Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
CNN
February 18, 2008
The Situation Room (CNN), 5:00 PM
WOLF BLITZER: Increasingly desperate or devious -- documents and video seized by U.S. troops in Iraq are giving the military some valuable new details about Al Qaeda's tactics.
Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, has our exclusive report, which we caution you contains pictures which some people might find disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: CNN obtained this graphic video from coalition military officials. We will not show the execution of these men, that coalition analysts believe to be opponents of Al Qaeda in Iraq. The video was recovered late last year in a raid on a compound near Samarra that the coalition says was used for murder and torture.
But it is these documents, some found in the same raid, that have gained the attention of intelligence analysts. Coalition analysts believe the documents, which they also made available to CNN, show that Al Qaeda in Iraq has embarked on a campaign of murder against many of their one-time allies -- Iraqi Sunni extremist groups, which also oppose the U.S. presence here. Coalition officials say it confirms deep splintering among the groups they are fighting.
REAR ADM. GREGORY SMITH, COALITION SPOKESMAN: Al Qaeda in Iraq, which is foreign-led and foreign-dominated here inside of Iraq, is killing off other Iraqi Sunni groups that have -- that are certainly not supportive of the government of Iraq currently, or of the foreign occupation, but are not sharing the same ideology as Al Qaeda has.
STARR: In one document, there are details of the gruesome murder of a woman believed to be helping Iraqi police. Another details the death of 12 men not deemed loyal enough to Al Qaeda in Iraq. The documents are detailed -- showing Al Qaeda's continued emphasis on writing down everything about their actions.
In another, Al Qaeda criticizes other Jihadist groups they say are following "a false path."
But this document, analysts say, is the manifesto of the Sunni splinter groups being targeted by al Qaeda in Iraq. It is signed by half a dozen groups -- a document opposing the U.S. presence, but pledging not to attack Iraqi civilians.
Military officials say the U.S. has already spent $148 million paying Sunnis and some Shia to stop such attacks in what's called the Awakening movement. The question now is whether these latest documents may show an opening for the coalition to expand that effort.
Coalition officials say while all of this reflects the vicious nature of Al Qaeda in Iraq, they hope it may signal a new era of Sunni reconciliation.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Balad, Iraq. (END VIDEO TAPE)
February 18, 2008
The Situation Room (CNN), 5:00 PM
WOLF BLITZER: Increasingly desperate or devious -- documents and video seized by U.S. troops in Iraq are giving the military some valuable new details about Al Qaeda's tactics.
Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, has our exclusive report, which we caution you contains pictures which some people might find disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: CNN obtained this graphic video from coalition military officials. We will not show the execution of these men, that coalition analysts believe to be opponents of Al Qaeda in Iraq. The video was recovered late last year in a raid on a compound near Samarra that the coalition says was used for murder and torture.
But it is these documents, some found in the same raid, that have gained the attention of intelligence analysts. Coalition analysts believe the documents, which they also made available to CNN, show that Al Qaeda in Iraq has embarked on a campaign of murder against many of their one-time allies -- Iraqi Sunni extremist groups, which also oppose the U.S. presence here. Coalition officials say it confirms deep splintering among the groups they are fighting.
REAR ADM. GREGORY SMITH, COALITION SPOKESMAN: Al Qaeda in Iraq, which is foreign-led and foreign-dominated here inside of Iraq, is killing off other Iraqi Sunni groups that have -- that are certainly not supportive of the government of Iraq currently, or of the foreign occupation, but are not sharing the same ideology as Al Qaeda has.
STARR: In one document, there are details of the gruesome murder of a woman believed to be helping Iraqi police. Another details the death of 12 men not deemed loyal enough to Al Qaeda in Iraq. The documents are detailed -- showing Al Qaeda's continued emphasis on writing down everything about their actions.
In another, Al Qaeda criticizes other Jihadist groups they say are following "a false path."
But this document, analysts say, is the manifesto of the Sunni splinter groups being targeted by al Qaeda in Iraq. It is signed by half a dozen groups -- a document opposing the U.S. presence, but pledging not to attack Iraqi civilians.
Military officials say the U.S. has already spent $148 million paying Sunnis and some Shia to stop such attacks in what's called the Awakening movement. The question now is whether these latest documents may show an opening for the coalition to expand that effort.
Coalition officials say while all of this reflects the vicious nature of Al Qaeda in Iraq, they hope it may signal a new era of Sunni reconciliation.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Balad, Iraq. (END VIDEO TAPE)