Al-Qaeda on the Run

Qaeda on run in Iraq, using more suicide bombers: US experts

20 hours ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Al-Qaeda in Iraq is on the run, forcing its elusive Egyptian-born leader to be more selective about targets and to rely increasingly on suicide bombers, US military intelligence experts said Sunday.

Current leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri is less ruthless and more selective about his targets than was his predecessor, Jordanian Musab al-Zarqawi -- killed in June 2006 -- the experts told Western reporters in a background briefing.

The leadership of the jihadist network inside Iraq is dominated by foreigners although most rank and file fighters are Iraqis, said the experts, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Zarqawi was very ruthless and did a lot of massive indiscriminate killing," said one expert. "Masri is more tempered ... and has to be more selective about his targets."

The Egyptian, however, is not to be underestimated.

"He is powerful and very elusive. Very few people have contact with him."

The experts declined to speculate on how many Al-Qaeda fighters are operating in Iraq but believed the number to be less than the 10,000 that US commanders gave a year ago.

The significant growth in the past year of "Awakening" anti-Qaeda fronts -- termed concerned local citizens (CLCs) by the US military -- combined with increased capabilities of the Iraqi and US militaries was impacting on Al-Qaeda's ability to plan operations, according to the intelligence chiefs.

"It's tough to plan an operation when you're on the run," said one. "They have less mobility, less access to caches and are resorting more and more to suicide attacks as their ability to stage car bombings is eroded."

US military spokesman Rear Admiral Gregory Smith earlier told a press conference that operations by Iraqi and US forces in 2007 had seen some 2,400 Al-Qaeda fighters killed and 8,800 captured.

"Of those, we captured or killed 52 emirs, 32 improvised explosive device (bomb) leaders, 24 cell leaders and 92 facilitators," said Smith.

"Their areas of control and influence were diminished. We have reduced their (car bomb) networks, disrupted the flow of foreign terrorists, weapons and logistical weapons, and kept constant pressure on Al-Qaeda, forcing their leadership to be on the run."

Who & What is an Arab?

Anyone care to take a shot at answering who and what is an Arab? Someone who speaks arabic, yes. Most likely Muslim. Belief in the "Arab World" of old. More to follow...

AQI Wiped Out

BAGHDAD: U.S. forces have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network, from every neighborhood of Baghdad, a top American general said, allowing U.S. troops involved in the "surge" to depart as planned.

Major General Joseph Fil Jr., the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, also said Wednesday that U.S. troops had yet to clear some 13 percent of the city, including Sadr City and several other areas controlled by Shiite militias. But, he said, "there's just no question" that violence has declined since a spike in June.

"Murder victims are down 80 percent from where they were at the peak," and attacks involving improvised bombs are down 70 percent, he said.

Fil attributed the decline to improvements in the Iraqi security forces, a cease-fire ordered by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, disruption of financing for insurgents and, most significant, Iraqis' rejection of "the rule of the gun."

His comments, in a broad interview in a Green Zone conference room, were the latest in a series of upbeat assessments he and other commanders have offered in recent months. But his descriptions revealed a city still in transition: tormented by its past, struggling to find a better future.

By Damien Cave

Al-Qaeda in Iraq (Mesopotamia)

Al-Qaeda in Iraq, also known as al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, is a Sunni Muslim extremist group that seeks to sow civil unrest in Iraq, with the aim of establishing a caliphate—a single, transnational Islamic state. Established by the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an Arab of Jordanian descent, AQI rose to prominence after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. After being released from a Jordanian prison in 1999, Zarqawi reportedly commanded volunteers in Afghanistan before fleeing to northern Iraq in 2001. There he joined with Ansar al-Islam (Partisans of Islam), where he led Ansar’s Arab contingent. Many analysts say it’s this group, and not al-Qaeda, that was the precursor of AQI, though U.S. officials dispute this.

Afghanistan Flag & Geography

Afghanistan, approximately the size of Texas, is bordered on the north by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, on the extreme northeast by China, on the east and south by Pakistan, and by Iran on the west. The country is split east to west by the Hindu Kush mountain range, rising in the east to heights of 24,000 ft (7,315 m). With the exception of the southwest, most of the country is covered by high snow-capped mountains and is traversed by deep valleys.

Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda trying to get weapons of mass destruction

by Jitendra Joshi

WASHINGTON AFP) - Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network is still trying to acquire apocalyptic weapons including nuclear and biological arms, a new White House report on national security said Tuesday.

"We also must never lose sight of Al-Qaeda's persistent desire for weapons of mass destruction, as the group continues to try to acquire and use chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear material," it said.....
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When will the world be a safer place? When humans stop fighting because of religion. Stop, think, use reason - then act. What a better place the world would be then. Maybe then we can work on getting the local Kuwaiti drivers to stop killing too.

Uzbek warloard

KABUL, Afghanistan - Sixteen militants fighting under a wanted Uzbek warlord with a $200,000 bounty on his head were killed in airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan, an official said Monday.

U.S. forces early Sunday called in the strikes against fighters of Tahir Yuldash, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and an al-Qaida operational commander, said Nabi Jan Mullahkhail, the provincial police chief of Paktika province.

The U.S. military late last month released a list of 12 Most Wanted militants in Afghanistan, and Yuldash was one of five listed with the top reward of $200,000.

Mullahkhail said one enemy fighter — an Uzbek — was captured during the fighting in the Sorobi district of Paktika and said that the militants from Uzbekistan and Chechnya were fighting under Yuldash.

In nearby Paktia province, U.S.-led coalition forces and Afghan soldiers detained four suspected militants in Gardez district, the coalition said.


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Let's not forget that Osama bin Laden is still running around the hills of Afghanistan with the US still looking for him.

NIE - Iraq

The following is an extract from the January 2007 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq.

Iraqi society’s growing polarization, the persistent weakness of the security forces and the state in general, and all sides’ ready recourse to violence are collectively driving an increase in communal and insurgent violence and political extremism. Unless efforts to reverse these conditions show measurable progress during the term of this Estimate, the coming 12 to 18 months, we assess that the overall security situation will continue to deteriorate at rates comparable to the latter part of 2006. If strengthened Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), more loyal to the government and supported by Coalition forces, are able to reduce levels of violence and establish more effective security for Iraq’s population, Iraqi leaders could have an opportunity to begin the process of political compromise necessary for longer term stability, political progress, and economic recovery.
• Nevertheless, even if violence is diminished, given the current winner-take-all attitude and sectarian animosities infecting the political scene, Iraqi leaders will be hard pressed to achieve sustained political reconciliation in the time frame of this Estimate.

Death in the name of Religion

Sunni's and Shia's continue to kill each other in Iraq. In August the Iraqi death toll was down to 1,500. Down to 1,500 from a high last year of 3,000 per month. Humans killing each other because they are not members of the same religious group. Does anyone think this makes any sense what's so ever? Killing in the name of religion.

Iraq

Well the general and the ambassador continue to testify in Washington, DC about the effectiveness of America's involvement in Iraq. I can only hope that we begin our pull out of American troops soon. This should not be a long term military intervention. We need to protect our shores and keep the terrorist out. Part of this is taking the fight to them. When will we be able to focus our resources on something positive? To build a better future for our children should be where our money and more important our blood goes.

I will never forget 9/11

The criminals of 9/11 must be brought to justice.

After six years, two wars, and dozens of senior al Qaeda figures arrested, Osama bin Laden and his chief associate Ayman al-Zawahiri remain at large. In this week’s List, FP runs down some of the other most dangerous senior al Qaeda leaders who are still on the loose.

Abu Ayyub al-Masri

Possible whereabouts: Iraq. Last October and again in May, Iraqi government sources reported him killed, but his death has not been confirmed.

Position: leader of al Qaeda in Iraq

Activities: An expert in roadside explosives, al-Masri has been one of al-Zawahiri’s disciples since joining Egyptian Islamic Jihad in 1982. He met his predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, when the two were training in Afghanistan in 1999. After moving to Iraq in 2001, al-Masri directed suicide bombers in Fallujah for al-Zarqawi and was charged with recruiting new members. In a notable show of brashness, al Qaeda announced al-Masri as al-Zarqawi’s replacement less than a week after the latter’s death in June of last year. “I think to some degree he’s had a much more difficult time than Zarqawi,” says Seth Jones, a counterterrorism analyst at the Rand Corporation. “I would point to the huge defeats they’ve had from Sunni tribes in Anbar. Also, the links between him and the core leadership are not as close as they were with Zarqawi.”