Saturday, March 10, 2007

...But I Thought We'd Already Lost This War

Via the Associated Press, news that the leader of an al-Qaeda inspired group has been captured.

The shadowy leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida-inspired group that challenged the authority of Iraq's government, was captured Friday in a raid on the western outskirts of Baghdad, an Iraqi military spokesman said.

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was arrested along with several other insurgents in a raid in the town of Abu Ghraib, said Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman for the Baghdad security operation. U.S. officials had no confirmation of the capture and said they were looking into the report.

Al-Moussawi said al-Baghdadi admitted his identity, as did another "of the terrorists" who confirmed "that the one in our hands is al-Baghdadi."

The arrest of al-Baghdadi would be a major victory for U.S. and Iraqi forces in their fight against Sunni insurgents, especially the hardcore religious extremists who have shown no interest in negotiating an end to their struggle.

Maybe someone should tell the Democrats as they work on their latest anti-war non-binding resolution.

UPDATE: Captain Ed points out that al-Baghdadi was ratted out by one of his own men. Yay!

Hot Air has more coverage.

UPDATE x2: According to Hot Air, the leader of this group was not captured. I'm with Allahpundit; I don't care how many sources I get saying somebody was captured, I'm not blogging it again. :)