The United Nations Security Council has issued a report similar to the National Intelligence Estimate. The U.N. report, like the NIE, was a mixed bag. On Afghanistan, "there are few areas where the Taliban have lost ground" and Iraq has "increasingly exported deadly new tactics to Afghanistan". On Iraq, the Iraq war has "provided many recruits and an excellent training ground for Al Qaeda". On Solamia the U.N. report says that the Taliban are using it for a training ground.
I mentioned the United Nations report saying al-Qaeda activity would decrease in the near future in "Iraq Today". I don't have any faith in anything the U.N. has to say, but even a broken clock can be right once a day.
It claimed Al Qaeda "may see more losses than gains" in Iraq.The flow of foreign fighters into Iraq has slowed to a trickle, and the slaying of Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may have confused the uprising, the UN revealed.
Jihadists have reportedly been angered at being turned away from the fight against U.S. forces by Iraqis, who often offer only suicide bombing missions, the UN report said.
Zarqawi's death probably pleased Osama Bin Laden, since the Jordanian "undermined the righteous image of Al Qaeda" by slaughtering fellow Muslims and beheading captives.
Yet Bin Laden replaced Zarqawi with Egyptian Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, a foreigner whom Iraqi nationalists are just as unlikely to follow, the UN concluded. source Hat tip Red Hot Cuppa Politics
More on the UN report here. More information on Iraq: "Baghdad lockdown explained?" from Fore-Left:
Apparently the Coalition had intelligence about pending suicide bombings to be carried out within the fortified Green Zone. From news sources provided by a commenter on "Iraq the Model":
Guard Khudhir Farhan was taken into custody Friday at the home of Adnan Al Dulaimi, the head of the largest Sunni bloc in parliament, Al Dulaimi told The Associated Press.
You might recall al-Dulaimi's name being associated with the Jill Carroll kidnapping. That was the man she was going to visit when the militants grabbed her. By the way, if Dulaimi was partly to blame for the lockdown it wouldn't be the first time.
"Abu Ayyub al-Masri, Your Days are al-Numbered", reported at Blue Star Chronicles:
The bottom line is they are talking about what they have to do to reduce the level of violence and bring their government together. They aren’t agreeing, but they are talking about the dignity of their nation, not allowing sectarian violence to disable their government. They are using words like ‘we’.They are also looking to the source of the increase in violence and placing it squarely with al-Qaida terrorists. They all seem to be sick of the interference of the al-Quaida jihadists on their attempts to form a viable operational government. In particular Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the successor of al-Zarqawi
Iraq’s National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie, meanwhile, said security forces were closing in on the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri. [snip]
“Your days are numbered and you will face your fate very soon,” al-Rubaie said, addressing al-Masri. source
Related:
Publisher to Offer Inside Account of Al Qaeda Operative (NYT)
More Good News From Iraq - 'Iraqis hate al-Qaeda, too' from Freedom's Zone
Blood Libel, Anyone?, from My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (a story that will really make you mad, go read it)
The Democrat Plan Iraq, from Slant Right and The Conservative Voice
Linked with
bRight&Early, Overnight Open Trackbacks
Comments