We got 'em!

So the U.S. got the top Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq. Or so the military claims. Of course this apparently isn't the first time we got 'em. I probably couldn't count on one hand how many times we nabbed number 1 or number 2. Of course this time, the leader some timely information to fess up.

More from AP:

BAGHDAD - The U.S. command said Wednesday the highest-ranking Iraqi in the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq has been arrested, adding that information from him indicates the group's foreign-based leadership wields considerable influence over the Iraqi chapter.

Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also known as Abu Shahid, was captured in Mosul on July 4, said Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a military spokesman.

"Al-Mashhadani is believed to be the most senior Iraqi in the al-Qaida in Iraq network," Bergner said. He said al-Mashhadani was a close associate of Abu Ayub al-Masri, the Egyptian-born head of al-Qaida in Iraq.

Bergner said al-Mashhadani served as an intermediary between al-Masri and Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri.

Well isn't that special? As soon as there is a new National Intelligence Estimate that says that Al-Qaeda wants to attack in the U.S. again and President Bush says there we are indeed fighting the same people in Iraq who attacked on 9/11, the military produces a #1 leader who confirms it. The president has been saying that we are fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq for years now. Nothing about this is new. Any attempt to make that the issue is fear-mongering and rallying for the 'cause of staying the (new) course in Iraq. It doesn't change our disastrous position in the country and doesn't change the risk if we leave or stay. If we stay Al-Qaeda will continue to seek attacks in our country, if we leave, it will remain the same, except our country can divert more of its resources that would go to this treacherous conflict to actually stopping attacks in our homeland.