"The U.S. military presented the new face of al-Qaeda in Iraq[**] on Thursday, displaying a photograph of a bearded man in a traditional white Arab headdress and saying he was taking over after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," reports the Associated Press:The new leader is Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Afghanistan-trained explosives expert with links to Osama bin Laden's top deputy, said Maj. Gen. William Caldwell. . . . Even before terror leader's death, the Bush administration posted a $200,000 bounty on al-Masri because of his level of leadership within al-Qaeda, Caldwell said.Ouch! The reward for Zarqawi was $25 million, so this is a decrease of 99.2%. Al-Masri has to be pretty humiliated.
Heh. On a more serious note, I think that this actually says something in terms of the progress the US and Iraq are making in fighting the terrorists. The reason Al-Zarqawi had a $25 million bounty on his head was to entice people who would normally be too scared to talk to help. Obviously, people aren't as afraid of al-Masri, if the US feels that $200,000 is enough to get people to tell his whereabouts.
There was a good article in this month's Atlantic about Zarqawi (obviously written before he was killed.) I don't know if you subscribe, but it's pretty interesting.
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