California Conservative

To the disappointment of anti-war zealots, the war in Iraq and the war on terror continues to get better and better.

As another positive consequence to the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi last week, documents left behind at Zarqawi’s hideout has al-Qaeda in Iraq on the run and the new Iraqi government excited about their future. Apparently a thumb drive found in al-Zarqawi’s pocket after his death contains Zarqawi’s hope to continue drawing Shiite and Sunnis into a civil war and the US into a war with Iran: (complete text/document here)  Here is some of what Zarqawi wrote:

“Time has been an element in affecting negatively the forces of the occupying countries, due to the losses they sustain economically in human lives, which are increasing with time. However, here in Iraq, time is now beginning to be of service to the American forces and harmful to the resistance for the following reasons…

In general and despite the current bleak situation, we think that the best suggestions in order to get out of this crisis is to entangle the American forces into another war against another country or with another of our enemy force, that is to try and inflame the situation between American and Iraq or between America and the Shi’a in general.

We have noticed that the best of these wars to be ignited is the one between the Americans and Iran, because it will have many benefits in favor of the Sunni and the resistance."

The tone of al-Zarqawi’s notes are very similar to documents found in May of 2006 in which al-Qaeda admitted they were losing in Iraq.  Zarqawi’s death and these documents show this to be as true as ever. 

Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie said al-Qaeda has underestimated the strength and competence of the current Iraqi forces (rather like the Democrats).  In a news conference today, Rubaie excitedly expressed these sentiments:

"We believe that this is the beginning of the end of Al Qaeda in Iraq. (These documents show that al-Qaeda) is in pretty bad shape. Now we have the upper hand. We feel that we know their locations, the names of their leaders, their whereabouts, their movements, through the documents we found during the last few days. Al-Qaeda is using everyone as a pawn to play in this war game, in this game of killing Iraqi people and destroying this country. (These documents) reveal how their central strategy is to divide and destroy."

Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie holds a document found at the scene of al-Zarqawi’s death

Al-Rubaie has al-Qaeda’s number.

As a result of Zarqawi’s death, American and Iraqi forces have carried out 452 raids since last week’s killing of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and 104 insurgents were killed during those actions. The operation - called FORWARD TOGETHER - involves 75,000 Iraqi army and police personnel, backed by US troops. The significance of this joint effort and its subsequent success cannot be understated.

Also, the successor of al-Zarqawi has been exposed, a disappointment to al-Qaeda in Iraq, who was trying to keep the identity a secret. He Abu Ayyub Al-Masri, an Egyptian operative with connections to an Osama bin Laden lieutenant. He is described by US commander Maj. Gen. Caldwell as using "same tactics of attacking and killing civilians".

In other operations in the global war on terror, more than 10,000 Afghan and coalition forces have begun a massive anti-Taliban operation called "Operation Mountain Thrust" across southern Afghanistan, the largest offensive since the 2001 invasion that toppled the former regime, the U.S. military said Thursday. 

If that weren’t enough, CIA-directed Iraq Survey Group (ISG) that examined efforts by Saddam Hussein to build and hide weapons of mass destruction, among other objectives. (The ISG’s conclusion: Saddam had substantial WMD capability, but destroyed or otherwise disposed of much of it, though he retained the capability of restoring much of it should sanctions against him be lifted.)

And in a notebook kept by an Iraqi intelligence agent, accounts provide evidence of a cooperative, operational relationship agreed to at the highest levels of the Iraqi government and the Taliban in 1999.

It seems President Bush didn’t lie or lead the US into Iraq under false pretenses. Of course, we’ve known this for some time.

President Bush said yesterday of his meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister in Baghdad on Tuesday that Democrats will not succeed in their efforts to pull the US out of Iraq: 

My message to the Iraqis is, we’re going to help you succeed. My message to the enemy is, don’t count on us leaving before we succeed. My message to our troops is, we support you 100 percent. Keep doing what you’re doing.

There’s an interesting debate in the Democrat Party about how quick to pull out of Iraq. Pulling out of Iraq before we accomplish the mission will make the world a more dangerous place. It’s bad policy. I know it may sound good politically; it will endanger our country to pull out of Iraq before we accomplish the mission.

And I’m concerned that an enemy will hear the wrong message. And then I’m also concerned that there are people inside Iraq who have yet to make up their mind as to whether or not they want to help this government succeed, or maybe, or just maybe America will lose its nerve and, therefore, something else, a new team may show up. And so I made it very clear to the Iraqis, and I’m going to make it clear to them again right here that we’re going — we’ll stay with them and help them succeed.

The President also noted that no political pressure will cause the United States to leave.  That is a message Iraqis need to hear.

In the past week, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed and in his pocket found a thumb drive filled with an al-Qaeda expose’ of evidence that is helping Iraqi forces fight and "eliminate" al-Qaeda in Iraq.  452 raids in joint efforts between Iraqi and US troops have resulted in the deaths of over 100 bad guys.  The al-Qaeda game plan has been exposed.  The secret al-Zarqawi successor has been exposed and is operating with a large bullseye fixed squarely upon him.  There’s more success in Afghanistan, more proof about the Saddam/al-Qaeda connection and Saddam’s WMD program has surfaced.  It just keeps getting better and better, and those who love the people of Iraq and wish on them every blessing our freedom and prosperity has afforded us are ecstatic for them.

Cross-posted at Amy’s Proctor: B.L.U.F.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 16th, 2006 at 8:27 am and is filed under Author: Amy Proctor, Iraq, Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.