U.S. military: Al Qaeda leader in Mosul captured

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/06/16/iraq.main/index.html

U.S. military: Al Qaeda leader in Mosul captured
Abu Talha 'surrendered without a fight'


Thursday, June 16, 2005 Posted: 9:42 AM EDT (1342 GMT)


BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military on Thursday reported the capture of a man described as al Qaeda's leader in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Donald Alston identified him as Abu Talha -- whose actual name is Muhammad Khalaf Shakar -- and said he was captured on Tuesday.

"Talha has been one of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's most trusted operations agents in Iraq," Alston said. "This is a major defeat for the al Qaeda organization in Iraq."

"Numerous reports indicated he wore a suicide vest 24 hours a day and stated that he would never surrender. Instead, Talha gave up without a fight," Alston said.

Talha surrendered to multinational forces in a quiet neighborhood in Mosul, Alston said, after information from Iraqi civilians contributed to his capture.

<</SNIP>>

[gratuitous]

1. Ooooh, lemme guess

He's "the number 3 man in Al Qaeda."

[gp]

2. or he can be the 20th hijacker...

[malmapus]

3. I was gonna say that =P

beat me to it :D

[BenDavid]

19. Was gonna say that.... LOL :-)

[ikri]

4. Do Al Qaeda operate a call center?

Most of the call center job adverts I see advertise for Junior Managers or Trainee Managers. Got to wonder if Al Qaeda operate in the same way, "Hey kid, join up & we'll give you the title of junior vice-president".

[Hamsta1]

15. Hi, I'm saddam talabani al sadr zarqawi

...I'm vice president of anti-zionist activities here in mosul. Death to infidels!

While I've got you on the line, can I interest you in some energy bars?

(the name has to sound evil)

[Tempest]

5. How can he have been captured

When he gave himself up?

Spin, spin, spin.

[Norquist Nemesis]

7. Shhh! The media's just doing its job reporting both sides

of the "story". :banghead:

[Igel]

13. Here's a guess.

"Multinational forces" go up to his front door and tell him to open up or they'll either break down the door or fire on the house/apartment. He opens the door.

He's both captured, he's surrended, and he's "given up without a fight". No extremely unlikely scenario or circumstances needed.

Of course, this is rather different from "he gave himself up" in the absence of further context, which implies a rather less immediate threat of capture or assault.

[Dhalgren]

6. I don't believe a word of any of this bullshit!

The US is so starved for "positive" news that they will say and do anything.

"This is a major defeat for the al Qaeda organization in Iraq."


""Numerous reports indicated he wore a suicide vest 24 hours a day and stated that he would never surrender. Instead, Talha gave up without a fight,"


Good gods, their copy doesn't even sound plausible, any more. What maroons...

[Doctor_J]

8. Episode #1459 in "Operation Galloping Bullshit"

[BR_Parkway]

9. Surrendered on DSM hearing day? How do you surrender out of a

freezer?

wait three days and we'll have a very tiny report of mistaken id.

[uppityperson]

10. Told you so-#3 captured on DSM hearing day

"surrendered without a fight" While it is good no one got hurt, how stupid do they think the USAnian people are? Very, I know.

[pissed_American]

11. What number is he again ??

I forget.

[geckosfeet]

12. Why do this one Iraqi at a time ??

Just surround the country and declare the entire insurgency "captured".

[Straight Shooter]

14. Wonderful. Little Boots can use this juicy tidbit at his press conference

Can these people be any more transparent?

[BiggJawn]

16. "By the Beard of the Prophet, I know not where the Sheik is..."

And 10 years from now, they'll still be holding him in gitmo while rumsferatu says "Oh, Goodness, Gracious! We get LOTS of good intel from him. No, he hasn't had contact with the outside world in a decade, but his info is still timely and accurate..."

Yeah, I know, we HOPE Rumsferatu is out of power or in prison 10 years from now, but we all thought we'd be bitching about President Kerry by now, too, din't we?

[Vladimir]

17. ROTFL! n/t

[damntexdem]

18. Is he yet another Al Qaeda leader 'number three'?

I just wondered, since that's who they generally capture.

[pdurod1]

20. SMOKESCREEN

nobody pay attention to Conyers

[Frederik]

21. Remember in Falluja

when they found an "al-Qaida office"? How did they know? Why, there was a sign above the door that said "al-Qaida organization". Or so they said on CNN! :-)

[Ripley]

22. U.S. military: Al Qaeda leader in Mosul captured

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military on Thursday reported the capture of a man described as al Qaeda's leader in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

snip>>

"Talha has been one of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's most trusted operations agents in Iraq," Alston said. "This is a major defeat for the al Qaeda organization in Iraq."

snip>>

Civilians providing such information indicates they are taking steps against the "increasingly unpopular insurgency," he said.

snip>>

Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi, wanted by U.S.-led forces for terrorist attacks in Iraq, pledged his allegiance to Osama bin Laden in October. The United States has posted a $25 million bounty for al-Zarqawi's capture or death.

more...


http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/06/16/iraq.main/index.html

Bold highlighting is my own and I thought al-Zarqawi and his top lieutenants were dead (again).

[cdb]

23. What a coincidence!

Just as the DSM hearings are about to be a story!!

[Pockets]

28. Beat me to it.

Anyway, I'm sure they're just a few away from catching ALL the people who hate America. :sarcasm:

[Options Remain]

24. one distraction... Just in time!

:puke:

[daleo]

32. Today's CNN distraction appears to be an L.A. freeway chase. n/t

[Guckert]

25. Another one?? sounds like a typical Divert, Distract, and Distort move

to steer the lemmings from DSM hearing.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

26. "Increasingly more unpopular insurgency"? Delusional comment, IMHO.

[leftchick]

30. yeah. Tell that to the families of the 50 DEAD soldiers this month

and the 1714 since this fucked fiasco began. :(

[still_one]

27. OK, I guess that means the war is over

[wtmusic]

29. Couldn't we roll out another mass grave

I guess that one is getting a little stale...

[daleo]

31. Would this be their "NUMBER 3 MAN"?

Or did he just have the Mosul franchise? They seem to have an endless supply of number three men.

[neweurope]

33. al-Zarqawi must have been killed and / or captured at least

five times. And al Qaeda evidently has (many) more chiefs than Indians.



------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[RedSock]

34. OH, NO!

How is Al-Qaeda going to get its xeroxing done now?

[mitchtv]

35. Lemme guess,

Number three man- one of the masterminds

[nadinbrzezinski]

36. Impeachment ahs been raised

bring Mr Goldstein out folks

[BadNews]

37. A question to all just to up the ante.

Since Dip Shit put our military into Iraq, if the fearless leader were removed from power today and you were made president, What would you do with Iraq?

1. Do we pack up and leave tomorrow?
2. Do we keep the status quo?
3. Would the UN step in and help?
3a. What if they refused to step in?
4. What would your exit strategy be?

I ask because I don't know what I would do now.