U.S. Identifies al-Zarqawi's Successor [annotated]

[Headline writer engages in subconscious acknowledgement of U.S.-created psyop nature of “Al Qaida in Iraq,” a name that is itself too-conveniently perfect for hammering home the idea that invading Iraq is about fighting Al Qaida and avenging Sept. 11.]

The Associated Press [all of us are stupider than one of us]Thursday, June 15, 2006; 9:22 AM

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military said Thursday the man claiming to be the new al-Qaida in Iraq leader is Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian with ties to Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said al-Masri apparently is the same person that al-Qaida in Iraq [makes me laugh every time] identified in a Web posting last week as its new leader _ Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, a nom de guerre. Al-Muhajer claimed to have succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a June 7 U.S. airstrike, and vowed to avenge him in threatening Web statements in recent days. [this reflects poorly on the military communications dept., which forgot to forward the memo regarding preference for the easier to say and spell “al-Masri.” If it’s any consolation to the writer who thought up Al-Muhajer, they did keep “Abu.” In addition, this psyop, er, news report, relies on one source, a military spokesman who can obviously be counted on to give the unvarnished truth, but remember, it’s blogs that you can’t trust]

The military showed a picture of al-Masri wearing a traditional white Arab headdress [aaahhh! an Arab] at a Baghdad news conference. [Videos are still in production]

The Afghanistan-trained explosives expert is a key figure in the al-Qaida in Iraq network with responsibility for facilitating the movement of foreign fighters from Syria into Baghdad, Caldwell said. [Covers the Afghanistan training camp legend, the sinister “expertise” in those notorious IEDs, and the foreign fighter flypaper myth. A nice recovery by the writer(s)from the slip-up on the name.]

He has been a terrorist since 1982, "beginning with his involvement in the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which was led by al-Zawahri," Caldwell said. [can’t you just see the resume? “Graduated Afghanistan U. with a Terrorist Mastermind degree. Minored in improvised explosives. More than 20 years experience as a terrorist.]

The spokesman added that raids in April and May in southern Baghdad recovered material confirming his high-level involvement in the facilitation of foreign fighters. [There’s been a major push to promote “raids,” with the Zarqawi raid as the lead product, and the benefit of casting future raids in a favorable light. At least the memo detailing the summer’s major campaigns filtered down to the individual contributors]

"Al-Masri's intimate knowledge of al-Qaida in Iraq [ha] and his close relationship with (al-Zarqawi's) operations [military editor’s change, AP reporter forgot to remove parenthesis] will undoubtedly help facilitate and enable them to regain some momentum if, in fact, he is the one that assumes the leadership role," Caldwell said. [still negotiating with his agent]

He said, however, that al-Masri's ability to exert leadership over al-Qaida cells remained unclear and there were other "al-Qaida senior leadership members and Sunni terrorists" who might try to take over the operations. [in a chaotic atmosphere, always wise to keep your options open]

Caldwell singled out Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi, who in the past had been identified as al-Qaida in Iraq's deputy leader in statements by the group, and Abdullah bin Rashid al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Mujahedeen Shura Council _ five allied groups in the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency. [the writers still can’t believe they went for "al-Iraqi" and "al-Baghdadi," even if only in lesser, one-off roles; that’s what happens when you continue to work during happy hour and at least one wise-guy says something like "never underestimate the stupdidity of the higher ups"]