Text 24890, 157 rader
Skriven 2006-11-10 22:11:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Al Qaeda
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12,000 is not an infinite supply that the liberal surrender monkeys try 
to portray.  12,000 is a very managable number...


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http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/10/D8LAC4OG1.html

Al-Qaida in Iraq Claims It's Winning War
Nov 10 1:17 PM US/Eastern
   
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq



Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed in a new audio tape Friday to be winning the 
war faster than expected in Iraq and said it had mobilized 12,000 
fighters who had "vowed to die for God's sake." 

The U.S. military, meanwhile, reported that three U.S. soldiers and a 
Marine were killed Thursday in Iraq, the U.S. military said, bringing 
the number of Americans who have died in the country so far this month 
to 25. At least 105 U.S. forces died in October, the fourth highest 
monthly toll of the war. 

On the audio tape made available on militant Web sites, the al-Qaida in 
Iraq leader also welcomed the Republican electoral defeat that led to 
the departure of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. He added that the 
group's fighters would not rest until they had blown up the White House. 

"The al-Qaida army has 12,000 fighters in Iraq, and they have vowed to 
die for God's sake," a man who identified himself as Abu Hamza al- 
Muhajir said. 

Al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also urged the U.S. to 
stay in Iraq so his group would have more opportunities to kill American 
troops. "We haven't had enough of your blood yet," he told the U.S. 

"We will not rest from our Jihad until we are under the olive trees of 
Rumieh and we have blown up the filthiest house _ which is called the 
White House," al-Muhajir said. It was not clear what Rumieh was 
referring to. 

Al-Muhajir became the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq after Abu Musab al- 
Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June. The tape could not be 
independently verified. 

"The American people have put their feet on the right path by ... 
realizing their president's betrayal in supporting Israel," the terror 
leader said. "So they voted for something reasonable in the last 
elections." 

Describing President Bush as "the most stupid president" in U.S. 
history, al-Masri reached out to the Muslim world and said his group was 
winning the war in Iraq faster than expected due to U.S. policies. 

Since the war started in March 2003, 2,845 members of the U.S. military 
have died, according to an Associated Press count. 

The Iraqi army also said it captured the Egyptian leader of an al- Qaida 
cell in restive Anbar province. 

Acting on a tip, Iraqi soldiers descended on a building in the city of 
Rawah, 175 miles northwest of Baghdad, where they arrested local al- 
Qaida commander Abu Muhayyam al-Masri, whose name, like that of the 
group's overall leader, is a pseudonym meaning, "the Egyptian," a 
Defense Ministry official said. 

Two aides, Abu Issam al-Libi, or "the Libyan," and Abu Zaid al-Suri, 
"the Syrian," also were arrested, along with nine other members of the 
cell, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he 
was not authorized to talk to the media. 

The pseudonyms appeared to mark the men as foreign fighters, thousands 
of whom are said by Iraq's government to have crossed the porous border 
with Syria about 55 miles west of Rawah to join the insurgency. Their 
nationalities were not confirmed. 

The official said al-Suri confessed to organizing at least one suicide 
bombing in Baghdad. He said the raid also netted a large quantity of 
weapons. 

Rawah lies deep in Anbar province, where Sunni Arab insurgents routinely 
launch deadly attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces that show no sign of 
diminishing in numbers or intensity, more than three years after the 
U.S. invasion. 

At least 11 of the American deaths in November have been in Anbar, 
including a Marine who died Thursday from wound suffered in fighting 
there. 

A roadside bomb also killed two American soldiers and wounded another 
Thursday in western Baghdad, the U.S. command said. Another soldier was 
killed and one wounded by a roadside bomb that struck their truck 
Thursday during a combat logistics patrol west of Haditha, 140 miles 
northwest of the capital. 

In other violence, six Iraqi soldiers were killed and 10 wounded when a 
suicide bomber drove his explosives-rigged car into an army checkpoint 
in the northern city of Tal Afar, the military said. 

Army spokesman Brig. Najim Abdullah said the car stopped after soldiers 
opened fire as it sped toward the checkpoint. The unit's commander, who 
was among those killed, then led a group of soldiers toward it, when the 
driver, apparently faking death, detonated the explosives, Abdullah 
said. 

Tal Afar has suffered frequent insurgent attacks, despite President 
Bush's declaration in March that the city was an example of progress 
made in bringing security to Iraq. Tal Afar lies 93 miles east of the 
Syrian border and 260 miles northwest of Baghdad. 

Three members of a family were killed by gunmen who stormed their home 
near Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said. 

At least 33 bodies also were found in Baghdad and several nearby cities, 
morgue officials said. 

The new deaths came a day after Iraqi Health Minister Ali al-Shemari 
estimated 150,000 civilians have been killed in the war _ about three 
times previously accepted estimates. 

In comments to the AP during a visit to Austria, al-Shemari said he 
based his figure on an estimate of 100 bodies per day brought to morgues 
and hospitals _ although such a calculation would come out closer to 
130,000 in total. 

"It is an estimate," al-Shemari said. 

Hassan Salem, of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, 
or SCIRI, said the 150,000 figure included civilians and police, as well 
as those who were abducted, killed and whose bodies were brought to 
morgues run by the Health Ministry. SCIRI is Iraq's largest Shiite 
political organization and holds the largest number of seats in 
parliament. 

No official account for Iraq deaths in the post-invasion conflict has 
ever been available. Accurate figures are difficult to establish because 
police and hospitals often give widely conflicting tolls of those killed 
in major bombings. Death figures also are reported through multiple 
channels by government agencies that function with varying efficiency. 

A member of the movement of radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada 
al-Sadr, al-Shemari also repeated the Shiite-dominated government's 
demands for a speedier U.S. transfer of authority to Iraqi forces and 
the withdrawal of U.S. troops to their bases, away from Iraq's cities 
and towns. 

"The army of America didn't do its job. ... They tie the hands of my 
government," al-Shemari said. presence in Iraq.


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