Abu Ayyub Al Masri Is Dead Again, Or Maybe He's Not

Al Masri is dead, again.

This is the second time that al Masri has died, last time he died it was February. Just like Zarqawi who died one thousand deaths before his true demise, news of Masri seems to materialize just when the Bush Administration needs it the most.

Yesterday was Mission Accomplished Day, the day Bush was set to veto money for his own war and the news that terrorism is up about 30% was traveling fast.

Then the media announced a pipe dream that alleged anti al-Qaeda insurgents may have killed al Masri. Yeah right, and ABC didn't seem to be buying it either when they ran this banner :

"SOURCES TELL ABC NEWS THAT REPORTS OF THE DEATH OF HAMZA AL MASRI, LEADER OF AL QAEDA IN IRAQ, ARE UNCONFIRMED AND PART OF A MISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN. DEVELOPING... "

Furthermore, those in the know would remember that shortly before the demise of Zarqawi the son of bin Laden's mentor Abdallah Azzam was claiming Zarqawi had already been replaced by a man they were calling Abdullah bin Rashid al-Baghdadi.

It seemed within hours of Abu Musab al Zarqawi's death the US had already fingered this Masri character as being the new head of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

But there seems to be at least some confusion over who this man really is. BBC reported that "A prominent Cairo lawyer says the Egyptian man identified by the US as the new al-Qaeda leader in Iraq has been in jail in Egypt for seven years."

Psyops

The information coming out of Iraq is becoming increasingly unreliable and I believe this is due to massive disinformation campaigns by both the United States and the insurgents in Iraq.
Remember the Pentagons Information Operations Roadmap?

If not, then maybe you should read it and learn about a wide "range of military activities: public affairs officers who brief journalists, psychological operations troops who try to manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of an enemy, computer network attack specialists who seek to destroy enemy networks"

"Information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and Psyops, is increasingly consumed by our domestic audience," the roadmap reads.

"Psyops messages will often be replayed by the news media for much larger audiences, including the American public,"

The United States has been using what they call "psychological operations" for quite some time and these operations are not limited to the Middle East and most likely not limited to only the enemy.

One example may have been militant Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Shorty before Zarqawi's death The Washington Post reported in an article titled "Military Plays Up Role Of Zarqawi" that :

"The U.S. military is conducting a propaganda campaign to magnify the role of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to internal military documents and officers familiar with the program. The effort has raised his profile in a way that some military intelligence officials believe may have overstated his importance and helped the Bush administration tie the war to the organization responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks."

So what news can you trust that's coming out of Iraq? It seems like every tidbit of information is twisted and squeezed by the Mainstream Media and military in an effort to mislead "the enemy" but in actuality they just mislead the public.