The capture of al-Baghdadi

It's all over the news, and certainly a great catch that will lead to more:

Al-Baghdadi has been identified in statements posted on Islamic extremist Web sites as the head of the Islamic State, which was proclaimed last year after the death of the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Who is Abu al-Baghdadi? Well, there's lot of information here and here, but I found this site particularly impressive and helpful, including this little tidbit:

Are you aware that the main faction of the Baath party has thrown in its lot with the Qaidists? (Jihadist rumor has it that that Abu-Umar al-Baghdadi, the emir of the Islamic State of Iraq, is in fact none other Ahmad al-Duri, the son of Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, the successor to Saddam Hussein as Secretary General of the Baath party. The jihadist rumor mill says the appointment of Ahmad, a mujahid protoge of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to head the ISI was approved by Ayman Zawahiri and Al-Qa'ida leadership abroad and the Al-Qa'ida Organization in Iraq.")

Others think not. But, if the al-Duri rumor is true that's certainly interesting since the ex-Revolutionary Command Council leader poppa Izzat al-Duri has yet to be captured and has long been rumored to be one of the main insurgency facilitators.

Seems we always have to deal with that old Arabic name confusion, and this case may be no different. The purported leader of the Shura Council was one Sheikh Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi and the guy we picked up was named Abu Omar. Both are nom de guerres. However, Gateway Pundit links to a site that explains they are probably the same person.

Mr. al-Baghdadi has been linked to Saddam's Army. Guess the Butcher never found out about this guy, since secular Iraqis were not allowed to work with UBL according to the experts.

We've also seen some positive steps in Afghanistan, but are the Democrats cheering those troops they support? Not really. Actually they've been busy tripping all over themselves trying to retreat from Iraq before more troops can arrive and bust more AQ-in-Iraq luminaries. If it wasn't so sad it would be, well, hilarious.

MORE 3/9/07

Some are skeptical that Big Daddy Baghdadi was actually captured. This could end up being one of those things, so it's probably best to take this advice, waiting and seeing. But as linked above, the Coalition has officially picked up several regional al Qaeda kingpins in the past few days.

FOOLED AGAIN 3/11/07

As Hot Air says, heartache. Baghdadi is apparently still our daddy, if he exists.