Dead terrorists are always a happy note on which to start the day.

A U.S. airstrike killed one of the most senior al-Qaida leaders in Iraq, a Tunisian linked to the kidnapping and killings last summer of American soldiers, a top commander said Friday.

Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson said the death of the suspected terrorist in a U.S. airstrike Tuesday south of Baghdad, and recent similar operations against al-Qaida, have left the organization in Iraq fractured.

Abu Osama al-Tunisi was killed along with two other terrorist suspects in a U.S. F-16 strike that dropped two 500-pound laser-guided bombs on a safehouse where they were meeting, said the U.S. Central Command Air Forces.

"Al-Tunisi was one of the most senior leaders ... the emir of foreign terrorists in Iraq and part of the inner leadership circle," Anderson told a Pentagon news conference.

Al-Tunisi was a leader in helping bring foreign terrorists into the country, said Anderson, chief of staff to the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno.

Speaking by videoconference from Baghdad, Anderson said that al-Tunisi operated in Youssifiyah, southwest of Baghdad, November '04 and became the overall emir of Youssifiyah in the summer of '06.

His group was responsible for kidnapping American soldiers in June 2006, Anderson said.

As so many enemies of America have found since the birth of our country, the United States military will keep after you until they find you. Your two options are surrender or death -- and in the case of the jihadis, I personally like the second option.

And by now he knows that there were no virgins waiting for him -- and that the sands of Iraq are much cooler than his new eternal dwelling place.

Posted by: Greg at 08:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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