April 08, 2008
Al Qaeda Releases Video Showing Slain Medic's ID
Al Qaeda in Iraq's al Furqan media wing today released a propaganda video showing the military ID & Florida driver's license of a slain Army medic in Iraq. The ID belongs to Sgt. Darren Hubbell, who was KIA June 20th, 2007 by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Also slain in the attack were Maj. Sid W. Brookshire, Pfc. David J. Bentz III and Spc. Joe G. Charfauros Jr.
A combat medic with the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, the 38 year old soldier from Tifton, Georgia was a veteran of the first Gulf War. Sgt. Hubbell was on his third tour of duty in Iraq.
His son, Darren Jr, [the pair shown above] is also a soldier serving in Iraq. Hubbell was a true American hero.
His friends and family have a fitting video tribute to Darren here.
The 26 minute propaganda video shows several al Qaeda fighters training and making statements to the camera, a few firefights, then an IED hitting a foot patrol. The video of the IED is dated Jan. 22, 2007 -- several months before Sgt. Hubbell was killed. The video then cuts to footage dated July 1, 2007, several weeks after Hubbell's death, showing the wreckage of a Humvee. Other footage is dated November 10, 2007.
In my estimation, there is no evidence to suggest that the video of the attack is related in any way to Hubbell's ID. In fact, it appears as if those making the video merely found the ID and then spliced together unrelated pieces of footage. The video is completely bogus propaganda.
As we have noted several times in the past few months, al Furqan [al Qaeda in Iraq's official video production company] has ground to a near total standstill. In the past few weeks the group has released at least two new videos, but both were exclusively of attacks in Mosul. Last week, an al Qaeda propagandist was arrested in Mosul.
So, you see, there is a reason al Qaeda has been reduced to releasing propaganda videos of old attacks: they're media wing has been virtually shut down.
