Bad news for Kerry

First an al-qaeda general is arrested in Texas, then one of the bombers responsible for the 1998 embassy bombings is arrested in Pakistan, now the most dangerous man in Iraq. All in one week. If I were a liberal Democrat, I'd say the timing is awfully suspicious.

Report: Zarqawi captured on Syrian-Iraq border
7/30/2004 6:00:00 PM GMT

Reports in Kuwait on Friday said a man assumed to be Al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab Zarqawi has been captured near the Syrian border.

The report claimed that the man was captured during a joint operation by U.S. occupation forces and Iraqi police, Al Siyasah newspaper, quoting Iraqi sources, said Friday.

It also said that the suspect was caught in a white shirt and jeans, and he gave no resistance when he realized his hideout was besieged, according to Iraqi police.

The U.S. and Iraqi investigators are trying to identify the captive and has sent his DNA sample for testing, the unconfirmed report indicated.

Zarqawi is the most wanted suspect in Iraq and has a U.S. bounty of $25 million on his head.

http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=2955

this is not bad news for kerry.

jeez stockula, do you always have to grasp at straws?

Its good news for everyone, in my opinion. I would like to be able to set aside politics for this sort of thing.

exactly.

Did he have any WMDs? I've been looking all over for those things.

im sure kerry is very upset at this news.

Is that a WMD in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?

If you look at the leftists that want Bush to fail so bad they hold out hope for the Iraq war to go poorly. That is the reference being made.

I don't think Kerry will be too displeased by this, unless it becomes popular to do so....

But his capture is very good news.

It will be bad news for Kerry's campaign if they capture Bin Laden next month

They should stop looking for him in Iraq, then.

actually that would be bad for both campaigns depending on how you look at it.

kerry: bush got bin laden.
bush: the timing would be extremely suspect.

regardless of what the thread title says, this is not bad news for kerry.



ps. "a man assumed to be Al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab Zarqawi has been captured near the Syrian border."

at this point we're still ASSUMING anyway.

I've been thinking for months that we may suddenly "Find" weapons of mass destruction in Iraq once October or November comes around... But maybe I've read too many conspiricy novels.

Is there any other confirmation on this?

anyone else think it's weird that count stockula is citing a source he has derided in the past?

Agreed. That is pretty pathetic to think of this in those terms. It is a good thing for our country that this happened. Period.

[Edited on Jul 30, 2004 by Valen]

Traces of chemical weapons have been found in Iraq, but the weapons appear to be discarded / dumped weapons going back to the
iran/iraq conflict.

However, weapons inspectors believe that it is delusional to claim that there were stockpiles of WMD.

One of the worst aspects of the war is that America and England effectively threw out the weapon inspection team headed by Hans Blix. If you want a conspiracy theory, suppose that Bush knew that there was no threat and he did not want the weapons inspectors to reach that conclusion (don't take this as an assertion of truth, it is just idle thinking).

Reprobate.

Acutally I heard on the radio that the UN just announced the completion of a US operation to remove 2 tons of enriched Uranium and and a large amount of unenriched Uranium from Iraq.

Btw, critical mass for U-235 is only a couple of pounds.

Well, then, as I've said on here before, you can always go make money on it... You can bet on just this sort of thing on numerous betting exchanges. Right now, the money does not agree with you...

Got a link anywhere? I know you said on the radio, but what station or show? Thanks.

yup. especially since it seems to have been planned like this.

i think stocula's suspicions hit the nail on the head pretty squarely. check out this article in the new republic.

for a summation, here's the editor's note posted just above the article...

[Editor's Note: This afternoon, Pakistan's interior minister, Faisal Saleh Hayyat, announced that Pakistani forces had captured Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian Al Qaeda operative wanted in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The timing of this announcement should be of particular interest to readers of The New Republic. Earlier this month, John B. Judis, Spencer Ackerman, and Massoud Ansari broke the story of how the Bush administration was pressuring Pakistani officials to apprehend high-value targets (HVTs) in time for the November elections--and in particular, to coincide with the Democratic National Convention. Although the capture took place in central Pakistan "a few days back," the announcement came just hours before John Kerry will give his acceptance speech in Boston.]

If its true its a symbolic victory but wont really change the overall situation on the ground in Iraq. Unfortunately, Ansar Al islam is more than just Zarqawi, and the uprising is more than just Ansar Al islam.

exactly. hasn't stockula's one-trick pony been put down yet?

Couldn't the title of this article have something to do with Zarqawi being apprehended?

Does everything always have to be reduced to "Our home team rules, your away team sucks!"

Try this three-week-old story from the BBC.

Or one from USA Today.

First, it was 2 tons of unenriched uranium and assorted radioactive materials. It was stuff that we left there after 1992. We knew it was there:

Spencer Abraham said the stuff was removed so that it wouldn't fall into the hands of terrorists. He didn't say anything like "yup, these were the WMDs we were talking about in the run-up to the war."

Washington Post story

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35404-2004Jul7.html

Also mentions that the unenriched uranium was in the ammount of 400 Tons.

mmm date on the story is 8 July. Interesting that nobody has really talked this up.

Edited to add the USA today Story

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-07-07-iraq-uranium_x.htm

[Edited on Jul 30, 2004 by gaiseric]

Idjiit. Don't you know that Yellow Cake is just a Myth? Former Abassador Wilson says so. Oh, wait, he did just reverse his earlier postion about "it all being a lie"...

And I consider ANY remants of his program to be fair game. Or are you one of those people who would have considered the only real proof is if one had been used on our troops when we went in?

[Edited on Jul 30, 2004 by gaiseric]