Sunday, September 03, 2006

Al Qaeda's Insurance Rates Rise Again

Captain Ed has a post today about Al Qaeda's #2 man in Iraq being captured. I took away two key points.

Hamed Jumaa Faris Juri al-Saaydi and twenty of his closest friends found themselves in custody after a raid in Baqubah...Saaydi, also known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, ordered the February attack on the golden-domed Shiite shrine in Samara that ignited the ongoing ferocious wave of sectarian killings...The city of Baqubah has been known for its terrorist infiltration, and this raid suggests that the Iraqis have begun to break the AQ grip on the region
For all the talk about the advantages the terrorists have and how the Coalition forces aren't winning, imagine being able to walk into Tokyo in 1943, capture General Tojo and walk back out again. It's not easy being a jihadist. To amplify Captain Ed's point, someone, probably several someones in Baqubah felt safe enough to rat this guy out. Now that he's gone, there will probably be more informants turning in the bad guys. It's a snowball effect. Once the oppressed see that it can be done, more will do it.

American forces provided support for the operation, but the raid apparently was conducted and led by the Iraqis.
There will come a day, maybe sooner rather than later, when we will draw down forces in the region, not because the Democrats forced us to surrender, but because the job is getting done.

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