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The bombs that ripped through Baghdad on Sunday immediately brought more bloodshed -- and bode only of the promise of more to come. The attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq -- a group affiliated with al Qaeda in Iraq -- and there's nothing to suggest the attacks will come to an end. It's part of a long-running campaign to destabilize the U.S. mission, the Iraqi government and to reignite sectarian civil war. The slaughter is not new but the extent of the killings in these bombings -- 160 dead and more than 500 injured -- do...

President Barack Obama condemned Sunday two deadly car bombs set off in Baghdad near high-profile government offices that killed over 130 people. The Iraqi government initially said that the bombings bore the signature of al-Qaeda in Iraq. The blasts went off near the federal Ministry of Justice and the Baghdad provincial offices. "I strongly condemn these outrageous attacks on the Iraqi people, and send my deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones," Obama said in a statement. "These bombings serve no purpose other than the murder of innocent men, women and children, and they only reveal the hateful...

KIRKUK — Iraqi Police here on Tuesday detained nine suspected al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) members in possession of bomb making materials. One of the nine is believed to be Abdallah Abd Qadir, who is known to have purchased thousands of pounds of ammonium nitrate in 2006. Qadir has ties to known AQI members associated with insurgent activity in Baghdad. Iraqi Police in the Domies neighborhood of Kirkuk city stopped two suspicious vehicles at a routine traffic check point Monday, which led to the discovery of more than 300 pounds of ammonium nitrate and a can of gasoline in the...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Al-Qaeda has staged the majority of violent attacks in Iraq since the end of June, when US troops withdrew from the country's cities, a top US officer said on Thursday. "In the period that we're looking at right now, post-30 June, I consider most of the attacks, the high-profile attacks that you are seeing and that are getting the publicity, are Al-Qaeda attacks," General Charles Jacoby, the number two ranking US officer in Iraq, told reporters via video link. The general spoke after at least 22 people were killed and 45 wounded on Thursday when a suicide...

Biden Warns Iraq Leaders Of Return to Ethnic Fights By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG Published: July 3, 2009 BAGHDAD — Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. told Iraqi leaders on Friday that he and President Obama were committed to helping them resolve their political differences, but he warned that the United States would be unlikely to remain engaged in Iraq if the country reverted to sectarian violence, American officials said. Mr. Biden spent the day in closed-door meetings to assess Iraq’s political and security situation as part of his new role as an unofficial envoy for the Obama administration. He emerged...

ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT, June 30, 2009 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today he’s heartened that al-Qaida hasn’t been able to reignite sectarian violence in Iraq despite its acts of violence leading up to today’s deadline for U.S. troops to leave Iraqi cities. Commanders on the ground anticipated for weeks that al-Qaida and other extremists would take advantage of the U.S. troops’ compliance with the U.S.-Iraq status of forces agreement to launch attacks, Gates told reporters returning to Washington with him after a change-of-command ceremony at U.S. European Command headquarters in Germany. While capitalizing on what they perceive...

WASHINGTON, June 30, 2009 – Iraqi forces, aided by coalition advisors, arrested suspected terrorists June 28 in operations in Iraq, military officials reported. Iraqi special operations forces and coalition advisors arrested a suspected terrorist in Baghdad. The suspect is believed to be the low-level commander of an insurgent group responsible for coordinating a local resident’s murder and an attack against Iraqi army forces. Elsewhere, Iraq’s 7th Regional Commando Battalion, assisted by coalition advisors, arrested two suspected terrorists in Ninevah province. One of the men is suspected of being a financier for a terrorist cell, and the other is believed to...

I redid my video due to the sound being pulled off my original Youtube video. This video contains info on Salman Pak. This Saddam/Iraq-Al Qaeda connection was not made easily available by the Mainstream Press, Democrats or 911 Commission. Please share it

The British Army’s SAS Regiment, which played a vital role in defeating al-Qaeda in Iraq, is now arriving in Afghanistan in one of the biggest deployments of UK special forces since the Second World War. Two squadrons from 22 SAS are being sent to Afghanistan now that Britain’s combat role in Iraq has been wound up, to carry out clandestine operations against the Taleban. The deployment of the SAS, which will be joining the Special Boat Service (SBS) already serving in southern Afghanistan, represents a mini-surge of troops to add to the 700 regular British soldiers going out for a...

Senior intelligence officials yesterday acknowledged that two al-Qaeda operatives, Abu Zubaida and Khalid Sheik Mohammed, had been questioned about alleged links between al-Qaeda and Iraq when the two men underwent CIA interrogation in 2002 and 2003. But the officials denied that the questioning on Iraq had included waterboarding. "The two top priorities driving so-called enhanced interrogation techniques were information on the locations of al-Qaeda leadership and plots against the United States," one intelligence official said yesterday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the subject publicly. "Questions were asked about Iraq, but the notion...

TG-132 SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON-- The U.S. Department of the Treasury today targeted the support network of al-Qa'ida in Iraq (AQI) by designating Syria-based Sa'ad Uwayyid 'Ubayd Mu'jil al Shammari (aka Abu Khalaf) under Executive Order 13224. E.O. 13224 targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. AQI is a Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. "We will continue to aggressively implement the international obligation to target al-Qa'ida-linked terrorists, like Abu Khalaf, who threaten the safety of Coalition Forces and the stability of Iraq," said Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Abu Khalaf...

Last October, as the Bush administration was touting a dramatic drop in the number of suicide bombings in Iraq, four young Tunisian men left their homes for Libya and then on to Syria. There, they were met at the Damascus airport and taken to a safe house. Six tedious months passed until their handlers felt that it was safe to move the men again. In April, they were smuggled across the Iraqi border; within days, two were dead, among the suicide bombers who have killed at least 370 Iraqis in a wave of spectacular attacks over the past several weeks....

April 9, 2009 General Ray Odierno: we may miss Iraq deadline to halt al-Qaeda terror (Karim Kadim/AP) President Obama has pledged to withdraw all combat forces from Iraq by August 2010 The activities of al-Qaeda in two of Iraq’s most troubled cities could keep US combat troops engaged beyond the June 30 deadline for their withdrawal, the top US commander in the country has warned. US troop numbers in Mosul and Baqubah, in the north of the country, could rise rather than fall over the next year if necessary, General Ray Odierno told The Times in his first interview with...

Sheik Hamid al-Hayess is not optimistic. A burly man with a thick black mustache and closely knitted brows, he is one of the founding members of the Anbar Awakening. The grouping of Sunni tribal sheiks in the once al-Qaeda–infested western province turned against the insurgents and sided with the U.S. military, providing the model for what became a nationwide campaign known as the Sahwa. But that model is in trouble. "The Sahwa has been infiltrated by al-Qaeda," he says somberly. "A civil war is coming." If it happens, this time the lines in the sand will more likely be between...

.."60 percent of the detainees who were released and returned to these areas have returned to fighting."

In announcing the US’s plans to withdraw from Iraq, and going as far as setting a date, President Obama has literally given away the Iraqi store. Citing progress, the continually improving Iraqi training cycles, and Afghanistan the United States has given the terrorist organization plenty of times to order new drapes and carpeting.

Iraqi policemen shot dead four US soldiers and their local interpreter in the main northern city of Mosul on Tuesday, an interior ministry official said. "Four US soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter were killed by two Iraqi policemen who opened fire at them in the Dawasa district of (central) Mosul and then fled," the official told AFP, declining to be named. The incident took place during a US army visit to the Mosul headquarters of the Iraqi police in charge of protecting the city's bridges, police said. The bullet-riddled body of the interpreter was taken to the local mortuary. It...

SNIPPET: "Curious, The Mouth asked Multi-National Forces-Iraq in Baghdad a series of questions last November about Iranian subversive activity. Read the questions and answers after the jump. - James Gordon Meek Q: Are Iranian-made Explosively-Formed Penetrator bombs still coming into the country? A: We continue to find caches that include Iranian weapons - many in their original packaging - including Explosively-Formed Penetrators and 107mm, 122mm, and 240mm rockets. Q: How many EFP incidents occur on average per month now? A: Approximately 3-7 per month. Q: Have the EFP attacks decreased at all? A: Yes, we are seeing a reduction in...

I would like to devote my time to research and post such research that would put to rest any doubts or misinformation about the validity of a link between Iraq's leadership under Saddam Hussein and the Al Qaeda terrorist network. What I need most is links or references to official documents, relevant source non-biased source materials, and or confirmed quotable information. What isn't needed are posts from other conservative bloggers or "news" sites that are inherently biased towards defending their view. Any help would be appreciated.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. Army is investigating allegations that Special Forces troops killed an al Qaeda suspect in cold blood and cut off his finger during an overnight operation near Baghdad earlier this month. The U.S. Army is investigating the killing of Iraqi bomb-making suspect, Hardan al-Jaburi. The December 10 raid, on a house in the Salman Pak district, 15 miles south of Baghdad, targeted suspected bomb-maker Hardan al-Jaburi. In a statement, the U.S. military said al-Jaburi, armed with an AK-47, confronted troops conducting the raid. "Perceiving hostile intent, the forces engaged the armed man, killing him," the...

RAMADI, Iraq (AFP) — Six Iraqi policemen and seven Al-Qaeda militants were killed when the militants attempted a pre-dawn breakout from a police station in the western city of Ramadi, police said."During an exchange of fire between prisoners trying to escape and police officers in the station, six policemen and seven prisoners were killed," provincial police chief Tareq al-Dulaimi said.Three prisoners managed to escape and one was re-arrested, Dulaimi said, adding that another four policemen were wounded in the shootout that occurred at 2 am (2300 GMT Thursday) at Forsan police station in the centre of Ramadi.Ramadi police have imposed...

I spent the last two weeks of last month as an embedded reporter with the United States Army in Baghdad and was disappointed to see that, despite the overwhelming success of the surge, Iraq is as rundown and dysfunctional as ever. Yes, the country is less violent now than at any time since the U.S. invaded in 2003, but Iraq is still Iraq. Many Americans and Iraqis I spoke to feel a sense of dread and foreboding about what will happen when American forces soon begin to withdraw. Without the presence of American soldiers as peacekeepers, Gen. David Petraeus' brilliant...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2008 – Coalition forces in Iraq apprehended an alleged key member of the Kataib Hezbollah network and two other suspects during an operation early today in Baghdad's Adhamiyah district. Officials believe Kataib Hezbollah is a surrogate group for the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Acting on intelligence information, coalition forces targeted an alleged Kataib Hezbollah bombing cell leader believed to be responsible for recent attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces and Iraqi citizens. Coalition forces approached a residence in search of the suspected terrorist. The wanted man identified himself to forces, and was apprehended without incident,...

BALAD, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces, with Coalition force advisors, captured two suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq cell members and a Jaysh al-Mahdi Special Groups cell leader during separate operations in Iraq Nov. 29. Hillah Special Weapons and Tactics conducted an operation capturing a JAM-SG cell leader. The individual is believed to be the leader of the A- Imam JAM-SG cell operating throughout the Babil province. The cell is allegedly responsible for conducting numerous attacks against Coalition force bases as well as improvised explosive device attacks on CF convoys. In Balad, elements from the 4th Iraqi Army captured two Ansar al-Sunna...

BAGHDAD – 12 Iraqi policemen were killed and 35 IPs and civilians were wounded when two improvised explosive device detonated at approximately 1 p.m. Dec. 1 in eastern Baghdad. The first IED blast occurred outside the Baghdad IP Academy in Rusafa and the second blast, a car bomb, exploded 150 meters north of the entrance and was specifically targeting first responders. The attacks occurred within a minute of each other. Iraqi Security Forces and Soldiers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, responded to the attack to help secure the site. The injured were...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- Blasts at Baghdad's police academy and in the northern city of Mosul have killed 30 people and wounded dozens more, hours after a roadside bomb wounded a senior Iraqi official, police said. Violence has fallen sharply over the last year as successive security crackdowns dealt insurgent groups a heavy blow, but officials say militants are now concentrating their efforts on attention-grabbing attacks ahead of elections next year. People were queuing at the back entrance of the police academy in east Baghdad to enroll when a car bomb exploded, followed minutes later by a suicide bomb attack, police...

November 20, 2008 HP-1284 Treasury Designates al-Qaida in Iraq Facilitator Washington, DC--The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated Redouane El Habhab, a Germany-based terrorist financier and facilitator who has provided financial support and other services to al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI). "We must remain vigilant in our efforts to shut every funding stream terrorists and their supporters exploit to carry out attacks in Iraq and around the world," said Adam Szubin, director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. "The power and reach of the UN's counterterrorism authorities continue to be critically important tools to shut down financing conduits wherever...

We won. The Iraq War is over. I declare November 22, 2008 to be "Victory in Iraq Day." (Hereafter known as "VI Day.") By every measure, The United States and coalition forces have conclusively defeated all enemies in Iraq, pacified the country, deposed the previous regime, successfully helped to establish a new functioning democratic government, and suppressed any lingering insurgencies. The war has come to an end. And we won. What more indication do you need? An announcement from the outgoing Bush administration? It's not gonna happen. An announcement from the incoming Obama administration? That's really not gonna happen. A...

BAGHDAD — Coalition forces killed two terrorists, captured five wanted men and detained five additional suspects Saturday and Sunday as they continued striking al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) around the country. Coalition forces targeted a senior leader of a terrorist organization during an operation in Baghdad on Sunday. When forces arrived at the residence believed to house the terrorist, they called for its occupants to surrender. Two individuals in the building repeatedly refused to comply with instructions and then began acting in a threatening manner. Perceiving hostile intent, Coalition forces engaged the men, killing them both. None of the building's other...

Eclipsed by the election campaignining, this story slipped under the radar. Much has been said about the invasion of Iraq. Often there are claims that there were no weapons of mass destruction and no ties to Al Queda. In fact, most of the WMD claims that were made before the invasion turned out to be true. Iraq was not clean and innocent in regards to WMD, and the ties to Al Queda were wrongly dismissed. One of those ties regard Saddam’s involvement with Al Queda groups like Ansar al Islam which no one disputes was present and active in the...

BAGHDAD — During another round of devastating blows to al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) networks, Coalition forces captured 22 suspects Friday and Saturday throughout Iraq. Coalition forces operating in the vicinity of Tikrit, about 160 km north of Baghdad, targeted terrorist networks in the TigrisRiver Valley Friday. One man believed to be associated with a local terrorist leader was detained for additional questioning. Friday in Kirkuk, Coalition forces captured one wanted man believed to have ties with AQI leaders in the region. Four additional suspects were detained during the operation. About 160 km south of Mosul in the village of Bayji,...

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military says U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed a senior Al Qaeda in Iraq leader in the Tarmiyah area north of Baghdad. A U.S. statement says the Al Qaeda leader, known as Abu Ghazwan, was killed Thursday during a raid on a weapons cache.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi security forces supported by U.S. firepower killed a senior al Qaeda leader who made car bombs and ran Islamist militant cells throughout northern Iraq, the U.S. military said on Friday. A statement said the Iraqi army and members of a U.S.- backed Sunni Arab neighborhood patrol shot Abu Ghazwan as he hid in the grass near a house they were searching on Thursday in Tarmiya, north of Baghdad. The patrol had been attacked with guns and a bomb in the house. "While further searching the area, a (neighborhood patrol) member discovered a trail booby-trapped with grenades...

BAGHDAD (AP) — Two Iraqi insurgent groups called on President-elect Barack Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and abandon the war on terror, an Internet monitoring service reported Friday. Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, self-styled head of the al-Qaida front group the Islamic State of Iraq, said in a speech posted on an extremist Web site that it would be better "for you and us" to "withdraw your forces," according to the SITE Intelligence Group that monitors militant Web sites. Al-Baghdadi blamed the global financial crisis on the wars "launched in Muslim countries" and said he was issuing the call on...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2008 – Coalition forces killed one enemy fighter and detained 17 terrorism suspects in operations throughout Iraq yesterday and today, military officials reported. Coalition forces in Mosul conducted multiple operations in the city today, capturing nine individuals with alleged ties to al-Qaida’s senior leader, weapons and communications networks. Two suspects were detained during three coordinated operations targeting the city's terrorist networks. Mosul al-Qaida leadership networks were dealt another blow when four men were detained during an operation targeting an al-Qaida operative with links to the city's terrorist leaders. Coalition forces also targeted an alleged weapons smuggler for...

In my new book titled The Link: The Secret Relationship between Saddam and al Qaida, I have done an exhaustive review of these Iraqi documents and have found new evidence regarding Saddam Hussein’s regime and his relationship with al Qaida. Within these documents, memos, and transcripts, the truth behind Colin Powell’s address to the United Nations on February 5, 2003 is revealed. In my book, I have detailed with facts that Saddam was financing, training, supporting, and providing a safe haven for al Qaida.

The U.S. military says the No. 2 leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq has been killed by Coalition forces during an Oct. 5 operation in the northern city of Mosul. The military has positively identified the insurgent leader as a Moroccan known as Abu Qaswarah or Abu Sara.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Coalition forces in Baghdad have killed the man believed to be the mastermind of recent bombings in the Iraqi capital, the U.S. military said. Mahir Ahmad Mahmud Judu al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Rami and Abu Assad, was believed to be the leader of one of al Qaeda in Iraq's Baghdad networks, the military said in a statement issued Friday. The military said intelligence reports led coalition forces to a building in Baghdad's Adhamiya neighborhood Friday. They surrounded the building and called on the occupants to surrender but were engaged by small arms fire, the military...

U.S.-led forces said they shot dead a leader of al Qaeda in Iraq on Friday who was the mastermind behind a series of deadly recent bombings in Baghdad. A spokesman for coalition forces said Mahir Ahmad Mahmud Judu' al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Assad or Abu Rami, had been al Qaeda in Iraq's "emir" of the Rusafa neighborhood of the capital.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2008 – Coalition forces captured three wanted men and detained eight additional suspected terrorists yesterday and today during operations targeting al-Qaida in Iraq in and around Baghdad and Mosul, military officials reported. Southeast of Mosul yesterday, coalition forces targeting al-Qaida communication networks captured one wanted man believed to be a courier for the terrorist organization. The man, who identified himself to coalition forces during the operation, is also believed to have connections to al-Qaida communication lines coming out of Mosul. Today in Mosul, a coalition force operation targeting a wanted man believed to be a foreign terrorist...

Senator Barack Obama’s answer to Katie Couric’s question a few days ago about why he thinks there have been no terrorist attacks on American soil since September 11, 2001, was bizarre. “Well,” he said, “I think that the initial invasion into Afghanistan disrupted al Qaeda. And that was the right thing to do. I mean, we had to knock out those safe havens. And that, I think, weakened them. We did some work in strengthening our homeland security apparatus here. Obviously, the average person knows that when they go to the airport, because they are goin’ through taking off...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18, 2008 – Coalition forces captured three wanted men and detained nine additional suspected terrorists during operations to disrupt the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist network yesterday and today, military officials reported. In Biaj today, about 80 miles southwest of Mosul, coalition forces captured three wanted men believed to be associated with an al-Qaida organization facilitating the entry of foreign terrorists into Iraq. Two separate operations yesterday and today in the vicinity of Sharqat, about 55 miles south of Mosul, netted three suspects believed to be al-Qaida in Iraq liaisons. Another operation today in the Sharqat area resulted in...

--snip the Sunni population switched from attacking American (and Iraqi Army) soldiers to aligning with them. What prompted that switch was the contrast in behavior of the American versus the al Qaeda fighters. Beginning in 2003, the Sunnis had invited or at least accepted al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). The rate of infiltration from Syria, primarily into western Anbar Province, was about 100 to 200 a month in ’03 thru late ’05. This small minority proselytized among the dozen of resistance cells, many of whom were Baathist-led or influenced. AQI recruited the weak-minded and especially the criminal elements. AQI, wrapped...

Latest Covert Radio Show is Rocking. We talk to Debbie Schlussel at Debbie Does Politics.com about a huge scandal inside ICE. Hezbollah owns a DO inside? Unreal. Then we talk to Bill Roggio from LWJ, where we talk about AQI in freefall. Seriously, Al Qaeda in Iraq is a mess! Then we look at Mexican denials about AQ and terrorists coming across the Mexi Border and a breaking story about AQ recruiting inside the Palestinian Camps of Lebanon. Huge Show Capping a Huge Week! 60 Minutes

Al Qaeda in Iraq's sanctuaries have virtually disappeared from December 2006 to August 2008. Light red areas are where al Qaeda can operate, dark red areas are controlled by al Qaeda. Al Qaeda's senior leadership has lost confidence in its commander in Iraq and views the situation in the country as dire, according to a series of letters intercepted by Multinational Forces Iraq earlier this year. The letters, which have been sent exclusively to The Long War Journal by Multinational Forces Iraq, are a series of communications between Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second in command, Abu Ayyub al...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9, 2008 – At the end of 2006, Iraq seemed on the verge of a civil war. Al-Qaida was inciting divisions between Sunni and Shiia Iraqis. The newly elected government seemed ineffectual. Militia groups roamed neighborhoods and intimidated those who did not agree with them. More than 100 U.S. servicemembers per month were being killed in fighting in the country. Today, that number has dropped dramatically, thanks largely to the troop surge and a new strategy that senior military officials credit with laying the groundwork for success throughout Iraq. U.S. officials understood the challenges in Iraq and studied...

HAWR RAJAB — Six months ago, the town of Hawr Rajab was a mere shell of its former self. Local shops were closed, their windows boarded up. The streets were abandoned. Homes were badly damaged. The town was once an al Qaida in Iraq (AQI) stronghold where violence and intimidation forced residents to flee their homes. But today Hawr Rajab is a different place. Air Force Capt. Michael Askegren, Patrol Base Stone site officer in charge, is deployed from Hurlburt Field, Fla. He had an eye-witness view of the city’s gradual transformation. “It’s a recovering city. You can see the...

Given Hurricane Gustav, the GOP convention—and the MSM's inherent inclination to underreport good news from Iraq—a major story is not getting the attention it deserves. Here's how President Bush described the development [the photo shows U.S. Marine Maj. Gen John Kelly and Anbar Governor Maamoun Sami Rashid signing the handover papers. (AP Photo/Wathiq Khuzaie, Pool)]: "Today in Iraq, responsibility for security in Anbar Province was transferred to Iraqi civilian authorities. Iraqi forces will now take the lead in security operations in Anbar, with American troops moving into an overwatch role. Not long ago, Anbar was one of the most dangerous...

More than 3,500 insurgents have been "taken off the streets of Baghdad" by the elite British force in a series of audacious "Black Ops" over the past two years. It is understood that while the majority of the terrorists were captured, several hundred, who were mainly members of the organisation known as "al-Qa'eda in Iraq" have been killed by the SAS. The SAS is part of a highly secretive unit called "Task Force Black" which also includes Delta Force, the US equivalent of the SAS. The prime targets have been those intent on joining the wave of suicide car bombers...

Hundreds of terrorists have been killed by the SAS waging a "secret war" against al-Qaeda in Iraq, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose. More than 3,500 insurgents have been "taken off the streets of Baghdad" by the elite British force in a series of audacious "Black Ops" over the past two years.