AL QAEDA IN IRAQ UPDATE

Three recent Pentagon reports indicate our forces in Iraq are making good progress against Al Qaeda and other terrorist elements. None of these reports will be widely disseminated by the media as they should be. The battle with Al Qaeda in Iraq is fully engaged, the terrorists are being killed or captured in large numbers, and our forces are the giving the enemy a good thumpin'.

BG Kevin Bergner tells us 18 senior Al Qaeda members were killed or captured in July, among them the senior Iraqi Al Qaeda operative, Khaled al Mashhdari, captured (ironically) July 4. Last week, Iraqi Army forces shot and killed three thugs from the Islamic State of Iraq terrorist group. On August 2, a coalition air strike killed Haitham Sabal al Badri, the dirtbag responsible for both of the Samarra Golden Mosque bombings and several other attacks on Americans. BG Bergner also pointed out Al Qaeda hasn't gone away, having launched a truck bomb attack in Tal Afar that killed 29 and wounded 50.

U.S. Army Colonel John Charlton says progress in Anbar is nothing short of "remarkable". He has seen attacks in his AO drop from 30 - 35 per day to an average of less than one per day. Following large scale operations to root out the terrorists, American and Iraqi forces working together extablished joint security stations, moved into the neighborhoods, and began conducting joint patrols. Al Qaeda hasn't quit on his turf either. An apparent attempt to infiltrate Ramadi with 60 -70 well-equipped terrorists, some of them complete with suicide belts, was detected and the enemy were eliminated. Good work, men. COL Charlton also says the previously pathetic 200 man Ramadi police force has grown to 7,400 cops deployed in 30 stations.

Finally, Army Colonel Mark S. Martins (SJA/MFI) tells us three Iraqi snipers have been convicted and sentenced to death for the shootings of two coalition soldiers and nine others. The three confessed members of Jaysh al-Islami were captured by the Iraqi Army after a two month shooting spree in Baghdad. These vermin had a van set up for sniping and were taping their attacks. Convictions and sentences like these can only help.

JINGOCON