Posted on 02/10/2008 11:12:22 AM PST by Dawnsblood
On Nov. 3, U.S. soldiers raided a safe house of the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq near the northern city of Balad. Not a single combatant was captured, but inside the house they found something valuable: a diary and will written in neat Arabic script.
"I am Abu Tariq, Emir of al-Layin and al-Mashadah Sector," it began.
Over 16 pages, the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader detailed the organization's demise in his sector. He once had 600 men, but now his force was down to 20 or fewer, he wrote. They had lost weapons and allies. Abu Tariq focused his anger in particular on the Sunni fighters and tribesmen who have turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq and joined the U.S.-backed Sunni Sahwa, or "Awakening," forces.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
I wonder if the diary had one of those little locks on it?
It of course won’t get much coverage in the MSM but it’s received surprisingly good internet coverage today.
They can regroup under Obama or Clinton.
Insurgent, my a$$.
Obviously there was no little lock or else they’d have never been able to read it. LOL!
Dear Diary, today I went to the bathroom but forgot my water bottle. It took me forever to get the poop off my left hand by wiping it on the walls and rocks I found nearby. I had almost got it cleaned up when a cobra flew overhead and scared me so bad I fell over into my poo. But the fight goes on!
This means that I read the actual diary, here on FR, before the WAPO and MSNBC even got it. It is stunning that we can read the actual news, before the MSM gets to spin it.
[He provided details of what appears to be one of the ways his group financed its activities — buying and selling trucks and cars, which he called “spoils.”. .]
The definition of “spoils” in war is plunder or loot taken from the enemy. This leads me to distrust this translation or the POST’s version of anything else happening in Iraq.
“A scanned copy of the diary with names redacted with black ink was provided to The Washington Post on Saturday.”
Skilled analysts often count spaces in blanked out names to identify the deletions. Here’s a helpful hint for those who want to try this at home: ‘Reid’ has four letters, ‘Murtha’ has five letters, and ‘Pelosi’ has six letters.
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