Iraq, Pakistan and Campaign '08

The following is all blog friend Mike Williams' work

John

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Bill Roggio posts:

A document seized by US forces in Balad and a communiqué from al Qaeda in Iraq's leader intercepted by US intelligence paint a bleak picture of the terror group's ability to conduct operations in former strongholds. Al Qaeda in Iraq is threatened by the rise of the Awakening movements spreading throughout Iraq and is forced to change its tactics.

Unfortunately, al Qaeda still has teeth, and Secretary of Defense Gates is considering delaying the troop draw downs scheduled for this summer.

In other news, the US has captured a Shiite militia chief with suspected ties to Iran. Captain Ed Morrissey speculates:

The capture of a commander could give the US plenty of intel on the activities of his units. It might also cause some political problems for Sadr and perhaps Nouri al-Maliki, as the men are reported to be on the staff of a member of the National Assembly. The reaction of the government to this capture and the raids that produced it should be interesting to watch.

Meanwhile in Pakistan, the Dadullah boys had another bad day:

Pakistani security forces critically wounded a top figure in the Taliban militia fighting U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, among six militants captured after a firefight near the border Monday, the army said.

Mansoor Dadullah, brother of the Taliban's slain military commander Mullah Dadullah, and the five others were challenged by security forces as they crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan. They refused to stop and opened fire, said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas.

"Security personnel returned fire. As a result all of them sustained injuries and all of them were captured," Abbas said. "Dadullah was arrested alive but he is critically wounded."

Earlier, a senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists, said Dadullah died of his wounds while being flown to a hospital with the other injured men.

Captain Ed, again:

The capture of Dadullah gives the Pakistanis, and hopefully NATO, a great intel opportunity. It's possible that Dadullah's high-level contacts could produce the whereabouts of Mullah Omar, and perhaps even Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Now that the news of his capture has gone out through the media, those people may have to relocate quickly and find new safe houses -- actions that could flush them out into view long enough for a Predator to find them.

Assuming he’s not dead, of course.

On the hustings, Obama gave Clinton another pounding. Saturday he took Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington, and Sunday he handed her a defeat in Maine. Clinton responded by firing her campaign manager.

On the Republican side:

McCain flunked his first ballot tests since becoming the Republican nominee-in-waiting. He lost Kansas caucuses to Mike Huckabee, gaining less than 24 percent of the vote. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, got nearly 60 percent of the vote a few hours after saying, "I majored in miracles, and I still believe in them." He won all 36 delegates at stake.

Huckabee also won the Louisiana primary, but fell short of 50 percent, the threshold necessary to pocket the 20 delegates that were available. Instead, they will be awarded at a state convention next weekend.

McCain won the third Republican race of the night, Washington's caucuses. None of the state's delegates will be awarded until next week….

Looks like Clinton will also have more bad news after tomorrow’s primaries in Maryland, Virginia, and D.C.

Finally, would you believe we’ve had a global cooling alert?

Mike

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Thanks, Mike.

And, folks, you know any news of a possible global cooling will send a chill through Al Gore's supporters.