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A Little Skeptical About Recent Message From 'al-Qaeda in Iraq'

A. Alexander, November 13th, 2006

If you aren't at least a little skeptical regarding the supposed communiqué issued by the so-called leader of "al-Qaeda in Iraq," Abu Hamza al-Muhajir -- or is it Abu Ayyub al-Masri? -- you should be and for a number of reasons.

First of all, the timing of the supposed release just happened to be really beneficial to President Bush and Republicans. Most sensible pundits were quick to note that the timing of Rumsfeld's resignation had more to do with media control than it did with the outcome of the election or the situation in Iraq. Announcing Rumsfeld's resignation when the administration did, allowed them to steal the headlines from victorious Democrats. And, of course, in the Bush-Rove White House spin and media control trumps everything - including competent governance.

That this shadowy group calling itself "al-Qaeda in Iraq" -- a name suspiciously resembling something dreamed up by a Madison Avenue PR marketing firm -- released its message when they did, helped ensure all the media oxygen would be sucked out of the air heading into the weekend. No good news for Democrats - only the hint that their victory was welcomed by al-Qaeda.

Secondly, the supposed message's content was almost verbatim, what the President had been warning about heading into the election. The supposed leader of "al-Qaeda in Iraq" even congratulated Americans for electing Democrats - seemingly, amazingly enough, saying their vote for the Democrats was a vote for them ... the terrorists. Either George W. Bush succeeded in bringing a self-fulfilling prophecy to fruition or Rove has been hired as "al-Qaeda in Iraq's" campaign manager.

Third, every U.S. and global intelligence agency assessment indicates that the entire Iraq insurgency numbers -- fulltime members -- somewhere around 20,000 with only, at the very most, 5 percent being composed of foreign fighters ("terrorists"). Yet, the so-called leader of "al-Qaeda in Iraq" claims there are 12,000 "terrorists" fighting in Iraq. That would mean a full 60 percent of Iraq's insurgents would be "terrorists," and that really isn't possible.

The members of al-Qaeda are Sunni Muslims. Iraq's Sunni insurgents have made it known that they don't want anything to do with al-Qaeda and Iraq's Shiia Muslims would kill ANY Sunni ... al-Qaeda or not. Sorry, but the claim of there being 12,000 members of al-Qaeda fighting in Iraq, just doesn't add up!

Finally, if you were paying close attention to the reports relating to the supposed statement made by the so-called leader of "al-Qaeda in Iraq," you would have noticed the information was "unconfirmed." Meaning, of course, nobody knew for sure who made and released the communiqué. And speaking of not knowing ... no one actually knows who is in charge of "al-Qaeda in Iraq" - assuming, of course, there is even such thing as "al-Qaeda in Iraq."

Shortly after al-Zarqawi was killed for the fourth or fifth and final time, Donald Rumsfeld's Pentagon quickly released the name of Zarqawi's supposed successor. Not long afterward -- probably not happy having Rumsfeld name a successor for them -- the bin-Laden Brigade named a leader to replace Zarqawi ... only his name didn't match the one that had been released by Rumsfeld's Pentagon.

This is how the confusion was reported:

"Yet Islamist watchers in Egypt and abroad said they had never heard of al-Masri [Rumsfeld's Pentagon appointed guy] --whose name means 'the Egyptian' -- and expressed skepticism about U.S. claims that he was poised to become Iraq's new terror leader.

"'His codename doesn't ring a bell for me; he's not one of the wanted Jihadis in Egypt,' said Egyptian lawyer Montasser el-Zayat, who was imprisoned with al-Qaeda No. 2 al-Zawahri from 1981-84.

"In an indication of the confusion surrounding the identity of the group's new leader, the U.S. first announced al-Masri's name shortly after the Jordanian-born Zarqawi was killed June 7. But al-Qaeda in Iraq later identified its new leader as al-Muhajer."

Fortunately, for Rumsfeld's Pentagon they were quickly able to determine that both guys were the same man. It's always more convenient when two different people performing the same job turn out to be the same guy. Indeed, it "helps propel the propaganda," as George W. Bush once said.

As I said, if you aren't at least a little skeptical regarding the supposed communiqué issued by the so-called leader of "al-Qaeda in Iraq," you should be.

Original article posted here.