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Iraqis insists they've got their man behind bars
Associated Press
Issue date: 4/29/09 Section: News
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Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called Abu Omar al-Baghdadi "the head of evil" and accused him of trying to incite a sectarian civil war and working with other insurgents who remained loyal to Saddam Hussein.
"This criminal had close relations with the former regime and maintained a sinister alliance with Saddam's followers," he said in a statement released by his office.
Authorities described al-Baghdadi's capture, which was announced last week, as a major setback for Sunni insurgents trying to intensify attacks after a relative lull.
But the capture or death of other high-ranking insurgent figures in the past - including former al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2006 - has done little to slow the bombings.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said he could not confirm al-Baghdadi's capture and described as "fairly accurate" a statement that every day that goes by without a confirmation increases the suspicion that it's not him.
A prominent writer identified as Muhub Ruyat al-Rahman, whose comments are widely read on Islamic Web sites, meanwhile, signaled that insurgent groups also were not certain the man captured was al-Baghdadi.
He warned his comrades the claim could be a propaganda ploy and said even if it did prove true, the death or arrest of leaders would not stop the march of jihad, or holy war.
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