Say Anything Blog

You know that terror leader we captured in Iraq?  The one whose capture was just reported the other day?  He’s singing like a canary, and saying some interesting things:

BAGHDAD — Over the past year, Iraqis heard several audio recordings by a mysterious terrorist leader named Omar al-Baghdadi singing the praises of the organization al-Qaeda in Iraq and urging his followers to attack U.S. troops.

The whole thing was a sham, the U.S. military said Wednesday. Al-Baghdadi was actually a fictional character dreamed up by al-Qaeda in Iraq to bolster its local credibility because the group is largely run by non-Iraqis. The voice heard in the recordings belonged to an Iraqi actor, the military said.

The character was “a creation of al-Qaeda in Iraq leadership to help put an Iraqi face on … their efforts here,” Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner told reporters.

The revelation occurred after the capture in Mosul on July 4 of the top al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani. He confessed that al-Baghdadi was a “myth” concocted by the group’s Egyptian-born leader, Abu Ayyub al-Masri.

Al-Mashhadani also told interrogators that Osama bin Laden’s inner circle still wields considerable influence over al-Qaeda in Iraq.

So, in summary, al Qaeda is an invading foreign force in Iraq rather than a group with local support.  They’ve been hiding this fact by making up a fictitious Iraqi leader and using an Iraqi actor to voice his messages (presumably for reasons of accent and regional dialect).  Also, terror operations in Iraq are closely directed by senior al Qaeda officials.  Presumably bin Laden (if he’s still alive, they may be pretending he’s alive in order to use him has a figurehead) and Ayman al Zawahiri.

What dose this mean for operations in Iraq?  Al Qaeda’s little charade with al Baghdadi being exposed should help with efforts to recruit local Iraqis to fight against the terrorists.  It is also more evidence to suggest that Iraq is, in fact, part of the global war on terror, and that al Qaeda’s top leaders feel Iraq is an important part of the war on terror.

Which totally blows up the left’s biggest reason for leaving Iraq, which is the idea that we’d then be able to devote more resources to fighting the “real” war on terror.

Clearly, Iraq is the “real war on terror.”