Al Qaeda in Iraq

Written 7 May

During just the first five days of May, Multi-National Forces Iraq reported the following:

May 5 – Iraqi Security Forces and coalition forces conducted joint operations and captured 3 terrorists near Mosul, degrading Al Qaeda’s capabilities in the neighborhood in which they were operating.

May 5 – In two separate operations, Iraqi Security Forces advised by U.S. Special Forces captured two suspected leaders of Al Qaeda IED cells.

May 5 – During multiple operations in Baghdad, Balad, and Mosul, coalition forces detained eleven Al Qaeda suspects involved with car bombings, bank-rolling the terrorist network, providing safe havens, and high level liaisons.

May 4 – Coalition forces killed 11 and detained 23 other suspects while targeting the Al Qaeda in Iraq network in central and northern Iraq.

May 3 – During operations targeting Al Qaeda in central Iraq, six suspected terrorists were detained.

May 3- While targeting the Al Qaeda network in northern Iraq, coalition forces detained 14 terrorist suspects involved in a bombing network.

May 3 – In a separate operation 200 miles north of Baghdad, Iraqi Security Forces and U.S. Special Forced captured two mid-level leaders of the Al Qaeda front organization, Islamic State of Iraq. The men were involved with weapons smuggling, bombing networks, and IED making.

May 3 – Iraqi Security Forces detained a mid-level Al Qaeda leader as well as 6 other terrorists in operations northeast of Baghdad.

May 3 – CNN reported that 35 people were killed in Diyala Province during a wedding parade after a woman, an Al Qaeda terrorist, imitating pregnancy detonated the bomb she was carrying. When rescue workers arrived, a male member of Al Qaeda detonated his suicide bomb when rescue workers arrived.

May 2 – During operations targeting the Al Qaeda in Iraq network around Mosul, 4 terrorists were killed and 10 other suspected terrorists detained.

May 2 – During several different operations including near Iskandariyah, the northern belt 15 miles northwest of Baghdad, and also 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, coalition forces detained 3 wanted terrorists, and 6 other suspected terrorists, including several in local leadership positions and others with ties to senior Al Qaeda leadership.

May 2 – Coalition forces seized Al Qaeda propaganda information during operations near Samarra as well as three weapons caches. Seized in the raids were Al Qaeda’s computers, information storage devices, weapons, and bomb-making materials.

May 1st showed no activity specific to operations against the Al Qaeda network in Iraq.

The list above included only those operations specifically targeting Al Qaeda. It did not include the many operations against those simply named as “terrorists, criminals, insurgents, militias” or the Iranian influenced “special groups.” Nor does it reflect the numerous successes of our troops in the rebuilding and reconciliation arenas.

In just those five days, over fifteen operations by our troops in Iraq put more than 100 Al Qaeda terrorists and suspects out of commission.

So we have to ask, why do liberals insist on using an argument about Al Qaeda not being in Iraq in 2003 as the evidence by which they deny their existence now, and as their justification for running from the fight against them?

Tell us again, please.