Key Al Qaeda Deputy Killed in Iraq (And 32 Most-wanted Terrorists Captured Too)

CNN, is reporting a key Al Qaeda deputy was killed in Iraq on 27 December 2007.

Muhammad Khalil Ibrahim, identified as the deputy military leader for the al Qaeda's network south of Baghdad, was killed along with two other terrorists in the air strike on their vehicle on Dec. 27, the military said. Ibrahim was "a key planner in numerous attacks against Coalition forces operating in the Mahmudiyah area, and was also involved in the facilitation of foreign terrorists and weapons," the military said.

CNN's title of this article, "Key al Qaeda deputy killed in Iraq," misses a more significant operation noted in subsequent paragraphs in the article.

On Saturday, the U.S. military and Iraqi Army launched an assault south of Baghdad in the Ubaydi farmland area, described by one U.S. soldier as a place where "people are either aligned with al Qaeda in Iraq or they've been killed or chased away." More than 40 suspected extremists were captured, including 32 that were on the Iraqi Army's "most-wanted list," the military said.

Coalition forces captured 32 extremists on the Iraqi Army's "most-wanted list." This operation is simply astounding and displays the level of intelligence penetration and coordination of forces currently being brought to bear against Al Qaeda in Iraq. Thirty-two most-wanted extremists were captured in one operation.

Not only was the deputy military leader for the al Qaeda's network south of Baghdad killed along with two associates on 27 December 2007, but two days later, during an apparent high level meeting, 32 senior Al Qaeda leaders were capture.

The inference that this meeting was a high level one is supported by the facts that a relatively small cache was recovered during the raid (four 120mm mortar rounds and 80 rounds of 20mm) and such a large number of cell leaders were present.

The raid took place along the Tigris River 20 miles south of Baghdad putting it in the Salmon Pak area, normally associated with the "triangle of death" where three US Soldiers were kidnapped in May 2007. Another important piece of information CNN does not tell us in their article is that 200 Iraqi Army and Policemen (half of the total force) were also involved in the raid. Again, the importance of this fact should not be sidelined. We have a high level meeting taking place with 32 most-wanted Al Qaeda members and Iraqi Forces are trusted with the intelligence of this raid beforehand and did not warn these 32 most-wanted Al Qaeda members. In fact, the operation on the southernmost of the three main objectives was planned, led and executed entirely by Iraqi soldiers.

These facts taken together demonstrates the once corrupt Iraqi Police Force have been made relatively free of corruption as they were used for the outer cordon. Iraqi Army Forces not only planned, led, and executed the operation, but found three of the 32 captured terrorists in a spider hole, again showing the level of expertise and lack of corruption in the Iraqi Army.

So four significant facts come out of this article when combined with other information that CNN did not feel important to highlight in this article.

1. This operation was an Iraqi planned, led, and executed raid (for the southernmost objective).

2. The level of corruption in Iraqi Security Forces has definitely been reduced otherwise this raid would not have netted 32 most-wanted terrorists.

3. Three of the 32 terrorists were found in a spider hole showing the level of expertise of Iraqi Forces.

4. A major terrorist network has been wiped out in Southern Iraq which led operations in the notorious "triangle of death" area south of Baghdad which ran through Salmon Pak and Mahmudiyah to Baghdad.

One can only hope the capture of 32 Al Qaeda leaders in this region will also help US force recover its two missing Soldiers.