US Military: False Alarm, Al-Qaeda's Commander in Iraq Has Not Been Captured

Can Tran May 09, 2008

Iraq’s Defense Ministry has said that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq had been arrested in Mosul. However, nothing was confirmed during that time. The United States Military was working to see if it was really Al-Masri that was detained or not.

If that was the case, it would deal a damaging blow to Al-Qaeda’s operations in Iraq.

Abu Ayyub al-Masri became the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq when the previous leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed back in 2006. Capturing Abu Ayyub al-Masri would definitely hurt Al-Qaeda’s influence in Iraq.

But, that is not the case. The United States Military has said that the news of the arrest came out of confusion. The Iraqi authorities had detained a man with a similar name. In short, Al-Masri remains at large.

If that was the case, it could boost the platform of presumed GOP nominee John McCain’s candidacy. Iraq has been the main platform of his campaign. He has said that Iraq will be the one issue that will either make or break his campaign.

In a recent CNN News/Opinion Research Corp. poll, McCain edges over Democratic frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on Iraq.