The al-Qaida leader upped the reward for Vilks' death to $150,000 if he was "slaughtered like a lamb" and offered $50,000 for the killing of the editor of Nerikes Allehanda, the Swedish paper that printed Vilks' cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad with a dog's body on Aug. 19.

Vilks said from Sweden he believed the matter of his cartoons had been blown out of proportion.

"We have a real problem here," Vilks told The Associated Press by telephone. "We can only hope that Muslims in Europe and in the Western world choose to distance themselves from this and support the idea of freedom of expression."

Ulf Johansson, editor in chief of Nerikes Allehanda, said he took the bounty "more seriously" than other threats he had received. "This is more explicit. It's not every day somebody puts a price on your head."

Johansson said he had contacted the police and that they had already started work on the threat.

Aside from a few scattered protests and condemnations by Muslim countries, the reaction to the cartoon has been muted, in contrast to last year's fiery protests that erupted in several Muslim countries after a Danish newspaper published 12 cartoons of Muhammad that were reprinted in a range of Western media.

In an attempt to defuse the tensions caused by the cartoon in both Sweden and abroad, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt last week invited 22 Sweden-based ambassadors from Muslim countries to talk about the sketch.

Reinfeldt expressed regret at the hurt it may have caused, but said that according to Swedish law it is not up to politicians to punish the free press.

Al-Baghdadi added in his message that if the "crusader state of Sweden" didn't apologize, his organization would also attack major companies.

Do Female Jihadis Also Get 72 Virgins?

Expect plenty of seething over this report.

They're attacking the mosques! How insensitive!

U.S. forces attack Iraqi mosque after soldier killed

U.S. troops battled gunmen in a mosque after their combat outpost north of Baghdad came under machinegun and rocket-propelled grenade fire that killed one soldier, the U.S. military said on Friday.

The military said an aircraft fired a Hellfire missile at two gunmen on the roof of the Sunni Arab mosque in the town of Tarmiya on Thursday after ordering everyone inside to evacuate.

While it is unusual for U.S. troops in Iraq to attack religiously sensitive sites such as mosques or even enter them, they have launched assaults in the past on mosques suspected of being used as bases for militants or to store weapons.

I'm shocked. Muslim terrorists would actually stain the sanctity of a mosque to store weapons?

"These insurgents displayed total disregard for the community by using a mosque, a sacred place for Muslims to worship, as a sanctuary to commit their acts of terror," said Major Mike Garcia, spokesman for U.S. troops in the area.

He said the mosque sustained only minor damage in the operation in which 20 people were detained. The U.S. combat outpost had been repeatedly attacked by gunmen in the mosque since May, he added.

Since May?

Why on earth is this building still standing?

Meanwhile, CNN reports U.S. forces killed a female terrorist.

U.S. troops fought it out with insurgents over the last 24 hours in and near Tarmiya, one of the many volatile spots on the northern Baghdad outskirts, the military reported on Friday.

A U.S. soldier and 13 insurgents, including an armed female wearing a ski mask, were killed. Also, a boy was killed in a building during fighting. Many people were detained as well.

The first incident occurred late Thursday when soldiers from Task Force Lightning came under attack from the Honest Mohammed Mosque -- a Sunni house of worship in Tarmiya. A soldier was killed and another was wounded.

Deja vu

This should surprise only the Dhimmicrats.

Insurgents form political front to plan for US pullout
Seven of the most important Sunni-led insurgent organisations fighting the US occupation in Iraq have agreed to form a public political alliance with the aim of preparing for negotiations in advance of an American withdrawal, their leaders have told the Guardian.

In their first interview with the western media since the US-British invasion of 2003, leaders of three of the insurgent groups - responsible for thousands of attacks against US and Iraqi armed forces and police - said they would continue their armed resistance until all foreign troops were withdrawn from Iraq, and denounced al-Qaida for sectarian killings and suicide bombings against civilians.

Speaking in Damascus, the spokesmen for the three groups - the 1920 Revolution Brigades, Ansar al-Sunna and Iraqi Hamas - said they planned to hold a congress to launch a united front and appealed to Arab governments, other governments and the UN to help them establish a permanent political presence outside Iraq.

It figures they would have their confab in Damascus. Doing so in Iraq would put them at risk of becoming martyrs.

There's much, much more in this Guardian exclusive.

Nancy Pelousi, Harriet Reid and Jean-Pierre Kerry are trying to figure out how Karl Rove put this one together.