Al-Qaeda No. 2 Guy, Isn’t

The Mainstream Media has been crowing over the arrest in Iraq of Hamid Juma Faris Jouri al-Saeedi, an Al-Qaeda leader. It would be funny if it weren’t so maddening that the MSM continues to call Al-Saeedi the second most important official in the Al-Qaeda. And yet, even yesterday, U.S. military officials said Saeedi was "one of the top five al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders" but they refused to identify him as the second-highest official in the group. Never mind. The LA Times headline said, “Al Qaeda's No. 2 in Iraq Captured” even though the body copy said, “A high-level operative of Al Qaeda in Iraq… has been captured.” The Washington Post online edition had a huge shout that screamed, “No.2 Al-Qaeda in Iraq Leader is Arrested”, but the news story headline wasn’t quite so sure. It read, “Iraq Cites Arrest of a Top Local Insurgent”, with a subhead that toned down the claim to: “Officials Call Detainee No. 2 in Al-Qaeda Group”. This morning, the New York Times headline was more truthful: “Iraqi Official Reports Capture of Top Insurgent Leader Linked to Shrine Bombing”. The fact is the Iraqis were the ones who boasted Al-Saeedi was the No. 2 Al-Qaeda leader. But US officials knew he wasn’t that high on the list and said so. The NYT story reported, “a United States military official was more cautious in describing Mr. Saeedi’s place in the organization’s pecking order. While he was a “top-tier guy” who supervised those who carried out the Samarra bombing, “I’m not sure we are ready to put a number on him,” said the American official, who agreed to speak only without being named because Iraqi officials had been designated to announce the capture. “It’s a very decentralized operation.” God, but that’s pitiful. The Iraqis and the Bush administration have so totally lost this war in Iraq that they are reduced to putting numbers on Al-Qaeda thugs that the rest of the world knows are guerillas making it up as they go along. “Decentralized” means every man jack in the organization is boss. So what it boils down to is this: The Bush administration wanted Iraqi officials to announce the capture, because they knew the Iraqis would ratchet up his status as being the No. 2 Al-Qaeda guy, even though the Bush administration was fully aware Saeedi was just another Al-Qaeda “boss”. If, as the WaPo story has it, “The arrest of Hamed Jumaa Faris Juri al-Saeidi, described by Iraqi officials as the No. 2 leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, was the latest in a series of blows to the Sunni Arab insurgent group”, the news that Al-Qaeda has received a series of blows has not yet reached Al-Qaeda. Remember what Bush said when the White House produced that made-for-prime-time movie last June about the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi? Bush said, “The death of the Jordanian-born Zarqawi is a severe blow to Al Qaeda…the killing of Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, offers a chance to ‘turn the tide’ in the war.” And on June 20, 2005, Dick Cheney said, "I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency." The only tide that’s turning is the one against the GOP, which for certain is in its last throes. How can we tell? Watch the MSM for clues. The MSM, at the behest of the fascists in the White House, is mounting a renewed attack against Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation into the Plame affair. That means that Fitzgerald is just about to indict more Bush administration hooligans.