Liberal Utopia: If this is losing...

Thursday, May 03, 2007

wonder what our brave Defenders of Freedom would have to accomplish in Iraq before al-Qaedaqrats say we're winning?

iberal Utopia welcomes Ninny Peloseri, Sqarry Sqreid, Jack Murdertha-troops, et al. as our first ever guest fiskers. We'd like to thank them all for having taken their best shots at the New York Slimes article below.

Qaeda Figure in Iraq Killed, U.S. Military Says

[photo] Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for the American military in Iraq, right, at a press conference in Baghdad today with a photo of Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri.

By JON ELSEN
Published: May 3, 2007

American forces have indeed killed a high-ranking member of the terrorist group Al Qaeda in Iraq, but not the leader of the group, American military officials said today.
The man killed in the raid was Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri, described as a senior minister of information for Al Qaeda in Iraq who was involved in the kidnappings of Jill Carroll and Tom Fox as well as two Germans, according to Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for the American military in Iraq.

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday said the war in Iraq is lost militarily.... 'Now I believe, myself, that the secretary of state, the secretary of defense and you have to make your own decision as to what the president knows: that this war is lost, that the surge is not accomplishing anything,' Reid, D-Nev., told reporters." (FNC)

Mr. Jubouri's death and subsequent events may have led to confusion that generated unconfirmed reports of the death of the leader of the group, known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, or of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the head of another insurgent group, the Islamic State of Iraq, General Caldwell said.
He said American forces are not certain that Mr. al-Baghdadi even exists.
Mr. Jubouri was involved in the movement of foreign fighters and money into Iraq from Syria, said General Caldwell, who described Mr. Jubouri's death as "significant."

"'This is an unconventional war and has to be dealt with in unconventional ways. This is an administration that has never understood the nature of the threat or the way to respond to it,' [Tedboat al-Q]ennedy said." (Ibid.)

The general also said Mr. Jubouri was involved in hiding and moving the kidnapped Christian Science Monitor reporter Jill Carroll; she was held for two months before being released.
Detainees told American officials that Mr. Jubouri had personal custody of Mr. Fox, an American, and was the last one seen holding him before Mr. Fox was killed, General Caldwell said. Mr. Fox, one of four men from the Chicago-based peace group Christian Peacemaker Teams working in Iraq, was found shot to death in Baghdad on March 10, 2006.
The two Germans were kidnapped in January 2006.
Mr. Jubouri was first captured by coalition forces in 2003 and then was released in 2004, after which he traveled to Syria, where he has family, General Caldwell said. He described Mr. Jubouri as a close associate of Mr. Masri.
American forces have no evidence to confirm reports yesterday from the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior that Mr. Masri had been killed, the general said, nor do they have evidence to confirm reports that Mr. al-Baghdadi was killed.
American forces identified Mr. Jubouri's body using photographs, and then released it for transportation to a mosque for burial. When the car carrying the body was stopped at an Iraqi checkpoint, the Iraqi forces took possession of the body, and may have thought it was someone else.
DNA testing confirmed the photo identification of Mr. al-Jubouri on Wednesday.

"'This administration should get a clue,' Pelosi said. 'The war in Iraq has make [sic] matters worse.' Noting that the war in Iraq has now lasted longer than U.S. involvement in World War II, Pelosi blamed the administration for neglecting 'the war on terrorism...in Afghanistan' to pursue a 'failed policy' in Iraq. 'Stop this war without end,' she said." (LA Times, cached)

General Caldwell said that Mr. Jubouri was killed while resisting detention at 1:42 a.m. on Tuesday, during coalition military strikes against 29 targets over three days. He said that in all, 95 militants were detained in the raids and 15 were killed.

"A good example of the [al-Qaedaqratic] majority opinion came from Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), an Army infantryman in Vietnam in 1968, who recently called the President's summons for more troops in Baghdad 'the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam.' Senators John Kerry, Jim Webb and Congressman John Murtha are among those who have voiced similar sentiments." (HuffPo)

The raid in which Mr. Jubouri was killed with four other people was conducted on four buildings in a town north of Baghdad and four miles west of the Taji air base. Six people were detained.

"Rep. John Murtha, a leader of the [al-]Democrats' campaign to end the Iraq War, speaking on the CBS News program 'Face the Nation,' declared that impeachment was one of the tools Congress has to influence the [wartime] president. Lest his statement be misconstrued as a slip of the tongue, Murtha, who is known to be a close political ally of Pelosi, repeated the statement on NPR the following day, this time saying pointedly that impeachment was 'on the table' in Congress.

His choice of words was particularly significant, since Pelosi has been insisting for almost a year that under a Democratic Congress, impeachment of the president would be 'off the table.'" (CounterPunch)