Press Conferences Yield New Information on Zarqawi Killing & Successor (updated)
By Andrew Cochran
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One leading expert in Washington, Alexis Debat of ABC News and the Nixon Center, told me yesterday that the Pentagon and NSC are determined to not discuss this individual as "the terrorist leader" as was done with Zarqawi, in order to avoid pressure to focus resources on a single individual, when in fact al-Qaida in Iraq is not only source of the violence there. Gen. Caldwell also discussed the numerous raids following the Zarqawi killing and arrests and deaths of terrorist suspects: 452 raids, 759 suspects captured, 104 insurgents killed, and 28 significant arms caches found. Of the raids, 255 were joint U.S.-Iraqi operations, with 143 by Iraqi forces alone.
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