Al-Qaeda #3 killed by Predator....

[Dr Mordrid]

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/04/wpak04.xml

Al-Qaeda's third-ranking leader has been killed by a missile fired by an American drone in Pakistan, near the Afghan border, NBC television news reported yesterday.

Egyptian-born Abu Hamza Rabia, who is said to head al-Qaeda's international operations, was among five people killed in a blast at a house where they were hiding in North Waziristan on Thursday. President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan confirmed Rabia's death yesterday.

On the other hand I'm starting to hear rumbles that US an Iraqi Special Forces entered Syria in November, attacking terrorist camps and staging areas.

These troops were supposedly part of Operation Steel Curtain, which involved ~2,500 U.S. and 1,000 Iraqi soldiers with the mission of interdicting the flow of jihadists and material support crossing the Syrian border.

Don't expect Syria or anyone else to confirm this. Syria was probably told put up or else and the US and Iraq won't talk either for obvious reasons.

Dr. Mordrid

[Mehen]

this is what I thought I was gonna see based on the thread title

[KvHagedorn]

You can't kill the Al-Qaeda #3.. unless you kill #4 at the same time, because then he'd be #3.. wait.. you'd have to kill #5, too.. and #6.. dammit, just kill em all!

[Umfriend]

LOL, always a fresh perspective on things!

[cjolley]

http://www.slate.com/id/2131627/

Some jobs just seem impossible to keep filled. Hollywood studio head. United States ambassador to Iraq. Editor of the New York Daily News. Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

To these we must now add "al-Qaida's No. 3 official." John Crimmings, proprietor of the New York-based Blogenlust, has been keeping track of al-Qaida third-in-commands captured or killed by our side, and counts no fewer than four.

...
The obvious question here is whether these four people successively held the position of No. 3 in al-Qaida—in which case, as Jon Stewart has observed on The Daily Show, the job would appear to be "sort of a raw deal"—or whether counterterrorism officials are inclined to call any reasonably high-ranking Tom, Dick, or Harry "al-Qaida's No. 3" simply for the purposes of propaganda. Another possibility is that our side does this for the purposes of psy-ops, to create confusion among the al-Qaida rank and file about their own organization's true hierarchy. (It isn't like you can get Bin Laden to adjudicate turf wars every time confusion arises over the chain of command.) Yet another possibility is that al-Qaida's management hierarchy is ludicrously top-heavy, and that "No. 3" is a position held simultaneously by many people who in a similarly top-heavy corporation would be labeled "vice president." No matter what the explanation, it's clear that the sweet spot in al-Qaida management is No. 1 and No. 2. After that, job security seems only slightly better than that enjoyed by suicide bombers. My advice: Go with Procter & Gamble instead.

[Dr Mordrid]

As is Jon Stewart is an authority on anything pertinent

The position was held sucessively as each took command over the subsequent attacks until they in turn were nailed.

Dr. Mordrid

[cjolley]

As is Jon Stewart is an authority on anything pertinent

The position was held sucessively as each took command over the subsequent attacks until they in turn were nailed.

Dr. Mordrid

Are you disagreeing with Jon Stewart just for practice?

Your description makes the job sound like a "sort of a raw deal" to me too.

Seems to me like that's a good thing.

[GNEP]

So the number 3 position is like wearing a red shirt in star trek?

[cjolley]

So the number 3 position is like wearing a red shirt in star trek?

LOL

[Dr Mordrid]

Works for me.

Dr. Mordrid

[Wombat]

As is Jon Stewart is an authority on anything pertinent

Hey, he's more reliable and accurate than the current administration. Then again, so is a Magic 8-ball.

[Dr Mordrid]

And the administration is more accurate than the opposition party, which of late is wearing its shoes on its hands, so there

Dr. Mordrid