Learn Chinese - US says al-Qaida leader arrested in Iraq

WORLD / Middle East

US says al-Qaida leader arrested in Iraq

(AP)
Updated: 2007-07-19 08:32

BAGHDAD - The US command announced on Wednesday the arrest of an al-Qaida
leader it said served as the link between the organization's command in
Iraq and Osama bin Laden's inner circle, enabling it to wield
considerable influence over the Iraqi group.

In this photo released by the Department of Defense, Khaled Abdul-Fattah
Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani is seen in this photo after his July 4,
2007, capture by US forces in Mosul, Iraq. [AP]

The announcement was made as the White House steps up efforts to link the
war in Iraq to the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, with a growing number
of Americans opposing the Iraq conflict. Some independent analysts
question the extent of al-Qaida's role in Iraq.

Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani was the highest-ranking
Iraqi in the al-Qaida in Iraq leadership when he was captured July 4 in
Mosul, US military spokesman Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner said.

Bergner told reporters that al-Mashhadani carried messages from bin
Laden, and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, to the Egyptian-born head of
al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri.

"There is a clear connection between al-Qaida in Iraq and al-Qaida senior
leadership outside Iraq," Bergner said.

He said al-Mashhadani had told interrogators that al-Qaida's global
leadership provides "directions, they continue to provide a focus for
operations" and "they continue to flow foreign fighters into Iraq,
foreign terrorists."

The relationship between bin Laden and the al-Qaida in Iraq leadership
has long been the subject of debate. Some private analysts believe the
foreign-based leadership plays a minor role in day-to-day operations.

Analysts have also questioned US military assertions that al-Qaida in
Iraq is the main threat to US forces here.

Former Pentagon analyst Anthony Cordesman quoted a background brief by US
military experts in Iraq this month that said al-Qaida in Iraq was
responsible for only 15 percent of the attacks here in the first half of
2007.

Even before al-Mashhadani's arrest, US military officials have insisted
that links exist between the local al-Qaida group and the bin Laden
clique. From time to time, officials have released captured letters
indicating a flow of policy instructions to the group's commanders in
Iraq.

Although numerous armed groups operate here, al-Qaida in Iraq's signature
attacks - high-profile truck bombings against civilian targets - were
largely responsible for unleashing the wave of sectarian slaughter last
year that transformed the character of the conflict, US officials say.

"What we've learned from not just from the capture of al-Mashhadani but
from other al-Qaida operatives is that there is a flow of strategic
directions of prioritization, of messaging and other guidance that comes
from al-Qaida senior leadership to the al-Qaida in Iraq leadership,"
Bergner said.

Al-Qaida in Iraq was proclaimed in 2004 by Jordanian-born Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi. He led a group called Tawhid and Jihad, responsible for the
beheading of several foreign hostages, whose final moments were captured
on videotapes provided to Arab television stations.

Al-Zarqawi posted Web statements declaring his allegiance to bin Laden
and began using the name of al-Qaida in Iraq. Al-Zarqawi was killed in a
US airstrike in Diyala province in June 2006 and was replaced by al-Masri.

Although al-Qaida in Iraq's rank-and-file are mostly Iraqis, the Iraqi
group's top leadership is dominated by foreigners, Bergner said. That
includes al-Masri, who joined an al-Qaida forerunner in Egypt in the
1980s and later helped train fighters who drove the Soviet army from
Afghanistan.

Pointing to the foreign influence within al-Qaida in Iraq could undermine
support for the organization among nationalistically minded Iraqis,
including some in insurgent groups that have broken with al-Qaida.

In an effort to give al-Qaida an Iraqi face, Bergner said al-Mashhadani
and al-Masri established a front organization known as the Islamic State
of Iraq, which the general described as "a virtual organization in
cyberspace."

In Web postings, the Islamic State of Iraq has identified its leader as
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, a name indicating Iraqi origin, with the Egyptian
al-Masri as minister of war. There are no known photos of al-Baghdadi.

Bergner said al-Mashhadani had told interrogators that al-Baghdadi is a
"fictional role" created by al-Masri and that an actor with an Iraqi
accent is used for audio recordings of speeches posted on the Web.

"In his words, the Islamic State of Iraq is a front organization that
masks the foreign influence and leadership within al-Qaida in Iraq in an
attempt to put an Iraqi face on the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq,"
Bergner said.

Proclamation of the Islamic State is widely seen as a blunder by al-Qaida
because it alienated independently minded insurgent groups that opposed
the religious zealots' goal of an Islamic caliphate.

Fearing they would be marginalized by al-Qaida, Sunni sheiks and
insurgent leaders began turning against the terror movement, in some
cases cooperating with US forces, notably in Anbar province.

Also Wednesday, the US military said three American soldiers were killed
the day before in separate bombings in the capital. Two were killed in
west Baghdad and another died in east Baghdad, the military said.

Four other Americans were wounded in the east Baghdad blast, the command
said. Two insurgents responsible for the attack were identified, engaged
and killed, the statement added.

At least 12 people were killed Wednesday in a series of bombings in
mostly Shiite areas of eastern Baghdad. Seven of them died in two
back-to-back bombings near a gas station in the Amin district, police
said.

Eight civilians were killed when gunmen opened fire in the city of
Khalis, a Shiite enclave in a mostly Sunni area 50 miles north of
Baghdad, police said.

All the police spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
supposed to release the information.

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