quote:

U.S. Military Unable to Confirm Capture of Al Qaeda Leader in Iraq
Friday, May 09, 2008


Abu Ayyub al-Masri
BAGHDAD — The U.S. military on Friday said there were "no operational reports" so far to confirm Iraqi government reports that the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq has been arrested.

Iraqi authorities on Thursday said Iraqi police commandos captured the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq in a raid in the northern city of Mosul, in what if confirmed would be significant blow to the Sunni insurgency in its last urban stronghold.

Early Friday, however, the U.S. military said there were "no operational reports" to confirm that Abu Ayyub al-Masri — also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir — was captured. News of the reported capture was trumpeted by Iraqi state television and numerous Iraqi government and provincial officials.

Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said late Thursday that the arrest was made in Mosul, where insurgents have sought to establish a foothold after being widely uprooted from Baghdad and surrounding areas last year.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said the arrest occurred "at midnight and during the primary investigations he admitted that he is Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir."

There have been false alarms in the past about al-Masri. At least twice — in 2006 and May 2007 — reports circulated that al-Masri was dead, but they were later proved wrong.

Khalaf told the Iraqi state television that al-Masri was arrested during a police raid in Mosul, but gave no other details. "Now a broader investigation of him is being conducted," he said.

Mosul was considered the last important urban staging ground for Al Qaeda in Iraqi and allied groups after losing strongholds in Baghdad and other areas during the U.S. troop "surge" last year.

In January, Iraq's prime minister Nouri al-Maliki promised his military were preparing for a "decisive" showdown with insurgents in Mosul, about 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. But no major offensives have been mounted even as Al Qaeda in Iraq tried to exert its influence in Iraq's third-largest city through attacks and intimidation.

Al-Masri is a prized target for Iraqi commanders, who have led operations in the Mosul area and have sought to counter worries that Iraqi forces lack the training and discipline to wage a head-on fight against insurgents.

However, Al Qaeda in Iraq has maintained its long-term ability to wage suicide attacks and other strikes even after the capture and deaths of its leaders. Al-Masri took over Al Qaeda in Iraq after its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed June 7, 2006 in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad.

The pace of insurgent attacks continued unabated as al-Masri took charge.

Al-Masri has been in contact with some of bin Laden's top lieutenants.

U.S. officials said al-Masri — whose name means "The Egyptian" in Arabic — joined Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in the late 1990s and trained as a car bombing expert before traveling to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The U.S. military also described al-Masri as a previous member of the extremist Islamic Jihad in Egypt and a protege of Ayman al-Zawahri, who became bin Laden's No. 2 after the group joined with Al Qaeda in 1998.

The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella organization that includes Al Qaeda in Iraq, last year announced an "Islamic Cabinet" for Iraq and named al-Masri as "minister of war." The U.S. military had put a $5 million bounty for al-Masri.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military on Friday said U.S. soldiers killed six Shiite extremists, who attacked U.S. forces with shoulder fired rockets and small arms, in several clashes in Baghdad's Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City on Thursday.

The reported arrest of al-Masri has also turned attention back to the Sunni insurgency after weeks of battles with Shiite militias.

On Thursday, government envoys set strict demands for Shiite militias to end their battles against U.S.-led forces in Baghdad. But it was unlikely that militiamen would abide by the government conditions to lay down their arms.

But the government outreach to representatives of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr — who controls the powerful Mahdi Army militia — underscored the worries about a mounting humanitarian and political crises for Iraq's leadership if the fighting spreads.

Thousands of civilians already have fled their homes in Sadr City — home to nearly 40 percent of Baghdad's population — and aid groups say some areas are desperately short of food and medicine after seven weeks of street battles.

The latest conflict flared in late March after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on armed Shiite factions in the southern city of Basra, the nation's second-largest urban area. Mahdi fighters quickly rose up in Basra and Sadr City, their stronghold in Baghdad.

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Originally posted by FourString:
scrounge,

Please spar us the old and tired, and very, very typical, right wing response. No one here is saying that we should apologize or treat this guy (if he's even captured) as if he were a respectful citizen. What's we're saying is that torture is wrong, immoral, and illegal. Deal with it.

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Originally posted by FrankieFunk:
scrounge, Dont we want our country to be better than the people we are fighting? We are a civilized society. You seem to believe in this country, as do I. Torture is what separates's us from them. We are not barbaric, we do not torture so we are looked up to.

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Originally posted by scrounge:

quote:

Originally posted by FourString:
scrounge,

Please spar us the old and tired, and very, very typical, right wing response. No one here is saying that we should apologize or treat this guy (if he's even captured) as if he were a respectful citizen. What's we're saying is that torture is wrong, immoral, and illegal. Deal with it.

No...He has rights too..He's earned his place at the top he should be treated like a King!

Now if he was the real enemy, you know a conservsative republican trying to protect the nations best interests, hang 'em up by his thumbs!

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Originally posted by FrankieFunk:
Nobody should be a "candidate for water boarding". You're an idiot.

quote:

Originally posted by scrounge:

quote:

Originally posted by FrankieFunk:
scrounge, Dont we want our country to be better than the people we are fighting? We are a civilized society. You seem to believe in this country, as do I. Torture is what separates's us from them. We are not barbaric, we do not torture so we are looked up to.

We are better...But to the liberal apologist/ appeaser, we're not better unless we are the most popular too! We must first seek the UN's approval, check in with Germany and France and be sure that we are appealing to their softer gentler (food for oil) side....

Torture is not what seperates us, Freedom is what seperates us, Your ability to piss all over those that are trying to prtotect you ..is what seperates us...Usery is another large seperation. They stand united...we whine and moan....

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Who would Jesus hang by his thumbs (or water board)?

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Originally posted by FourString:

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Originally posted by scrounge:

quote:

Originally posted by FourString:
scrounge,

Please spar us the old and tired, and very, very typical, right wing response. No one here is saying that we should apologize or treat this guy (if he's even captured) as if he were a respectful citizen. What's we're saying is that torture is wrong, immoral, and illegal. Deal with it.

No...He has rights too..He's earned his place at the top he should be treated like a King!

Now if he was the real enemy, you know a conservsative republican trying to protect the nations best interests, hang 'em up by his thumbs!

Who would Jesus hang by his thumbs (or water board)?

Once again you show that you must take things to a silly extreme every time. No one is saying he should be treated like a king. We're just saying that torturing him would violate the international law our representative government has seen fit to abide by. Is that really hard for you to understand?

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Originally posted by Mazski9:

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Who would Jesus hang by his thumbs (or water board)?

We don't have to worry about that in the U.S. anymore as the left is trying to run Jesus out of the country too. The only time the left envokes the name of Jesus is to make a point. Shameful!

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Originally posted by FrankieFunk:

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Originally posted by Mazski9:

quote:

Who would Jesus hang by his thumbs (or water board)?

We don't have to worry about that in the U.S. anymore as the left is trying to run Jesus out of the country too. The only time the left envokes the name of Jesus is to make a point. Shameful!

The "left" is not trying to run Jesus out of the country. I know it's a strange concept but some people believe that religion should be kept in the home and the church, and never in school or government. Its called separation of church and state

quote:

Originally posted by Mazski9:

quote:

Who would Jesus hang by his thumbs (or water board)?

We don't have to worry about that in the U.S. anymore as the left is trying to run Jesus out of the country too. The only time the left envokes the name of Jesus is to make a point. Shameful!

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Originally posted by scrounge:

quote:

Originally posted by FrankieFunk:

quote:

Originally posted by Mazski9:

quote:

Who would Jesus hang by his thumbs (or water board)?

We don't have to worry about that in the U.S. anymore as the left is trying to run Jesus out of the country too. The only time the left envokes the name of Jesus is to make a point. Shameful!

The "left" is not trying to run Jesus out of the country. I know it's a strange concept but some people believe that religion should be kept in the home and the church, and never in school or government. Its called separation of church and state

Again the liberals take Jefferesons letter out of context.

Do you even know why he wrote that letter? Do you know what the intent in the letter is about?