07/08/2008 (8:36 am)
Al Qaeda Purged From Iraqi Cities
The Times of London reported this Sunday that US and Iraqi forces are pushing al Qaeda out of its last urban stronghold in Iraq, in what Major-General Mark Hertling, US commander in northern Iraq, describes as the “irreversible turning point.”
American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.
After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul.
A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.
Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.
The Maliki government in Iraq has been taking strong measures to rid the country of rogue military elements. A few months ago, he targeted the Madhi Army of Moqtada al Sadr, and reduced it to a small handful of malcontents in hiding, with al Sadr exiled in Iran. Now it’s al Qaeda’s turn, and they’re successfully being driven out of their last city in Iraq, leaving them at the mercy of rural tribesmen. While they’ve been driven out of Mosul once before, the situation today is very different, and it seems likely that al Qaeda will no longer be able to project force in Iraq. President Maliki is declaring victory over terrorism in Iraq, according to Hot Air:
Maliki has declared that the terrorist siege of Baghdad and Iraq has collapsed. He blamed unnamed foreign nations for funding the terrorist wave against his nation, and hailed the new Iraqi Army for its tenacity against the radicals of all stripes.
The importance of this victory is hard to underestimate for what it does for the Maliki government in Iraq, but it’s also important in our efforts against al Qaeda worldwide. Face is everything in the Middle East. Al Qaeda as an organization declared its intent to make Iraq the center of their new Caliphate, but instead suffered a devastating and humiliating defeat at the hands of Iraqi and American infidels, making it clear that Allah did not choose them to establish His domain in Iraq, and possibly not anywhere else. The meme of the anti-war Left has included that the President’s Iraq policy produced a recruiting bonanza for al Qaeda; that’s a one-sided and short-sighted claim. Al Qaeda still exists as an organization outside of Iraq (as the Pakistanis are discovering) and is still recruiting and training fighters, but they’ve lost face (not to mention tens of thousands of fighters and hundreds of millions of dollars), and clerics who once supported international jihad have now denounced bin Laden and his attempts to achieve it. We’ve made progress in the War against Islamic radicalism.
Consider the mindset of the American press, which has absolutely failed to report any positive progress in the Iraq war. They would argue “It’s not news,” but that’s clearly nonsense; it’s huge news. However, the press long ago committed to embarrassing the President by highlighting any perceived weakness in his policy, and what we’re watching here is the vindication of his Iraq policy. They can’t countenance that, so they keep silent. The silence is their admission that they are no longer news organizations.
I’ve never considered the Iraq war a mistake; I thought it was a bold move to address the enormous problem of 1.6 billion Muslims raised to think of the West as satan, by creating a free, independent, Muslim republic right there in the middle east that Muslims could look to as a model. It’s five years later, and the plan seems to be working. President Bush has never been good at selling his policies to the nation, but he’s always been good at sticking to a plan until its completion. My hat is off to his tenacity, and I’m proud of the fact that I’ve never denounced him for his Iraq policy.
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