The Big Al Qaeda Catch today is someone Who Never Existed.

[illinoisprogressive]

The administration is getting way desparate. Instead of catching crazy people who talk a big game and call them terrorists that they caught in a plot as they usually do when in Trouble, now they are resorting to imaginary terrorists.




For more than a year, the leader of one of the most notorious insurgent groups in Iraq was said to be a mysterious Iraqi named Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi.

As the titular head of the Islamic State in Iraq, an organization publicly backed by Al Qaeda, Mr. Baghdadi issued a steady stream of incendiary pronouncements. Despite claims by Iraqi officials that he had been killed in May, Mr. Baghdadi appeared to have persevered unscathed.

On Wednesday, a senior American military spokesman provided a new explanation for Mr. Baghdadi’s ability to escape attack: he never existed.

Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, the chief American military spokesman, told reporters that the elusive Mr. Baghdadi was actually a fictional character whose audiotaped declarations were provided by an elderly actor named Abu Adullah al-Naima. General Bergner said the information came from an Iraqi insurgent captured this month.

http://www.hoffmania.com/

[frogcycle]

1. Last night I saw upon the stair

A little man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today
Gee I wish he'd go away.

[razors edge]

2. Just gap filler

till they come for us, that will be much easier for the MSM, since they can pronounce our names, for the most part.

[TwilightGardener]

3. Well, his name sounded a little fake--"al Baghdadi"?

They couldn't pull anything better than THAT out of their collective asses?

On edit--"al...al...(looks around, sees map of Iraq)...al Baghdadi! Yeah, that's the ticket."

[rucky]

4. Hey! He didn't exist last time we killed him, either.

What are the chances of THAT happening twice?

[stillcool]

5. Aren't these two different stories?

they both source the same General Bergner. Other than that I don't see the connection. The Times writer of the second piece Michael R. Gordon seems to be another Judith Miller type according to Glenn Greenwald at Salon:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/07/02/gordon/index.html?source=rss

US arrests Al-Qaeda in Iraq's link to bin Laden
Wed Jul 18, 6:51 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070718/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestqaedaus_070718105139
BAGHDAD (AFP) - US forces have arrested the most senior Iraqi member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and believe he is a go-between between the group's foreign leaders and Osama bin Laden, a military spokesman said Wednesday.
Brigadier General Kevin Bergner said Khaled al-Mashhadani had told his US interrogators that the supposed Iraqi leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq was ficticious and a front for the group's Egyptian chief, Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070718/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestqaedaus_07071810513

Leader of Al Qaeda group in Iraq was fictional, U.S. military says
By Michael R. Gordon
Published: July 18, 2007

BAGHDAD: For more than a year, the leader of one the most notorious insurgent groups in Iraq was said to be a mysterious Iraqi named Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi.

As the titular head of the Islamic State in Iraq, an organization publicly backed by Al Qaeda, Baghdadi issued a steady stream of incendiary pronouncements. Despite claims by Iraqi officials that he had been killed in May, Baghdadi appeared to have persevered unscathed.

On Wednesday, a senior American military spokesman provided a new explanation for Baghdadi's ability to escape attack: He never existed.

Brigadier General Kevin Bergner, the chief American military spokesman, said the elusive Baghdadi was actually a fictional character whose audio-taped declarations were provided by an elderly actor named Abu Adullah al-Naima.

The ruse, Bergner said, was devised by Abu Ayub al-Masri, the Egyptian-born leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, who was trying to mask the dominant role that foreigners play in that insurgent organization

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/18/africa/iraq.php

[Postman]

6. Michael R. Gordon could tell me the sun rises in the east and I'd still think he's a liar..

He and Judith Miller were joined at the hip as far as lying to the American people in the run-up to Iraq.

I trust him about as far as I can throw him. So should you and everybody else.

[Disturbed]

7. The latest Osama Video is also a ruse.

This latest Video is from 2001 not one recently taped. Isn't it strange that no Osama Video has appeared in over two years?

[johnnypneumatic]

8. Iraqi, Al Queda, Bagdad= Al Bagdadi yeah thats the ticket

[brettdale]

9. Was he the number two Iraqi guy?

Was he the number two Iraqi guy?

[frogcycle]

10. it's all "number two"