Some Good news out of Iraq

US bootprints on the door of the Iraqi health Ministry in Baghdad


There is some good news out of Iraq, mainly due to our always superb military...no matter what you read in the dinosaur media.

For a start, the chief Sunni antagonists al Qaeda in Iraq has sustained some major blows lately.

For openers, 13 jihadis were killed in air strike northeast of Amiriyah in a raid targeting what was characterized as `a senior foreign fighter facilitator'. Two safe houses used as terrorist bases were reduced to rubble by a lethal combo of helos and artillery.

Another five jihadis were arrested, along with a cache of armamments including armor piercing ammunition.

In another blow, a senior aide to the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Hamza al-Muhajir was picked up just south of Baghdad. al-Muhajir is the late unlamented al-Zarqawi's successor.

What's more, the jihadi aide confessed to meeting al-Muhajir the previous day in the Mahmoudiya area, an al Qaeda stronghold...so the trail to al-Muhajir is red, red hot.

Meanwhile, just North of Baghdad, in Taji a senior al Qaeda cell leader was arrested and a terrorist safehouse destroyed, while the Iraqi Army picked up the leader of an IED bombing cell in the same area in a separate operation.

So we have several major al Qaeda leaders dead or in custody, lots more killed and their leader just one step ahead of being taken out of commission, all in the last 48 hours. al Qaeda in Iraq is being shot to pieces, but you won't see it in the dinosaur media, that's for sure.

On the Shiite side of the jihadi equation, Iraq's Deputy Health Minister was arrested by US forces and charged with murder and kidnapping.

This is a major development.

Hakim al-Zamili, a Moqtada al-Sadr loyalist `surrendered to the Americans' (after they kicked his door in, LOL) .

US forces raided his first floor office in the Health Ministry this morning.

The Health Ministry, its facilities and it's hospitals, have allegedly become de facto outposts for al Sadr's Mahdi Army and the other Shia militias and death squads. Sunni MPs have complained of dozens of cases of Sunni Muslims being refused treatment in hospital and even being shot in their beds.

What's more, since the Health Ministry maintains records on the whereabouts of Iraqis, it made targeting anyone al Sadr wanted dead a real piece of cake.

One of the people al-Zamili is suspected of helping to `disappear' is Dr Ali al-Mahdawi, a Sunni official who ran the Diyala Health Directorate. Dr al-Mahdawi and members of his staff havn't been seen or heard of since they arrived at the Health Ministry headquarters in Baghdad for an interview last June.

Iraq's Health Minister, Ali al-Shemari, another al Sadr loyalist of course condemned the arrest. "This is a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty," he said. "They should have a court order to carry out a raid like this."

After all, the jihadis need to be able to warn people before the Americans come, right?

A US military statement merely said that the arrested official was "suspected of funding rogue JAM (al-Mahdi Army) through large-scale employment of militia members".

“These militia members are reported to target Iraqi civilians using MoH (Health Ministry) facilities and services for sectarian kidnapping and murder. The suspect’s corruption is believed to have funneled millions of US dollars into rogue JAM.”

Your tax dollars at work, my fellow Americans...funding `Arab democracy' in the form of Shiite death squads.

All in all though, it appears that there is a lot more good news coming out of Iraq than we're allowed to see or hear.