Via the AP: US: Top al-Qaida in Iraq figure captured
The U.S. command said Wednesday the highest-ranking Iraqi in the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq has been arrested, adding that information from him indicates the group’s foreign-based leadership wields considerable influence over the Iraqi chapter.Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also known as Abu Shahid, was captured in Mosul on July 4, said Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a military spokesman.
“Al-Mashhadani is believed to be the most senior Iraqi in the al-Qaida in Iraq network,” Bergner said. He said al-Mashhadani was a close associate of Abu Ayub al-Masri, the Egyptian-born head of al-Qaida in Iraq.
Any such arrest is always welcome news, although it is always difficult to tell what the exact impact of any given capture will be.
David Kurtz at Talking Points Memo finds the timing to be “curious” (given the NIE’s release yesterday) and
Taylor Marsh considers it “convenient propaganda.”
While I will concede that political considerations may well have been involved in the timing of the release of this information (although surely it would have been strategically smarter to have done so yesterday, or the day before, if countering the NIE was the goal), I find it amusing when critics of the administration shift between “Bush is an incompetent boob” to “Bush is an evil genius master manipulator” (surely these are contradicting caricatures).
Regardless of anything else, the bottom line is that we do have a military mission underway in Iraq, and it shouldn’t be surprising that there would be specific successes within that mission, even if the overall policy lacks a likely happy ending.
Just like a Maypole is sometimes just a Maypole, so, too, sometimes news is just news.
More to the point, however, the issue at hand really isn’t whether the timing of a given announcement is done in way to try and score points, the important issue is really what does the news mean in the broader narrative. Since it is unlikely that this arrest will lead to the defeat of AQI, the bottom line is that it is good news that probably doesn’t effect the overall direction of the policy (and what Bush or Reid or anybody else says in public is secondary in terms of actually understanding that fact). On balance, I think that analysis of US politics amongst the various chattering classes (pundits, bloggers, whomever) is that they pay too much attention to who said what instead of what the empirical importance of a given event is (or is not).
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July 18th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Bush is an idiot.
He’s surrounded by evil people who need someone not too bright to manipulate.
July 18th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
But such a theory doesn’t explain the basic fact that the policies themselves, not just what Bush himself may have said or done, have been tagged as incompetent.
It just doesn’t track.
July 18th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
It looks like incompetence if you believe his policies should be for the betterment of America as whole.
They aren’t.
Less regualtion on businesses.
Lower taxes for the rich.
Massive build-up for defense contractors.
Giving away Medicare dollars to big pharma.
I wouldn’t call any of that incompetence. Those were the plans, and they were all competently met.
July 18th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
“I find it amusing when critics of the administration shift between “Bush is an incompetent boob” to “Bush is an evil genius master manipulator” (surely these are contradicting caricatures).”
Hardly. It is, in part, because the Bush administration wastes its and the government’s resources (intellectual, economic, etc) on political manipulation that it is incompetent. You can’t do the right thing if you’re busy doing something else.
July 18th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
“surely it would have been strategically smarter to have done so yesterday, or the day before, if countering the NIE was the goal”
What?! The media and the general public’s very limited attention span dictate that only the most recent news is mindlessly repeated ad nauseum until something new displaces it. After that a particular news item is rarely further discussed in any detail. If the White House knew the coming NIE would look bad (and they had to), why would they not hold onto a little nugget of good news to change the subject and muddy the debate immediately after. That’s pretty much their MO.
July 18th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
No dear Blog you have it all wrong.
The only thing Bush is good at is spin.
Bush however is terrible in actualy getting the right people at the right time for the job at hand, and terrible at solving real life problems.
It can be argued that the only thing that actually works in this Administration is the Political Arm under Rove. That’s why the timing of the news release is good, and the spin is as usual good. That’s why no one will be able to translate this obvious attmpt at controling the discourse, or any other “news” that Gen. Pace, and Gen. Petraeus might be already br preparing for September into an actual win, or victory, or anithing other than the same old, same old thing……. We are making progress(we always are according to Bush), but we can’t get out. So under those sircunstances what good is progress??
Broken record, and broken credibility.
We’ll make “progress” till the cows come home. We’ll “train” the Iraqi military until they all have PHd’s. We will “support” the troops until there are no troops left to support because they are dead, wounded, or out of the Military.
July 18th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
#5: if they had released the information yesterday, for example, the stories about AQ would have had to have included info about the NIE and the arrest–that would have diminished the impact of the NIE.
#6: if they are such geniuses at spin, why is his approval at 32%?
July 18th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
“that would have diminished the impact of the NIE”
You’re either being surprisingly naive or just purposefully looking the other way on this one.
Why settle for diminishing the NIE or sharing the front page with it when you can practically wipe the slate clean by waiting a day?
July 18th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Well, neither as I don’t buy the notion a new headline “wipes the slate clean.”
Nor, for that matter, do I think that releasing the information yesterday would have erased the NIE. I simply think that coverage yesterday would have been blunted and that the stories would have been linked.
This hardly strikes me as preposterous.
July 18th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
“I don’t buy the notion a new headline “wipes the slate clean.”
It does when the message behind the headline is more or less “be scared America because now there’s even more bad guys following Osama bin Laden and they’re in Iraq so don’t even think about thinking about bringing the troops home or we’re all gonna die!”
July 18th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Every few months we kill or capture the number two guy in Al Quada. It would seem that their organization is top heavy with upper management. Any MBA’s out there with an opinion as to whether this is a wise business plan for them?
July 18th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
“Well, neither as I don’t buy the notion a new headline “wipes the slate clean.”
Nor, for that matter, do I think that releasing the information yesterday would have erased the”
And how is your “nor” any different from your “neither”? You just said the same thing twice in a slightly different way.
“I simply think that coverage yesterday would have been blunted and that the stories would have been linked.”
By now it’s pretty widely understood that the press has done a really shitty job at connecting the dots on Iraq or terrorism for many years. You don’t give any credible reason to believe they would do otherwise now.
July 18th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Ultimately, whether the story was released today, yesterday, the day before or tomorrow has a marginal effect. I think it would have been strategically smarter to release it yesterday, you think today. As such, this argument really isn’t about an awful lot.
Regardless, I still find it amusing that Bush/the administration is alternatively portrayed as incompetent or geniuses.
I, myself, see a lot more incompetence than genius, and therefore don’t ascribe a great deal of smarts to the release of this information today. I certainly don’t see a lot of cleverness in it.
July 18th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Holy vitriol, batman!
I agree with Dr. Taylor’s first reaction to this thing.
It really is a small thing, in the tactical picture - not worth getting all hot and bothered about. I mean, even if you hate Bush, think his people are evil, whatever - you have to give the guys on the ground some credit, and realize that, even if their commander in chief is a boob, they’ll catch a badguy once in a while.
Hating the leader to the point that one can’t even accept a tiny (perhaps ultimately insignificant) success as real points to a badly skewed and horribly biased mindset that, however well-meaning, can only lead to greater evils. More evidence of the growing polarization of America, based not on objective analysis but on emotionally influenced beliefs.
I think the maypole is a maypole and all the fuss and bother is just plain nuts.
July 18th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
ridiculous boobs can easily manipulate a system if they have no ethics. however, that doesn’t mean they have anything meaningful to add to anything. but i’m glad we’ve captured the #1 guy with AQI, guess we’re all safe now and all the troubles in iraq will end. mission accomplished, bring ‘em home boys…
July 18th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
“Regardless, I still find it amusing that Bush/the administration is alternatively portrayed as incompetent or geniuses”
I think it’s interesting that the press presents what appear to be conflicting narratives on this administration, but if they we’re doing all the linking you deem them capable of we might have a synthesis of those narratives resembling my feelings in post #4. Since they don’t link enough things we’re left with news that’s more depressing in its shallowness than humurous.
July 18th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
first…how many times have we caught the number one guy or the number two guy? actually i wanted to give them credit for this latest mid-east peace conference, until that looked to be a big nothing.
second…it’s completely consistent that bush is, while maybe not a boob, he is certainly an incurious lazy frat boy who has been carried his entire life. and the people carrying him now, like cheney and rove, are geniuses of some sort. they are brilliant at politics…no question. it’s governing they have a problem with. but if you want to look at it from the point of view of the pharmacy and energy companies they are doing a great job. it’s just my view that the government should be looking out for the little guy, not big business.
July 18th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
“I find it amusing when critics of the administration shift between “Bush is an incompetent boob” to “Bush is an evil genius master manipulator” (surely these are contradicting caricatures).”
Yeah! (except no one seems to be making that argument)
July 18th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Al-Quaida is now the latest excuse to justify our continuing fighting in Iraq.
First it was WMD’s, we did not find any. Then it morphed into establishing a Democracy in Iraq (Nation Building) , and we see the “Democracy” from hell we got, and now is an al-Quaida that was not there in the first place, that we most now defeat before we live. Never mind that there is an inexaustable supply of would be terrorists in the area, never mind that it was Bush that created the problem in the first place with his incredible ignorance, and never mind that al-Quaida can come back into Iraq the moment we get out next year, or in 100 years…. Makes no difference to BS artists like Bush.
This guy they cought Khaled Convenient Abdul is just the latest transpared ploy to build up their new case. Al-Quaida!!!! Be afraid, be very afraid they are behind every tree.
Don’t these people in Washignton get tired of the same re-runs? Do they actually believe that any one other than the usual suspects (the 30% of zombies that follow them) buys their scare tactics any more?
What is it again we are supposed to be scared of? A bunch of terrorists created by Bush and the Right WIng’s invasion of Iraq, that are now running around killing Shiite, and Sunni alike?
Pardon me, but it is Osama and his followers in Pakistan that we need to pay attention to. They are the ones with the demonstrated skills to do us harm today. The al Quaida branch of Iraq is to busy now a days killing Shiite, and Sunni to be of any treat to our home land. That is a fact.
Of course Bush is no friend of facts. Come to think of it, Bush is a right down a pathological, serial liar.
July 18th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
#6: if they are such geniuses at spin, why is his approval at 32%?
I believe that, if it were not for his spin, his approval ratings would be somewhere hovering above the single digits, and that his only support would come from dead-enders, neofascists, and billionaire CEOs. That a president can be so wrong in so many costly ways and still be “re-elected” shows that Cheney/Rove et. al. will stoop at nothing to continue their death grip on power. And by death grip I am referring to the death of our Republic.
July 18th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
[...] NPR is skeptical (perhaps because he was not on this most wanted list from last year), and though this is the closest link I could find in my best search, one story ended by saying that the military spokesman refused to give supporting intelligence information or operational details to support the claim. Well, yeah. Poliblogger is skeptical too. [...]
July 18th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
This ocupation demanded a change in policy a long time ago, unfortunately Bush keeps on making mistake after mistake.
Let me elavorate. If the stated goal for this Administratios is to support the Iraqi Government until they can compromise and create an atmosphere conductive to peace, while at the same time we attack al-Quaida.
Then, we most understand that no one can predict how long this will take because it does not depend on our Miltiary and their planning, but in a bunch of Iraqi politicians, and a bunch of terrorists that most likely have their own agenda, and ideas.
Therefore we should have adjusted our strategic Policy to a war of attrition and prepared our troops, and our Military tactics accordingly. Instead what Bush does is to double down the bet, rush in more troops, and pretend that in a few months he will accomplish what he has not in four plus years.
That is characteristicaly Idiotic of the man. But I expected better from the remaining Generals that still more support for this excuse of a Leader. Can’t any one at the Pentagon make the point that in a surge all that the enemy has to do is hide, re-deploy, and hit where the surge can’t reach and just waith us out?
The only thing we did with the surge is to give a sprinter the mission to win a marathon. Is going to look great at the start, but only at the start.
I guess that’s all Bush needs. A one year sprint, and after that let some poor bastard run the marathon with an exhausted Army, and a pissed off public.
Come to think about it, Bush might not be an Idiot after all, he is just a no good coward that is simply passing the buck of a war he started but does not have what it takes to end, or make it right.
We will find out what he is soon enough.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Egad.
It never ceases to amaze me how angry the rhetoric has become regarding Iraq, angry to the point of irrationality.
Accusations of fascism aside (and those are always ridiculous, especially to those few of us who have actually studied fascism and are familiar with its definitions, i.e., the fascist negations, and the scholarly works on the subject, particularly Payne), what is so worth getting mad about? This is a small thing. We caught a badguy, and a not-so-horribly important one.
Godwin’s law. . .
Bush will not be the death of the Republic. That’s beyond the capabilities of any one president to ever do.
What CAN be the death of the Republic is the death of rational, cool, logical debate within the citizenship. Hating someone like Bush to the point that you don’t care who replaces him; getting so behind party ideology that you don’t even know what it really means any more; and allowing emotional excess to win out at the polls instead of logic and reason.
So many people crying about Bush and Iraq, so few with a practical alternative to offer. . .
July 19th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
[...] In case you think neo-conservatism has lost its moorings, well, there’s this, but better yet, you may disabuse yourself of that notion by reading Professor Victor Davis Hanson’s point by point demolition of The New York Times’ editorial calling for us to immediately abandon Iraq. Then there are parts one, two and three of whoopsie, it’s possible that victory was just achieved on the ground while you fought so hard to lose it politically. Have the Democrats caught this disease from their most whiny generation? It would seem so - and if the war winds down on it’s own, I’d have to say that their timing is execrable. I mean, even Poliblogger is showing signs of optimism, don’t they see the writing on the wall? [...]
July 19th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Captain D.
If you read my post I offered an alternative.
You have a point that Bush will not destroy our Republic. But Bush and his policies did set us back for a generation in the Middle East. A lot of people have lost their lives to find out that indeed there are terrorists in Iraq…… The ones Bush created.
The anger that this man generates in all quarters, and around the world is well desserved. Our “Leader” long ago, even before the war, decided to debate the merits of his invasion, and the premises of his pre-emptive policies by lowering the debate to the mud. Name calling substituted reason… Like arrogant idiot kids in the court yard these Neo-Cons decided that the best way to defend their ideas was to call people names like “Defeatist”, Appeasers”, “Cut and Run”, “giving comfort to the enemy”, “old Europe”, etc, etc.
They poisoned the atmosphere and now that they have been proven absolutely wrong in their ideas, they are facing the backlash of a very angry electorate ready for vengance.
To illustrate the difference of a mature Nation, and an honest Leadership let me remind you guys of the war between Hezbollah and Israel in the Summer of 2006. Israel’s Prime Minister, just like Bush considered that he could use his superior military to destroy once and for all a terrorist organization. Israel invaded Lebanon, and instead of destroying Hezbollah, they found themselves bogged down in a war that was rapidly deteriorating into a mess (sounds familiar?). The reaction of the Israeli Government was to pull back, and for the most part cancel the opertation way short of it’s stated goals.
No one talked about “cutting and running” in Israel, no Political party started grand standing, telling their supporters that Olmert was a Defeatist, or that Israel was giving it’s enemies a victory that the country could not afford.
The Israeli people simply said “we need to learn from the mistake”, “Ehud Olmert will pay at the polls, and in the next elections”, a Military commission came out with the correct blame, and recomendations not to make the same mistake, and Israel moved on.
At the time I asked a friend of mine from Israel, what he tought of the almost diametrically opposed reaction between America and Israel to basically the same situation. His answer I’ll never forget was ” We are different because in Israel we can’t afford politicians politicizing our wars, our very survival is at stake. It is not a political game for us, we don’t have that luxury”.
I believe he was right.
July 19th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Pingback.
What victory on the grownd?
What on hearth are you talking about.
And by the way, Do you have a problem with people questioning the sanity of a policy that has produced nothing, just because now we have ourselves a “surge”?
What do you expect?
By the way Sir. Would it be too much to ask from you if you understand that this, and any “surge” can be defeated by simply hiding, re-deployng, melting into the population, and simply wait the surge out?
Or do you actually believe that the Insurgents, and Militias will go out with a big sign that says “BAD GUY, KILL ME” , or that they are going to stick around and fight our troops, or that they will simply not go to where our “surge” can’t reach (as they have) and continue to kill.
If you read my previous post, please try to understand what my example about the Israeli reaction to their war against Hezbollah is telling you. Tell me Sir, do you think the Israeli people are “whiny”, or “cut and run” types??? Because they did not have any problem pulling out of Lebanon when they realized they have made a mistake. Kind of what the Democrats are trying to tell you.
A mistake Sir if you can grow up to understand, is self evident…. As in right in front of your nose.That’s what Iraq is. And correcting a mistake is not “cutting and running” or “whiny” behavior. Correcting mistakes is what has made us survive as Humans, for otherwise we would be extinct.
That’s what my friend from Israel was trying to tell me, and people like you.
July 22nd, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Bush is an idiot saturated with evil intent which he mistakes for righteousness. There are sorts of evil, you know–there are wicked people who are idiots and wicked people who are shrewd in the sense that they perceive how to manipulate others and can react rapidly. However, the error in both cases is the failure to recognize reality and the vanity of assuming one can manipulte events.
Rabid rightwingers always shoot themselves in the foot. They get a little power, think it is absolute power, and proceed to alienate everyone around them, behaving in autocratic and dictatorial ways.
Nothing is sadder than people who vote for the very scoundrels who are using them.