More success that will go unnoticed
If you believe the New York Times, or the faulty GAO report, then this isn't going to mean much to you. To the people of Iraq however this is just more success in the surge operations:
A U.S. air strike killed a senior al Qaeda militant who masterminded truck bombings on Iraq's minority Yazidi community last month that killed more than 400 people, the military said on Sunday.
"On September 3, a coalition air strike killed the terrorist responsible for the planning and conducting of the horrific attack against the Yazidis in northern Iraq on August 14," military spokesman Rear Admiral Mark Fox told a news conference.
Iraq's government has put the death toll at 411 from the suicide bombings, although the Iraqi Red Crescent has said it could be more than 500. The bombings in the villages of Kahtaniya and al-Jazeera were the deadliest militant attacks in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
A U.S. military statement named the mastermind as Abu Mohammad al-Afri, adding he was the al Qaeda "emir," or prince, in the area where the bombings took place.
Fox said he was an associate of Abu Ayyab al-Masri, the Egyptian leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.
Afri was killed in an air strike southwest of the northern city of Mosul, Fox said.
"He is no longer a threat to the Iraqi people. We will continue to hunt down al Qaeda in Iraq and their operatives who conduct indiscriminate and brutal attacks against the Iraqi people," Fox said.
Scores of clay-built homes were levelled in the bombings, burying entire families in rubble.
The U.S. military has previously said Sunni Islamist al Qaeda was the prime suspect in the attacks.
Al Qaeda views Yazidis, who are members of a pre-Islamic Kurdish sect, as infidels.
Granted, it would have been better if we had nailed the guy before he did the bombing, but we're not perfect. The point is we did get him, and as the military spokesman said, he's not going to be terrorizing anyone in Iraq any more. But this ought to scare al-Masri a little. We're rolling him up in Iraq. We have Sunnis helping us (a point that has to stick in his craw as he can't use the tribes any longer to hit us).
This is what we call "good news," and it's the sort that the Left is simply going to blow off as luck, or some other definition than what it is. Oh well. At least we know what's going on.
Publius II
A U.S. air strike killed a senior al Qaeda militant who masterminded truck bombings on Iraq's minority Yazidi community last month that killed more than 400 people, the military said on Sunday.
"On September 3, a coalition air strike killed the terrorist responsible for the planning and conducting of the horrific attack against the Yazidis in northern Iraq on August 14," military spokesman Rear Admiral Mark Fox told a news conference.
Iraq's government has put the death toll at 411 from the suicide bombings, although the Iraqi Red Crescent has said it could be more than 500. The bombings in the villages of Kahtaniya and al-Jazeera were the deadliest militant attacks in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
A U.S. military statement named the mastermind as Abu Mohammad al-Afri, adding he was the al Qaeda "emir," or prince, in the area where the bombings took place.
Fox said he was an associate of Abu Ayyab al-Masri, the Egyptian leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.
Afri was killed in an air strike southwest of the northern city of Mosul, Fox said.
"He is no longer a threat to the Iraqi people. We will continue to hunt down al Qaeda in Iraq and their operatives who conduct indiscriminate and brutal attacks against the Iraqi people," Fox said.
Scores of clay-built homes were levelled in the bombings, burying entire families in rubble.
The U.S. military has previously said Sunni Islamist al Qaeda was the prime suspect in the attacks.
Al Qaeda views Yazidis, who are members of a pre-Islamic Kurdish sect, as infidels.
Granted, it would have been better if we had nailed the guy before he did the bombing, but we're not perfect. The point is we did get him, and as the military spokesman said, he's not going to be terrorizing anyone in Iraq any more. But this ought to scare al-Masri a little. We're rolling him up in Iraq. We have Sunnis helping us (a point that has to stick in his craw as he can't use the tribes any longer to hit us).
This is what we call "good news," and it's the sort that the Left is simply going to blow off as luck, or some other definition than what it is. Oh well. At least we know what's going on.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 3:31 PM
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