Al Qaeda In Iraq Abu Ghraib Jailbreak a Counterterrorism Nightmare -- Eli Lake, Daily Beast
Two years after the last U.S. soldier left Iraq, up to 500 al Qaeda members captured during the surge are on the loose. Tribal leaders expect retribution—and spillover to Syria, Eli Lake reports.
A week after a dramatic jailbreak freed dozens of al Qaeda leaders captured during the Iraq surge at the end of President George W. Bush’s second term, America’s closest allies in that counterinsurgency are preparing for the worst.
In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, tribal leader Sheik Jassim Muhammad Suwaydawi said: “Of course I’m afraid of retribution. These people who escaped were put into jail because of those fighting al Qaeda in the awakening. Their first targets will be leaders in the awakening like me.”
The Anbar Awakening began in 2005, nearly two years before Bush sent more troops and empowered Gen. David Petraeus to execute an aggressive war strategy that decimated al Qaeda in Iraq and drove the group from its safe harbor in western Iraq.
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My Comment: I completely concur with Eli Lake's analysis. These terror leaders were captured during the height of the U.S. surge .... and were put in prison because of the mayhem and murder that they caused. But many of them are now free .... and I suspect that many of them will now be driven for revenge and a resumption of the mayhem and murder that they were causing in Iraq before their incarceration.
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