Various news reports have Coalition officials in Iraq touting the arrest of Mohammad Khalaf as a major success in the Global War on Terror.
Brigadier General Don Alston of the US Air Force announced the arrest of Mohammed Khalaf, also known as Abu Talha.If true, this is great news.
"This is a major defeat for the al-Qaida terrorist organisation in Iraq. Multinational forces found Abu Talha in a quiet neighbourhood in Mosul. Information from Iraqi citizens contributed to the capture of Abu Talha, further evidence this increasingly unpopular insurgency has ordinary people stepping up against terror."
One hates to be a cynic, but the Bush Administration has deceived us so many times, oversold so many non-events as breaking news from the front in the GWOT, that you can't help but wait for the other shoe to drop.
For example, the Philadelphia Inquirer's story mentions that the arrest happened on Tuesday. If this Khalaf is such a major Al Qaeda player, why are we just hearing about the arrest now?
One wonders if this announcement is, perhaps, timed to coincide with the latest poll showing that fighting terrorism is the only issue on which Americans approve of Bush's performance, and even that rating is down six points from May.
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