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WASHINGTON — Al-Qaida terrorists have been largely marginalized in Iraq’s Babil province, thanks to the joint efforts of Iraqi and U.S. security forces, as well as local “Sons of Iraq” citizen security groups, a senior U.S. military officer posted in Iraq said July 24. “The organization related to al-Qaida is severely disrupted, … as well as the [extremist] militia” in Babil province,” Army Col. Tom James, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, said during a satellite-carried news conference with Pentagon reporters. “Overall, we are extremely optimistic about the security situation in Babil province, because of the...

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2008 – Al-Qaida terrorists have been largely marginalized in Iraq’s Babil province, thanks to the joint efforts of Iraqi and U.S. security forces, as well as local “Sons of Iraq” citizen security groups, a senior U.S. military officer posted in Iraq said today. “The organization related to al-Qaida is severely disrupted, … as well as the [extremist] militia” in Babil province,” Army Col. Tom James, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, said during a satellite-carried news conference with Pentagon reporters. “Overall, we are extremely optimistic about the security situation in Babil province, because...

BALAD, Iraq – Since the beginning of July, three highly sought after suspected terrorists have surrendered to Iraqi Security and Coalition forces. An emir of the Sinjar area Islamic State of Iraq, a front organization for al-Qaeda in Iraq, surrendered to the Iraqi Army for reconciliation in Kisik July 5, about 43 km west of Mosul. The suspect is reportedly involved in terrorist and foreign fighter facilitation and a leader of rocket and improvised explosive device cells. In Rutbah, a suspected AQI emir of the Rutbah region turned himself in to Coalition forces. The suspect is known to facilitate foreign...

Iraqi security forces are massing more than 30,000 soldiers and police for an upcoming operation against al Qaeda and the Mahdi Army in the eastern province of Diyala, according to police and military officials. The operation, which was expected to be launched this week, has been scheduled to kick off on August 1, an anonymous senior Iraqi military officer told AFP. "The operation is aimed at cleansing the region of insurgents, al Qaeda and militias who are still there," the officer said. Like other offensives against al Qaeda and the Mahdi Army, the Diyala operation will be planned and led...

Map of Iraq. Click to view. Iraqi security forces are massing more than 30,000 soldiers and police for an upcoming operation against al Qaeda and the Mahdi Army in the eastern province of Diyala, according to police and military officials. The operation, which was expected to be launched this week, has been scheduled to kick off on August 1, an anonymous senior Iraqi military officer told AFP. "The operation is aimed at cleansing the region of insurgents, al Qaeda and militias who are still there," the officer said. Like other offensives against al Qaeda and the Mahdi Army, the...

'The war in Iraq is over. We won. Which means the Iraqi people won." When I wrote this on my Web site a few days ago, I set off a mini-firestorm. Perhaps because I have spent more time embedded with combat troops in Iraq than any journalist I know - and have interviewed countless Iraqis and members of the coalition military. But I stand by my words, just as I stood by my assertion of February 2005 that Iraq was in a state of civil war, and later understood that Al Qaeda was its proximate cause. Those statements went against...

Have you been keeping up with the good news out of Mosul, al-Qaida's last urban stronghold in Iraq? The good news is that it's not an al-Qaida stronghold any more. Thanks to the latest American and Iraqi offensive. But you might not have heard about that welcome development. American victories don't get all that much play in this country - a pattern that dates back at least to David Halberstam's heyday as a New York Times war correspondent and behind-the-scenes player in Vietnam. For news of victory, Americans may have to look to the foreign press. For example, The Times...

A bomb has exploded in the western Iraqi city of Falluja, killing four policemen and a civilian, police say. Fifteen people were injured in the blast outside a bank in the city. Falluja was at the centre of the Sunni Muslim insurgency following the US-led invasion of Iraq, until local tribes turned against al-Qaeda militants. The casualties were people who were inspecting the scene of an earlier blast when the second explosion was detonated, police said. Police did not say who was behind the attack, but al-Qaeda remnants in Anbar province are often blamed for such bombings. The US military...

BAGHDAD — Iraq experienced the lowest number of acts of violence in more than four years last week, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq said July 9. Security progress in Iraq is unmistakable, Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner said. Civilian deaths around the country were at their lowest point in three years, the general told reporters, adding that the reduction in violence is allowing the Iraqi government and the coalition to put in place projects that improve the quality of life in the country and create jobs for Iraqis. The general said the security improvements are due in large part...

Bombs killed 11 people Monday in northern Iraq, where U.S. and Iraqi troops continue to battle al Qaeda in Iraq militants, police said. A suicide car bomber struck an Awakening Council checkpoint south of Samarra. Four members of the group were killed, police said, and six others were wounded, including three members of the U.S.-backed group, which has emerged as a foe of al Qaeda in Iraq. A bomb ripped through a shop near Baquba, killing a female and wounding 15 people. Police said they believe al Qaeda in Iraq militants planted an explosives-filled plastic bag outside the store. The...

For today's news on the war on terror, we turn to Britain since the America media may never, under any circumstances, report any story containing the word "victory", "win" or "accomplish(ed)". The Times of London is reporting on a "spectacular victory" against al-Qaeda in Iraq. After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul. A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000...

American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror. After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul. A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10. Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the...

We have won the war on terror in the Iraqi theater and there is no doubt about it. Not only that the events on the grounds absolutely prove our victory over Al Qaeda but now even Al Qaeda media is admitting defeat in Iraq. In a recent thread posted on Al Ekhlaas, the largest Al Qaeda forum on the internet, the author of the thread who is also a very prominent member of the terrorist forum admitted that Al Qaeda main battlefield against the US has now moved from Iraq to Afghanistan. In his thread “Qanas Al Jazeera” said that...

American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror. After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul. A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10. Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the...

BAGHDAD — Coalition forces battered the terrorist propaganda network in Baghdad Saturday and Sunday, killing two terrorists and detaining 15 suspects while targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq associates around the country. Coalition forces surrounded a location in Baghdad Saturday targeting a leader of an al-Qaeda in Iraq propaganda cell. Coalition forces engaged and killed one man who drew a weapon when they entered the target building. They engaged and killed another suspected terrorist when they perceived hostile intent from his failure to follow Coalition forces’ instructions. Six suspects who fled to nearby homes were detained, including a man assessed to be...

BAGHDAD – Coalition forces destroyed an al-Qaeda in Iraq safe haven when they seized money, destroyed weapons and detained nine suspected terrorists during two operations in the Tigris River Valley ending June 26. Reporting indicates al-Qaeda in Iraq operatives used the area to build car bombs, facilitate foreign terrorists and provide safe haven for key leaders. During patrols near Tikrit, about 160 kilometers north of Baghdad, Coalition forces discovered a weapons cache that included firearms, more than 3,500 rounds of ammunition and bomb components. During the two-day mission, a patrol near Samarra, about 110 kilometers north of Baghdad, located six...

The US military in Iraq says a militant killed on Tuesday has been positively identified as the leader of al-Qaeda in the city of Mosul. It said the man - identified by a pseudonym, Abu Khalaf - had co-ordinated and ordered many attacks. He was shot dead by American troops during a raid on a building in Mosul. US and Iraqi forces have been carrying out an offensive in the city for more than a month, in an attempt to drive out al-Qaeda in Iraq from Mosul. The city, US and Iraqi officials say, is al-Qaeda's last urban stronghold in...

Bill Roggio's images over at Long War Journal.Org were used in an AQI video recently released. The images of the aftermath of a suicide bombing in Mosul in March of 2008 were originally posted on Long War Journal.Org, as a part of Bill Roggio's reporting. They can be viewed here. Apparently it was these same pictures that caught the eye of Al Qaeda in Iraq. According to LWJ's report on this account. "The 38-minute-long video, titled "The Islamic State is Meant to Stay," was produced by Al Furqan, al Qaeda's media arm in Iraq. Al Furqan has released few videos...

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2008 – Coalition forces killed a senior al-Qaida in Iraq leader and three other attackers today and detained more than a dozen suspects in various recent operations. Coalition forces killed the al-Qaida in Iraq “emir” of Mosul and three other attackers. During the engagement, one man was killed while attempting to detonate a suicide vest he was wearing, and another attacker, a woman, was killed as she tried to detonate the same vest on the dead man. Southwest of Mosul, coalition forces detained two terrorism suspects, and two others were captured in Tikrit, north of Baghdad. In...

US Special Operations Forces scored a major victory in Mosul today. US forces killed al Qaeda's emir, or leader, of the northern city during a raid on a safe house. The emir, who has not been named, was killed after a Special Operations Forces team form Task Force 88, the hunter-killer teams assigned to take down terrorists in Iraq, stormed a building in Mosul. The commandos opened fire after one of the terrorists attempted to detonate his suicide vest was shot and another reached for a pistol. A woman with the group attempted to detonate the vest on the dead...

SARGAT, Iraq, April 4 — Preliminary tests conducted by MSNBC.com indicate that the deadly toxins ricin and botulinum were present on two items found at a camp in a remote mountain region of northern Iraq allegedly used as a terrorist training center by Islamic militants with ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network. The field tests used by MSNBC.com are only a first step in the evidentiary process and are typically followed by more precise laboratory testing that MSNBC.com has not conducted. U.S. intelligence agents were conducting their own tests in the same area and had not yet released their results,...

<p>SARGAT, Iraq, April 4 — MSNBC.com tests reveal evidence of the deadly toxins ricin and botulinum at a laboratory in a remote mountain region of northern Iraq allegedly used as a terrorist training camp by Islamic militants with ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is conducting its own tests at the same area, but has not yet released the results, according to officials in northern Iraq.</p>

The SurrenderMedia recently misreported (there’s a surprise) that Saddam Hussein had no ties to al-Qaeda, when in fact the report the SurrenderMedia was trying to cover said just the opposite. As I noted at the time the analysis showed Saddam Hussein had long time ties with Ayman Zawahiri, who at the time ran the Egyptian Islamic Jihad terrorist group. A group that was integrated into al-Qaeda when Zawahiri joined forces with Bin Laden in the 1990’s. Gateway Pundit has a link to a recent news article out of Iraq showing evidence that Saddam Hussein continued his ties with Zawahiri after...

Car Bomb Blamed on Iranian Backed Shias June 19, 2008 The US military has accused Iranian-backed Shia groups of setting off a car bomb that killed more than 60 people in a mainly Shia area of Baghdad, hinting at yet another new twist in the complex web of violence gripping the capital. “We believe the attack was not conducted by AQI [Al-Qaeda in Iraq],” said Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover, a US army spokesman, said. “Though vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices are a trademark of AQI, our intelligence, corroborated through multiple sources, is this atrocity was committed by a Special Groups cell led...

A car bomb tore through a market area in a mainly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people and wounding dozens, officials said, the deadliest such attack in more than three months. The attack occurred just before 6 p.m. as the market in the northwestern Hurriyah neighborhood was packed with shoppers preparing for their evening meals. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, but it bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq, which is known to use car bombs and suicide attacks. A soft drink vendor who witnessed the blast, Kamil Jassim, said the car that exploded...

Editor's Note: In this exclusive report, CNN's Michael Ware examines the largest collection of al Qaeda in Iraq documents ever to fall into civilian hands, discovering surprises about how the insurgents operate and clues about their strength today.Getty Image> An Iraqi army officer shows a fake ID taken off an al Qaeda suspect in Mosul in May.BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- With Christmas 2005 approaching, the princes of al Qaeda's western command were gathering. They'd been summoned for something special: to plot a three-month campaign of coordinated suicide, rocket and infantry attacks on American bases, checkpoints and Iraqi army positions. In...

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2008 – Although al-Qaida’s operations in Iraq have been battered, the terrorist organization remains a threat to be reckoned with, the U.S. military’s top officer said here today. Al-Qaida is “on the run in Iraq,” Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted at a Government Executive Magazine-hosted breakfast at the National Press Club. The terrorists, he said, are being pressured by U.S. and Iraqi security forces, as well as concerned citizens who want al-Qaida out of their country. However, al-Qaida remains a “lethal foe” of the United States, Mullen cautioned, noting the...

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2008 – Forces in Iraq killed eight enemy fighters, detained 24 terrorism suspects and found various weapons in recent operations, military officials said. Coalition forces killed four men and detained nine suspected terrorists today after detainees in custody provided them with information regarding the location of an al-Qaida in Iraq suicide-bombing network. Coalition forces positively identified the targeted individual, known for making suicide vests, and followed him into a remote area north of Baqouba, about 50 kilometers north of Baghdad. The area was believed to be a hideout used to house weapons, and the house was rigged...

America is very close to succeeding in Iraq. The "near-strategic defeat" of al Qaeda in Iraq described by CIA Director Michael Hayden last month in the Washington Post has been followed by the victory of the Iraqi government's security forces over illegal Shiite militias, including Iranian-backed Special Groups. The enemies of Iraq and America now cling desperately to their last bastions, while the political process builds momentum. These tremendous gains remain fragile and could be lost to skillful enemy action, or errors in Baghdad or Washington. But where the U.S. was unequivocally losing in Iraq at the end of 2006,...

MJ: You hear the Democratic candidates talking about withdrawal, but they don't give timetables. AZ: Yeah, but that's politics. Either it's based on political appeal or it's based on naiveté. We're not going to withdraw from the region. To pull out of Iraq would say we are inviting you to set up a sanctuary and a base of operations. The first time Al Qaeda in Iraq blows up our embassy in Amman, Jordan, guess what? We're back in. The first time the Iranian influence becomes so great that they begin to incite and meddle with the Shiites and start causing...

Hours after Senator Clinton dropped out of the race, and the news cycle was swamped with never-ending coverage of the inevitable doing the inevitable something was released under the radar. linkBack in 2004 the Senate Intelligence Committee began an investigation into pre-war intelligence regarding Saddam's regime, the threat it posed, and how the intelligence was handled. Democrats on the committee did their best to politicize the investigation and give it the appearance of a precursor to impeachment of President Bush under some sort of Bush Lied conspiracy theory. They did this for purely political purposes despite being contrary to national...

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2008 – Officials who manage detention centers in Iraq are getting a valuable look inside the mind of al-Qaida in Iraq, a senior U.S. military officer said here today. U.S. Marine Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone, commander of Task Force 134, conducts a press conference, about his recently completed 14-month tour as deputy commanding general for Detainee Operations with the Multinational Force Iraq, at the Pentagon, June 9, 2008. Defense Dept. photo by Cherie Cullen  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “We have learned so much about who al-Qaida is; we have learned so much about...

BAGHDAD – Coalition forces killed five terrorists, destroyed a foreign terrorist hideout site and detained 13 suspected terrorists in operations around Iraq Sunday and Monday. Detainee reporting led Coalition forces to a foreign terrorist hideout site in a remote area of northwest Iraq Monday. Immediately upon their arrival, Coalition forces received heavy fire from a fortified enemy position. Responding in self-defense, Coalition forces returned fire and called for supporting aircraft. Secondary explosions erupted from the target buildings, indicating weapons and bomb materials inside. Five terrorists were confirmed dead in the engagement. Coalition forces also discovered multiple suicide vests and heavy...

June 9, 2008 WASHINGTON — The leader of the tribal confederation that has fought to expel Al Qaeda from most of Iraq's Anbar province is offering his men to help gin up a rebellion against Osama bin Laden's organization along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

WASHINGTON, June 8, 2008 – Coalition forces captured an alleged al-Qaida in Iraq leader and a man believed to lead a bombing cell under his direction during operations in Mosul today, military officials said. Intelligence information led coalition forces to three locations in Mosul where they found the two wanted men. Four other suspected terrorists also were detained. The alleged terrorist leader reportedly oversees bombing operations in eastern Mosul, while his suspected subordinate is a wiring expert who ordered and controlled bombing attacks in the area. Two women were injured when coalition forces breached the door of a target building....

American troops grabbed two al-Qaida in Iraq bombing suspects and a Shiite militia leader Tuesday in separate raids north and south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.The command also said U.S. soldiers killed four other suspects a day earlier after coming under fire from machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades in Shiite sections of the capital. The troops seized dozens of rifles and several rounds of ammunition, the statement said.One of the two al-Qaida suspects, who was captured with four aides in Mosul, is believed to have overseen security for the group's branch in that northern city, the military said. Mosul...

How odd (or to be expected) that suddenly intelligence agencies, analysts, journalists, and terrorists themselves are attesting that al-Qaeda is in near ruins, that ideologically radical Islam is losing its appeal, and that terrorist incidents against Americans at home and abroad outside the war zones are at an all-time low—and yet few associate the radical change in fortune in Iraq as a contributory cause to our success. But surely the US military contributed a great deal to the humiliation of al-Qaedists and the bankruptcy of their cause, since it has (1) killed thousands of generic jihadists, and to such a...

Don't look now, but evidence of progress in the war on terror is just about everywhere. Last week CIA director Michael Hayden noted some U.S. accomplishments for the Washington Post: "Near strategic defeat of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Near strategic defeat for al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. Significant setbacks for al-Qaeda globally." USA Today: Attacks in Iraq are "down 70 percent since President Bush ordered a U.S. troop increase, or 'surge,' early last year." The New Yorker's Lawrence Wright devoted a long essay to Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, onetime mentor to Ayman al Zawahiri, who now criticizes his former protégé and Osama bin...

BAGHDAD – Coalition forces captured four men wanted for their ties to al-Qaeda in Iraq and detained ten additional suspects during operations around Mosul and Baghdad Sunday. Coalition forces captured two wanted men in Mosul who are believed to associate with al-Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders in the city. The force also detained three additional suspected associates and four individuals allegedly tied to an AQI leader who conducts bombing attacks. West of Balad, about 80 kilometers north of Baghdad, Coalition forces detained four suspected terrorists, including a man wanted for his ties to AQI senior leaders in Salah ad-Din province....

THERE'S BEEN a relative lull in news coverage and debate about Iraq in recent weeks -- which is odd, because May could turn out to have been one of the most important months of the war. While Washington's attention has been fixed elsewhere, military analysts have watched with astonishment as the Iraqi government and army have gained control for the first time of the port city of Basra and the sprawling Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, routing the Shiite militias that have ruled them for years and sending key militants scurrying to Iran. At the same time, Iraqi and U.S....

Don't look now, but the U.S.-backed government and army may be winning the war.[From the Washington Post!] THERE'S BEEN a relative lull in news coverage and debate about Iraq in recent weeks -- which is odd, because May could turn out to have been one of the most important months of the war. While Washington's attention has been fixed elsewhere, military analysts have watched with astonishment as the Iraqi government and army have gained control for the first time of the port city of Basra and the sprawling Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, routing the Shiite militias that have ruled...

A year ago in July, a National Intelligence Estimate warned that al Qaeda had "protected or regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability," meaning it could be poised to strike America again. The political reaction was instantaneous and damning. "This clearly says al Qaeda is not beaten," said Michael Scheuer, the former CIA spook turned antiterror scold. What a difference 10 months – and a surge – make. CIA Director Michael Hayden painted a far more optimistic picture in an interview yesterday in the Washington Post. "On balance, we are doing pretty well," he said. "Near strategic defeat of...

CIA Director Michael Hayden gave a noteworthy interview to the Washington Post this week. According to the Post: Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaeda, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world, including in its presumed haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. In a strikingly upbeat assessment, the CIA chief cited major gains against al-Qaeda’s allies in the Middle East and an increasingly successful campaign to destabilize the group’s core...

War On Terror: Before the surge, the CIA said the Iraq War was boosting al-Qaida globally. Now it finds the group is beaten in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and is losing elsewhere. Imagine if we'd surrendered in Iraq.In a Washington Post interview last week to mark his two years as head of the Central Intelligence Agency, Gen. Michael Hayden rattled off a list of accomplishments: "Near strategic defeat of al-Qaida in Iraq. Near strategic defeat for al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia. Significant setbacks for al-Qaida globally — and here I'm going to use the word 'ideologically' — as a lot of...

MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi security forces shot dead at least 11 suspected Al-Qaeda operatives who were hiding in a sheep truck near the northern city of Tikrit on Friday, the defence ministry said. The men were killed in fighting at a checkpoint between ousted dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and Baiji, ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari said. "Members of the Iraqi special forces intercepted a truck transporting animals, but there were 11 Al-Qaeda fighters hiding in it," Askari told AFP, adding that one of the men was a foreigner from an unidentified Arab nation. Askari said the...

Charles Krauthammer at his best, brilliantly making the point that not only is Al Qaeda on the run in Iraq, they're being humiliated:

CIA chief Michael Hayden warned that al-Qaeda remains a serious threat. (By Kevin Wolf -- Associated Press) Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaeda, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world, including in its presumed haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. In a strikingly upbeat assessment, the CIA chief cited major gains against al-Qaeda's allies in the Middle East and an increasingly successful campaign to destabilize the group's core leadership....

Coalition Special Operations Forces captured a "key Special Groups financier" with direct links to Iran's Qods Force in the city of Mahmudiyah on May 28. "He is suspected to be the primary financier between Iranian intelligence elements and Special Groups criminals in Mahmudiyah and southern Baghdad and was reportedly distributing funds to weapons smugglers supplying criminals in those areas," Multinational Forces Iraq reported in a press release. The Special Groups financier has conducted his activities outside Iraq, according to Multinational Forces Iraq. He is "believed to travel to Iran and Syria to procure funds on behalf of Special Groups senior...

Al Qaeda web sites are making a lot of noise about "why we lost in Iraq." Western intelligence agencies are fascinated by the statistics being posted in several of these Arab language sites. Not the kind of stuff you read about in the Western media. According to al Qaeda, their collapse in Iraq was steep and catastrophic. According to their stats, in late 2006, al Qaeda was responsible for 60 percent of the terrorist attacks, and nearly all the ones that involved killing a lot of civilians. The rest of the violence was carried out by Iraqi Sunni Arab groups,...

WASHINGTON, May 27, 2008 – Al-Qaida terrorists in Iraq are being systematically hunted down and given little or no time to regroup as U.S. and Iraqi security forces tighten the noose, senior U.S. and Iraqi military officials said May 25 in Baghdad. Al-Qaida terrorists were ejected from Baghdad and its environs more than a year ago by the surge of U.S. and Iraqi forces, Navy Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll told reporters at a news conference. Driscoll was accompanied by Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mohammed al Askari. “Recent improvements by the government of Iraq and the growing capability of...