Tribute to the military

Friday, May 09, 2008

Iraqis misidentify the wrong guy

DARN, according to news reports out of Iraq, a United States military official denied claims that Iraqi security forces arrested Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri in Mosul.  Maj. Peggy Kageleiry, a U.S. military spokeswoman in northern Iraq.  Major Kageleriy indicated that a man with a similar name was arrested in the northern city of Mosul. 

Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said the confusion arose because the commander of Iraqi forces in northern Ninevah province was convinced that he had arrested al-Masri — also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir.

In mid April, a man claiming to be al-Masri vowed  to launch a month long offensive against U.S. troops.

“We call on our beloved ones … that each unit should present the head of an American as a gift to the charlatan Bush … in addition to one of the apostate servants and slaves of the awakening (councils) during a one-month period,” he said in the tape, posted on an Internet site known for its militant contents.

According the coalition troops in the field Iraqi Security Forces sacrifice daily and are conducting independent operations around Iraq riding their country of foreign and domestic insurgents. Although this latest news was a let down, it should be noted that there have been other successes by Iraqi security forces in the past several days.  I obtained the following news briefs from Operation Enduring Freedom, the official website for Multi-National Forces Iraq.

  • ISF detain criminal cell leader, three al-Qaeda in Iraq (Baghdad)
  • ISF, MND-B find several weapons caches across Baghdad
  • SOIs repel AQI attacks and identify cache (Diyala)
  • Iraqi Army soldiers, policemen seize IEDs in East Mansour
  • Iraqi Security Forces capture three wanted insurgents in Baghdad
  • SoI repels attack 4 insurgents killed, large cache discovered
  • Iraqi Special Operations Forces detain seven Special Groups criminals in Sadr City
  • Iraqi Army detains mid-level al-Qaeda in Iraq leader in Kirkuk province; detain six other suspected  
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