IMPEACH BUSH

This morning, the Pentagon conducted a press briefing with Brigadier General Joseph Anderson, the Chief of Staff of Multinational Corps-Iraq. In a video linkup from Camp Liberty in Baghdad, General Anderson addressed a number of issues--chief among them, the reported killing of a "high level" Al-Qaida commander--Tunisian national Abu Usama al-Tunisi--near Musayyib, Iraq on September 25 in a targeted strike by U.S. warplanes. According to General Anderson:

"Abu Usama al-Tunisi [was] a close associate and part of the inner circle of close advisers to Abu Ayyub al-Masri, or otherwise known as AAM, the overall leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, and his likely successor... Abu Usama al-Tunisi was one of the most senior leaders within al Qaeda in Iraq. He was the emir of foreign terrorists in Iraq, and as I stated, part of the inner leadership circle of al Qaeda in Iraq who had direct contact with Abu Ayyub al-Masri. He was originally from Tunisia, and was a primary facilitator for the movement of foreign terrorists into the country... He operated in Yusufiya, southwest of Baghdad, since the second battle of Fallujah in November '04 and became the overall emir of Yusufiya in the summer of '06. His group was responsible for kidnapping our American soldiers in June '06. He was known to have direct access to the al Qaeda in Iraq senior leader AAM. He facilitated foreign fighters in the Yusufiya area and helped equip them for improvised explosive device, vehicle-borne improvised explosive device and suicide attacks in Baghdad. He took command of the Aisha battalion after its former leader, AAM, was promoted to al Qaeda in Iraq emir status."

Oddly enough, this is not the first time that Abu Usama al-Tunisi has been reported killed. Over a year ago (in May 2006), Al-Qaida supporters posted online announcements declaring the "martyrdom" of Abu Usama al-Tunisi. The news of al-Tunisi's death was distributed on, among other places, the highly credible Al-Hesbah Islamic Network--which has been directly endorsed in past propaganda films produced by Al-Qaida in Iraq. According to that announcement (a translation of which was posted shortly thereafter on Globalterroralert.com):

"The martyrdom of Abu Usama al-Tunisi, the commander of [Al-Qaida's] Aeisha Brigade... He caused much desperation and anxiety among the Americans and he spread frustration among their soldiers. The Americans knew Abu Usama al-Tunisi very well, because he was one of the commanders who led the Battle of Abu Anas al-Shami during which he served as the military commander responsible for one of the four frontlines of the mission... Abu Usama first entered Iraq two years ago. He used to always smile when talking to his brothers and had a profound faith in Allah. Abu Usama was killed in the area of Al-Yusifiya during an air strike that also killed four other brothers."

This naturally leads us to the problem of addressing this obvious discrepancy. Is it possible that there are two separate Abu Usama al-Tunisis serving as commanders for Al-Qaida in Iraq? Perhaps... but the likelihood of this incredible coincidence rapidly plummets when one considers that both of these men have been identically described as the commander of Al-Qaida's Aeisha Brigade and active in the area of al-Yusifiya. If we put aside this theory, we are left with quite limited possibilities. It would seem that either Al-Qaida supporters were engaged in a deliberate misinformation campaign on their own password-protected chat forums, or else the U.S. military has potentially been the victim of questionable intelligence. It should be further noted that Al-Qaida has prided itself in the past on providing accurate and timely information concerning the "martyrdom" of its military commanders. When former Al-Qaida commander Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike in mid-2006, the same Al-Hesbah Network was one of the first sources to correctly confirm the news of his death on behalf of Al-Qaida.