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The new Iraqi government added another feather in its cap today with the capture of Fadhil Mashadani, one of the higher-ranking former Saddamists to be captured in recent months. Mashadani had served Saddam as the head of the Ba’athist military bureau in Baghdad before the war and was suspcted of conducting a major part of the post-war insurgency:
The Iraqi government said its forces captured an insider from Saddam Hussein’s ousted regime Tuesday. Fadhil Ibrahim Mahmud al-Mashadani, a former high-ranking member of Saddam’s Baath Party, is among “the main facilitators of many terrorist attacks in Iraq,” the government said in a statement.
Authorities arrested him at a farm northeast of the capital, the statement said. Al-Mashadani led Iraq’s military bureau in Baghdad during Saddam’s rule.
“Al-Mashadani is believed to be personally responsible for coordinating and funding attacks against the Iraqi people, the Iraqi government and the Iraqi security force,” the statement said. “He is also suspected of being a critical link between the senior Baathist leaders hiding in Syria and the terrorists within Iraq.”
CENTCOM wanted Mashadani, also known as Abu Huda, offering $200,000 for his capture. Taking out Mashadani will further fragment the ex-Ba’athist remnants, perhaps convincing them that the only positive outcome of their efforts will be a limited amnesty with Saddam’s successors. The new government has taken longer than expected to assemble, but its security services have not paused in their development while the National Assembly dickered over the division of spoils. President Bush announced today that the number of trained Iraqi troops now outnumber the Americans, although they certainly remain green and in need of extensive guidance for the near future.
No one can doubt their increasing effectiveness now, however, not Joe Biden, nor the New York Times editorial staff, and certainly not Abu Huda. The rest of the Abus in Iraq will soon take notice, if they remain so foolish as to doubt it still.
Posted by Captain Ed at Link