Al-Maliki: Iraq Defeated Terrorism

[DOGS THAT BARK]

Certainly open to debate--but fact that they along with Pakistan-afgan-indonesia-and numerous others are joining in fight certainly is welcome scenerio to some anyway
a couple inspiring stories out today--

Al-Maliki: Iraq Defeated Terrorism
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,376821,00.html

Indonesia: Arrests weakened militants
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Jul06/0,4670,IndonesiaTerror,00.html

"The fact that we have uncovered terrorist activities and that we did not experience any terrorist incidents in the past two years means our security is working very well," Wirayuda said. "We have uncovered various terrorist cells ... meaning they are within our reach."

It is unclear whether the terrorist movement has been "crippled, but the fact is they are on the run," he said. "We are encouraged and feel more secure."

Indonesia has rounded up and tried hundreds of suspects since the Bali strikes _ an action that has been widely praised by Washington and other allies in the fight against Islamic extremism.

 

[StevieD]

So I guess we can leave now?:shrug:

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

UBL> We will make our stand in iraq-we will drive the infidels from the land.

--he must have been assuming a dem victory in 04


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article4276486.ece
The Sunday TimesJuly 6, 2008

Iraqis lead final purge of Al-Qaeda

Marie Colvin in Mosul
American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.

After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda?s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant ?last stand? in the northern city of Mosul.

A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.

Operation Lion?s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans? 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.

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The group has been reduced to hit-and-run attacks, including one that killed two off-duty policemen yesterday, and sporadic bombings aimed at killing large numbers of officials and civilians.

Last Friday I joined the 2nd Iraqi Division as it supported local police in a house-to-house search for one such bomb after intelligence pointed to a large explosion today.

Even in the district of Zanjali, previously a hotbed of the insurgency, it was possible to accompany an Iraqi colonel on foot through streets of breeze-block houses studded with bullet holes. Hundreds of houses were searched without resistance but no bomb was found, only 60kg of explosives.

American and Iraqi leaders believe that while it would be premature to write off Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Sunni group has lost control of its last urban base in Mosul and its remnants have been largely driven into the countryside to the south.

Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq?s prime minister, who has also led a crackdown on the Shi?ite Mahdi Army in Basra and Baghdad in recent months, claimed yesterday that his government had ?defeated? terrorism.

?They were intending to besiege Baghdad and control it,? Maliki said. ?But thanks to the will of the tribes, security forces, army and all Iraqis, we defeated them.?

The number of foreign fighters coming over the border from Syria to bolster Al-Qaeda?s numbers is thought to have declined to as few as 20 a month, compared with 120 a month at its peak.

Brigadier General Abdullah Abdul, a senior Iraqi commander, said: ?We?ve limited their movements with check-points. They are doing small attacks and trying big ones, but they?re mostly not succeeding.?

Major-General Mark Hertling, American commander in the north, said: ?I think we?re at the irreversible point.?