Thursday, November 30, 2006

al-Qaeda in Iraq


Just ran across
this, written by the AP, so take it with a grain of salt. At least they are stating up front it is unconfirmed.

Al-Qaida in Iraq on Thursday denounced Iraqi Sunni politicians who met recently with Jordan's King Abdullah II, calling them and the monarch "traitors."

The statement, posted on an Islamic militant Web site, did not mention a summit Thursday between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and
President Bush. Both leaders met separately with King Abdullah before their talks in Amman, Jordan.

Instead, al-Qaida in Iraq — the country's most feared Sunni Muslim militant group — lashed out at a string of Iraqi Sunni Arab politicians who held talks with Abdullah ahead of the summit.

"The traitors of Jordan's meetings, whether they know it or not, have entered today in a pact with Satan to fight the men of God," al-Qaida in Iraq said in its statement.

The authenticity of the statement could not be confirmed. It was posted on a Web forum often used to issue militant statements and was signed by the "Islamic state in Iraq," the so-called Islamic government that the group declared earlier this year and that now issues all its messages.

Al-Qaida has long demonized the U.S.-allied Jordanian monarch and in the past has targeted Iraqi Sunnis it sees as cooperating with the Shiite-led Iraqi government or the United States.

The statement called on "the lions and free men of Jordan" to prepare themselves to confront the king.

Abdullah met earlier this week in Amman with Harith al-Dhari, head of the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, a hardline Sunni Arab group known to have links to some factions within Iraq's 3-year-old Sunni-led insurgency. The king also met with Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi and Iraq's most powerful Shiite politician, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim.

I suppose these are the al-Qaeda in Iraq that NANCY PELOSI DENIES EXISTS.

House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters on Wednesday that she feels it is "sad" that President Bush continues to blame Iraqi insurgent violence on al Qaeda.

"My thoughts on the president's representations are well-known," Pelosi said. "The 9/11 Commission dismissed that notion a long time ago and I feel sad that the president is resorting to it again."
(SNIP)

Displaying a series of slides and charts, the spokesman for the multinational forces in Iraq claimed that "since October of 2004, we have now killed or captured over 7,000 al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists."

According to Major General William Caldwell, because Iraq still has a "government moving forward" with "institutions in place," and because al Qaeda in Iraq seeks "anarchy" instead of power, the current situation should not be considered a "civil war."

"We don't see an organization out there that's looking to assume the control of this country, but rather just to create anarchy, to create death, to create destruction, and that's in fact what we're combatting right now," Caldwell said.
Then the last paragraph of the article says volumes.

Caldwell didn't have an answer to the question. "We also, you know, look at that also very closely, try to identify exactly what percentage it is," he said. "What we do know is that al Qaeda in Iraq are the most well-funded, produce the most sensational attacks than any element out there. So that's where we put our predominant effort against."

So, as I point out here, is Pelosi just a liar or actually this stupid? I suppose those 7,000 are some sort of figments of Bush's imagination, huh Madame Squeaker?

Hot Air is also discussing this.