September 09, 2005

Report of al Qaeda Takeover of al Qaim: "A Crock"

Reports that al Qaim, an Iraqi city near the Syrian border, have fallen into the hands of al Qaeda forces are "a crock of crap", The Marine Corps Times reports today.

The Washington Post had earlier reported that eye witnesses were claiming that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq flag was flying over the city, that a sign reading "Welcome to The Islamic Kingdom of Qaim" hung over a mosque, and that an accused prostitute had been murdered in the city under harsh new Islamic law.

The Marine Corps, deployed in the area, is now denying those reports.

Maj. Neil Murphy, a spokesman for II Marine Expeditionary Force, told The Marine Corps Times that reports detailing an all-out al-Qaida takeover in Qaim were a “crock of crap.”

“Sure, anyone can hang up a poster. That does not mean anything,” Murphy wrote in an e-mail response to questions. “We have a battalion there. [The insurgents] are continually moving to try and find safety, but we are rooting them out and we’ll root them out of Qaim, too.”

Centcom has made no official statement about the developing situation in al Qaim. However, off-the-record, an official at Centcom was wary of denying these reports to The Jawa Report.

The area in and around al Qaim is a well known route used by al Qaeda terrorists between Syria and Iraq. In recent weeks, Iraqis loyal to the government have been fighting tribes loyal to al Qaeda. The US military has been supporting our allies on the ground in the area through an intense aerial campaign.

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 04:50 PM | |