al Qaeda

As our troops are bogged down and getting killed in Iraq. And as our administration prepares for a war with Iran. Wouldn't it be nice if we actually went after the people who caused 9/11? Instead Bush has handed them a gift for killing all those people.

Just a week ago we heard that "al Qaeda may be moving outside of Iraq" to operate, something I though rather absurd since it was pretty obvious they always operated outside Iraq. Then yesterday we heard that al Qaeda was in a weakened state. Now we have Chertoff out warning of "earth shattering events" that al Qaeda may be planning.

That seems like a lot of flip-flopping around in the past seven days. It must be election season!

Ok this is an interesting statement:

The director of national intelligence said Tuesday he is concerned that al-Qaida in Iraq is shifting its focus to attacks elsewhere in the region.

"They may deploy resources to mount attacks outside the country," Mike McConnell told a Senate hearing, although he also said that fewer than 100 terrorists have moved to establish cells in other countries.

At the same hearing, CIA Director Michael Hayden publicly confirmed for the first time the names of three suspected al-Qaida terrorists who were subjected to a particularly harsh interrogation technique known as waterboarding, and why.

I thought al Qadea was already operating outside of Iraq? What about 9/11, the London train bombings, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc., etc.?

It's funny how last week al Qaeda was talking about setting booby traps then a few days later we have six U.S. troops killed in a house that was booby trapped in Iraq. Not sure what to make out of that timing.

The administration can pull the "Mission Accomplished" banner back out and hang it again (4 years later). Looks like we got the big guy in Iraq:

The interior ministry in Iraq says it has received intelligence that the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq has been killed.

Abu Ayyub al-Masri, believed to be an Egyptian, has led the group since June 2006 when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a US air strike.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq is blamed for or has claimed some of the bloodiest insurgent attacks in Iraq since 2003.

I am sure the GOP is looking at ways of celebrating this. We will hear how this is some sort of proof that the surge is working. The warbloggers will break open the Champaign while branding any blog that dare speaks the reality as "traitors" or "terrorist sympathizers". Since I am used to being branded with those schoolyard names, I will go ahead and get it started.

Within four days of Zarqawi dying last year, Masri was filling his shoes. If Masri is truly dead, then you can bet there is already a new leader making the plans. The problem is that this new leader might have new ideas and new plans that will change the current dynamic of everything. In other words, this could turn around on us. With Masri we saw a rise in chlorine bombs. With a new mystery leader, who knows what kind of nasty ideas he has in his mind. We will loose weeks just trying to figure out who is running things now, while he is personalizing (for lack of a better term) his plans for Iraq.

Don't get me wrong - I am not upset that this slime is dead. I am just saying it will change things in Iraq, and those changes will not be for the better. As matter of fact, things could get a lot worse now.