"Trusted Lieutenant" Watch....
From Reuters:
As of today, TCR is starting a "Trusted Lieutenant Watch." Every time we get yet another of these absurd announcements trumpeting the "significant capture" of a "main leader", it will be noted in this space with appropriate derision.
Bin Laden. Al-Zawahiri. Zarqawi. Work on those for awhile and get back to us. Until then, we don't care.
It's not fun to quote the guys we're fighting, but in that Reuters report was this statement by Zarqawi's group about the capture: "Every time they arrest wanted brothers, they claim that he is a senior leader."
And that about says it all, eh?
Washington said overnight that its forces had captured a senior Zarqawi lieutenant for the city of Baghdad.This insurgency seems to be graduating more lieutenants than West Point, doesn't it?
General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told PBS television Monday's capture of Abu Abd Al-Aziz, whom he called Zarqawi's "main leader in Baghdad", was "going to hurt that operation of Zarqawi's pretty significantly".
As of today, TCR is starting a "Trusted Lieutenant Watch." Every time we get yet another of these absurd announcements trumpeting the "significant capture" of a "main leader", it will be noted in this space with appropriate derision.
Bin Laden. Al-Zawahiri. Zarqawi. Work on those for awhile and get back to us. Until then, we don't care.
It's not fun to quote the guys we're fighting, but in that Reuters report was this statement by Zarqawi's group about the capture: "Every time they arrest wanted brothers, they claim that he is a senior leader."
And that about says it all, eh?
posted by The Cunning Realist at Thursday, July 14, 2005
22 Comments:
Capturing lieutenants is good. Unfortunately, there are many, many, many more to fill the hole.
I'm wondering, what is the order of rank among militan islamists? Are they all lieutenants except for the top 3, are there any sergeants, generals, corporals? what does it take to become an LT? if you're just a suicide bomber are you given a rank, or perhaps a medal post-pieces? Or are they content to just have their 72 virgins...
people are wiseing up on the theory of asymmetric terrorism we've heard enough about 'cells' to know that there is no centralized leadership. Lets concentrate on the footsoldiers and backers.
I agree.
What's in a title? At some businesses, everyone is a manager.
I'm just surprised they are so organized with an organizational chart and all. I think of these groups more like gangs, thugs, they have a pecking order, but I wasn't aware that it was so formal.
if you put in extra hours during ramadan you get promoted to Junior Vice-President. You even get a business card that says Junior Vice-President on it. Oh man, thats so sweet.
Sad topic, funny post.
I don't find any humor in this
post. Suicide bombers are brainwashed humans. Terrorists who
popup, kill, and disappear are not
brave. I don't read or see enough
respect for those Iraqi's who,
despite being killed, kidnapped
and beheaded, keep filling the
ranks of municipal and governmental
positions. I think courage is being an Iraqi cop, standing in the
middle of the street with a big
target on his/her back. I don't
think I have that much courage...so
I tip my hat to them all...fuck the
terrorists...I hope they all rot in
hell.
All this enhanced titling must be laughable to the insurgents. To find out that ol' Joe-Bob is actually a key leader of your organization must make for a good smirk back in Ramadi. It just highlights how little we know and how desperate we are for points.
As for the humor in the post - if you can't find some humor in this stuff (and you are in the middle of it) you'll go nuts. It helps you get through the next day (or the next 30 seconds).
Keep up the good work, habibi.
Sadly, I think even if we were to capture bin laden and zirqawi and that other guy, someone else would step in and take over. I get the feeling that this war will never end. It's like the old thing about chinese. you never run out of them.
yeah mark is right. But taking the Money sources and philosophical leaders do make a difference.
osman is absolutely right, the london bomber were young kids from a solid middle class background. However, they found mentors through the internet that had either worked on terrorist attacks before, had trained in the afghan camps, or knew people that had that experience. Since the US tore apart these training camps the internet is the new breeding ground for potential terrorists. The london bombers used very advanced explosive devices to carry out their attacks, it wasnt the type of bomb you could put together in your kitchen. The path to stopping terrorism is two fold. First, the root causes of alienation, discrimination, economic instability and cultural insensitivity need to be addressed. Second, the arms trade must be curtailed (yes this means American manufacturers too) especially among nations who rely on this trade (cough, cough, North Korea, cough) and the money flow must be stopped. none of these things are accomplished by wasting time downstream. Some officials think that if Bin Laden or Zarqawi are caught/killed someone may take their place who will be more willing to carry out a large scale attack in order to prove his worth as a leader, or the cells will continue to become smaller and harder to track as the terrorists argue about the direction they should be going in. While I recognize that these are possibilities, and that these men could become martyrs to a new generation of extremists I feel that if we captured the leaders and actually sent them to the ICC (which is where they should be tried) while at the same time reaching out to Islamic nations in terms of trade, aid, and diplomatic missions not based on a rhetoric of hate and discrimination we may actually start heading in the right direction.
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