"We're fighting Al-Qaeda.....and they lost"

[dude1394]

The good news continues in Iraq as the US and their Iraqi Allies beat back Al Queda. Good for the world, good for the iraqis, good for the middle east...but bad for the democrat party..How do they manage to get on the wrong side of history time and time again. It's obvious..

America has won an important battle in the war on terror. We turned an imminent victory for Al Qaeda In Iraq into a humiliating defeat for them and thereby created an opportunity for further progress not only in Iraq, but also in the global struggle. In the past five months, terrorist operations in and around Baghdad have dropped by 59 percent. Car bomb deaths are down by 81 percent. Casualties from enemy attacks dropped 77 percent. And violence during the just-completed season of Ramadan--traditionally a peak of terrorist attacks--was the lowest in three years.

Winning a battle is not the same as winning a war. Our commanders and soldiers are continuing the fight to ensure that al Qaeda does not recover even as they turn their attention to the next battle: against Shia militias sponsored by Iran. Beyond Iraq, battles in Afghanistan and elsewhere demand our attention. But let us properly take stock of what has been accomplished.

At the end of 2006, the United States was headed for defeat in Iraq. Al Qaeda and Sunni insurgent leaders proclaimed their imminent triumph. Our own intelligence analysts and commanders agreed that our previous strategies had failed. The notion that a "surge" of a few brigades and a change of mission could transform the security situation in Iraq was ridiculed. Many experts and politicians proclaimed the futility of further military effort in Iraq. Imagine if they had been heeded.

Had al Qaeda been allowed to drive us from Iraq in disgrace, it would control safe havens
throughout Anbar, in Baghdad, up the Tigris River valley, in Baquba, and in the "triangle of death." Al Qaeda In Iraq had already proclaimed a puppet state, the Islamic State of Iraq, and was sending money and fighters to the international al Qaeda movement even as it was supplied with foreign suicide bombers and leaders by that movement. The boasts of Osama bin Laden that his movement had defeated the Soviet Union were silly--al Qaeda did not exist when the Soviet Union fell--but they were still a powerful recruiting tool. How much more powerful a tool would have been the actual defeat of the United States, the last remaining superpower, at the hands of Al Qaeda In Iraq? How much more dangerous would have been a terrorist movement with bases in an oil-rich Arab country at the heart of al Qaeda's mythical "Caliphate" than al Qaeda was when based in barren, poverty-stricken Afghanistan, a country where Arabs are seen as untrustworthy outsiders?

Instead, Al Qaeda In Iraq today is broken. Individual al Qaeda cells persist, in steadily shrinking areas of the country, but they can no longer mount the sort of coherent operations across Iraq that had become the norm in 2006. The elimination of key leaders and experts has led to a significant reduction in the effectiveness of the al Qaeda bombings that do occur, hence the steady and dramatic declines in overall casualty rates.

Al Qaeda leaders seem aware of their defeat. General Ray Odierno noted in a recent briefing that some of al Qaeda's foreign leaders have begun to flee Iraq. Documents recovered from a senior Al Qaeda In Iraq leader, Abu Usama al-Tunisi, portray a movement that has lost the initiative and is steadily losing its last places to hide. According to Brigadier General Joseph Anderson, chief of staff for the multinational coalition in Iraq, al-Tunisi wrote that "he is surrounded, communications have been cut, and he is desperate for help."

[dude1394]

Al Queda has really stepped in it now. Funny how they are "lucky" if caught by the US military.

http://michaelyon-online.com/wp/iraq...s-defeated.htm

Iraqi Islamic Party: “Al Qaeda is Defeated”

“Al Qaeda in Iraq is defeated,” according to Sheik Omar Jabouri, spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic Party and a member of the widespread and influential Jabouri Tribe. Speaking through an interpreter at a 31 October meeting at the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters in downtown Baghdad, Sheik Omar said that al Qaeda had been “defeated mentally, and therefore is defeated physically,” referring to how clear it has become that the terrorist group’s tactics have backfired. Operatives who could once disappear back into the crowd after committing an increasingly atrocious attack no longer find safe haven among the Iraqis who live in the southern part of Baghdad. They are being hunted down and killed. Or, if they are lucky, captured by Americans.

Colonel Ricky Gibbs, the American brigade commander with responsibility for the Rashid District in south Baghdad today told me, “So goes South Baghdad goes Baghdad.” General Petraeus had told me similar things about the importance of South Baghdad. In fact, Rashid is quickly developing into what might be one of the final serious battlegrounds of the war.

During the meeting, another member of the Iraqi Islamic Party said that al Qaeda has changed its strategy now that fomenting civil war between Sunni and Shia has backfired. Al Qaeda has shifted targets, now trying to generate friction between tribes. This time, however, the tribes are onto the game early, and they are not playing.

Sheik Omar, who has gained the respect of American combat leaders for his intelligence and organizational skills, said the tough line against al Qaeda is also enforced at the tribal level. According to Sheik Omar, the Jabouri tribe, too, is actively committed to destroying al Qaeda. So much so, that Jabouri tribal leaders have decided they would “kill their own sons” if any aided al Qaeda. To underscore the point, he went on to say that about 70 Jabouri “sons” had been killed by the Jabouri tribe so far.

In addition to brigade commander Colonel Ricky Gibbs, four of his battalion commanders were also present: Lieutenant Colonels James Crider, Patrick Frank, Stephen Michael and Myron Reinehe. Sheik Omar expressed deep gratitude for their assistance.

Omar’s influence extends beyond tribal and party levels, to include important channels within the Iraqi government and the US military in Baghdad, as evidenced by the agenda of the hours-long meeting. But for the talk about al Qaeda, the focus was mostly on other topics, such as returning displaced persons to their homes, efficiently delivering basic services and jumpstarting the economy. In fact, more and more meetings in Iraq are turning to day-to-day business, and less time is required on military and security topics like targeting and addressing intelligence-type matters, which until recently monopolized most meetings across Iraq.

Michael Yon does not receive funding or financial support from Fox News, or from any network, movie, book or television deals at this time. He is entirely reader supported. He relies on his readers to help him replace his equipment and cover his expenses so that he may remain in Iraq and bring you the stories of our soldiers. If you value his work, please consider supporting his mission.[/quote][/quote]

[dude1394]

The iraqi's continue to win back their country. Thank goodness the democrats were not successful in giving Al Queda the victory.

November 01, 2007
George Bush's Troop Surge is a Spectacular Success

In the past, the word "spectacular" has often been associated with mass-casualty attacks directed at innocent civilians by al Qaeda suicide bombers in their single-minded effort to incite civil war in Iraq. Here is an example from way back in 2005:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — A suicide car bomber killed 22 people in northern Iraq on Tuesday after insurgents lured police to the scene by shooting an officer, officials said. A mortar shell fired at a U.S. ceremony sent the U.S. ambassador and the top American commander scurrying for cover.

The suicide bomber struck on a busy commercial street in Kirkuk, a mixed Arab, Kurdish and Turkoman city in an oil-producing region 180 miles north of Baghdad. About half the dead were police who rushed to the scene after gunmen killed a fellow officer.

In addition to the 22 dead, another 23 people were wounded, according to police Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qader.

The attack was the latest in a wave of spectacular suicide operations which have killed more than 160 civilians since Friday, most of them Shiites.


Back then, I did not realize that these attacks were carried out by foreign suicide bombers sent to Iraq by al Qaeda in order to provoke a civil war. Their plan, as I later came to realize, was to enrage the Shiite militias enough that they would start killing Sunnis on a large scale. This contrasts with what standard reporters in the mainstream media strongly believed to be true, which is that these suicide bombers were Sunni "insurgents" participating in a civil war to defeat the Shiites. In fact, they were al Qaeda terrorists (not insurgents) trying to ignite (not win) a civil war.

http://engram-backtalk.blogspot.com/...ectacular.html

[dude1394]

It seems to be beyond the democrats and the media, but even the Jihadi's know that Al Queda has been defeated in Iraq.

http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/4609

Note To News Media: Even Jihadists Now Claim Al-Qaeda Has Failed
Posted by AJStrata on November 7th, 2007

How far will the liberal SurrenderMedia go to avoid facing the obvious fact that our efforts in Iraq have crippled Bin Laden’s movement? Will the liberals still claim all is lost for America even when Islamic Jihadists are writing al-Qaeda’s number two asserting al-Qaeda’s utter faillure?

A former leader of an armed Islamic group in Libya, Numan Bin Uthman, has written a letter to al-Qaeda second in command Ayman al-Zawahiri telling him that Jihadi groups in Arab countries have failed.

“Dear Doctor Ayman, as I told you during a meeting in Kandahar [in Afghanistan] in 2000, the experience of the Jihadi groups in Arab countries is failed and despite our appeals, the armed groups are divided and will not unite,” he said in the letter, a copy of which was published in the London based pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.

…

“I ask you and whoever is behind you to review the way you behave because the Jihadi groups are acting very badly towards those who think differently from the way they do,” said Uthman in the letter.

“I aks you to stop the armed operations in the Arab countries, to guarantee the security of Muslims and to retract your threats toward the West, to take away from them the terrorism card used by some Western governments to hate Islam and Muslims,” he said.

The former Libyan mujahadeen, who assisted the birth of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, also asked that the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq’ insurgent group be dissolved and return to being simply an armed group. The Islamic State of Iraq is an organisation set up by al-Qaeda in a bid to unite the Iraqi is insurgency.

“Only in this way, will it be possible to rebuild ties with other Sunni guerilla groups,” he said.

[dude1394]

Must have killed the NYTimes to write this about the success of the "so called surge".
It's a shame their circulation only went down 4.5% in circulation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/wo...in&oref=slogin

U.S. Reports Progress Against Iraq Extremists
Article Tools Sponsored By
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: November 8, 2007

BAGHDAD, Nov. 7 — American forces have routed Al Qaeda of Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network, from every neighborhood of Baghdad, a top American general said today, allowing American troops involved in the so-called surge to depart as planned.

[Usually Lurkin]

The problem with terrorists, is that they inevitably turn on those very people they are fighting for [er, trying to control]. Nobody likes it when terrorists are killing citizens that are labeled "ours".

http://www.boston.com/news/world/mid...urgents_clash/

BAGHDAD - Former Sunni insurgents asked the United States to stay away, and then ambushed members of Al Qaeda in Iraq, killing 18 in a battle that raged for hours north of Baghdad, an ex-insurgent leader and Iraqi police said yesterday.
...
Meanwhile, farther east, in Diyala Province, members of another former insurgent group, the 1920s Revolution Brigades, launched a military-style operation yesterday against Al Qaeda in Iraq, the Iraqi Army said.
About 60 militants were captured and handed over to Iraqi soldiers, an Army officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to media.
...
And at Baghdad's most revered Sunni shrine, the Abu Hanifa mosque, voices blasted from loudspeakers yesterday urging residents to turn against Qaeda: "We are your sons, the sons of the awakening, and we want to end the operations of Al Qaeda."

[dude1394]

Very cool UL, thanks for the post!!

I loved the first one. It's nice to see Al Queda at the tender mercies of our Iraqi allies. Almost a little assymetrical warfare being waged on THIER asses.

[dude1394]

What do the democrats have to say about the facts above. Let's quit and give Al Queda a victory.

Rank-and-file Democrats expressed heartburn on Friday over their party’s latest anti-war strategy, with some members reluctant to coincide a vote to bring troops home with Veterans Day.

The House was on track to consider next week legislation that would give President Bush $50 billion for operations Iraq and Afghanistan but insist that he begin withdrawing troops.

…