Free Republic

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...