Whittling Away

More good news:

Fresh on the heels of the arrest of Abdur Rahman, Bangladesh nabs the other most wanted terrorist in the country

Bangladesh has scored the second high profile arrest of an al-Qaeda linked terrorist in less than a week, and essentially captured the numbers one and two terrorists in the country. After the arrest of Abdur Rahman, an associate of Osama bin Laden and one of the original signatories of al-Qaeda's fatwa establishing the International Islamic Front, Siddique ul-Islam, better know as Bangla Bhai, along with two associates were nabbed after a shootout with Bangladeshi police. While the details of his arrest are sketchy, the likelihood is his arrest was facilitated by information obtained from Rahman's capture and subsequent interrogation. Rahman threatened to 'martyr' himself during the standoff with police last week, but later surrendered without a fight. A case of 'martyrdom for thee but not for me,' which should not inspire the rank and file jihadists. Bangla Bhai also chose surrender over suicide. (Update: Andrew Cochran has a roundup of news from Bangladesh concerning the capture of Bangla Bhai The Counterterrorism Blog.)

Bangla Bhai is the ruthless military commander of the al-Qaeda linked Islamist terrorist group Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (Awakened Muslim Masses of Bangladesh), or JMJB. He fought the Soviets in Afghanistan, and is said to revel in torturing and murdering his victims.

And about that Iraqi 'Civil War'?

From a comment at The Fourth Rail,

U.S. Central Command chief Gen. John Abizaid said last week's bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine - and the reprisal attacks on Sunni Arabs - created a stronger impetus for Sunni-American cooperation.

"There is an improvement in Anbar," Abizaid told The Associated Press on Saturday. "A lot of people in the Sunni community are talking to us, lessening the cycle of violence. Many Sunni leaders are moving forward to take part in the political process."

And in the main article,

Many Sunni leaders were willing to go on the record to express their defiance:

"We are a group of the Anbar people who want to get rid of Zarqawi . . . because this is the only way to make the Americans withdraw from Ramadi or Iraq in general...We are against Zarqawi and his followers because they aim to extend the presence of the occupation and hurt our forces to make them weak... I cannot say that all the people in Ramadi support us, but I can say 80 percent of them do...We have killed a number of the Arabs, including Saudis, Egyptians, Syrians, Kuwaitis, Syrians and Jordanians... We were also able to foil an attack by Zarqawi's men who were trying to attack an oil pipeline outside Ramadi. We killed four Iraqis trying to plant the bomb under the pipeline."

Rumsfeld finds the MSM's reporting to be slanted:

From what I've seen thus far, much of the reporting in the U.S. and abroad has exaggerated the situation, according to General Casey. The number of attacks on mosques, as he pointed out, had been exaggerated. The number of Iraqi deaths had been exaggerated. The behavior of the Iraqi security forces had been mischaracterized in some instances. And I guess that is to say nothing of the apparently inaccurate and harmful reports of U.S. military conduct in connection with a bus filled with passengers in Iraq.

Interestingly, all of the exaggerations seem to be on one side. It isn't as though there simply have been a series of random errors on both sides of issues. On the contrary, the steady stream of errors all seem to be of a nature to inflame the situation and to give heart to the terrorists and to discourage those who hope for success in Iraq.

And then I notice today that there's been a public opinion poll reporting that the readers of these exaggerations believe Iraq is in a civil war -- a majority do, which I suppose is little wonder that the reports we've seen have had that effect on the American people.

General Casey has reported that overall levels of violence have not increased substantially as a result of the Golden Dome bombing. To be sure, violence continues to slow Iraq's progress. That's a fact, and we know that. In the coming months Iraqis will face difficult obstacles in controlling illegal militias, and we know that. They're working to try to strengthen their ministries, and we're trying to help them. And their efforts to fashion a unity government that will represent all elements of their society is clearly being delayed by the situation in Iraq. Nonetheless, the leadership being shown by the Iraqi security forces, by the Iraqi government officials in the wake of these attacks against the shrine has to be seen as encouraging, despite the apparent unwillingness of some to accept it.

I'd also note that in the last few weeks, dozens to hundreds have also been killed in Nigeria in muslim-Christian violence, but nobody in the MSM has said Nigeria is heading for a 'Civil War' and that the sky is falling.

It's not for lack of oil, as Nigeria is also an important producer.

It's not for lack of militias and hostages, as Nigerian rebels also kidnap Westerners (luckily 6 were just set free).

It can only be because the MSM wants ths US to be seen to fail.

But don't question their Patriotism!

The other main difference between Iraq and Nigeria is the presence of 1/3 of the US Army to stabilize things should that become necessary.

Not to mention the continually growing and improving Iraqi Security Forces.

Nigeria is in far more peril of splitting North-South along religious lines at any moment.

The United States Intelligence Agency had stated in its latest report on Nigeria that the country may disintegrate following plans by supporters of President Olusegun Obasanjo to amend the constitution to allow the president to stand for election in 2007.

Yet hardly a peep about it.

Curious.