U.S. IDs New Iraq Terror Chief
Apparent Al Qaeda In Iraq Leader Is Eqyptian Abu Ayyub Al-Masri
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Play CBS Video Video New al Qaeda In Iraq Leader U.S. officials say an Egyptian named Abu Ayub al-Masri, the new head of al Qaeda in Iraq, has a resume of violence that is decades long. Lee Cowan reports.
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Video Bin Laden's Prot?g? The new face of terror in Iraq is an Egyptian and was Osama bin Laden's personal choice to succeed Zarqawi. David Martin has more.
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Video Next Generation Al Qaeda Iraq CBS News Military Analyst and Retired Army Col. Mitch Mitchell eamines the new leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri and the insurgency.
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Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie holds up a copy of a document purported to have come from a computer found at the scene after the U.S. air strike on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, at a news conference in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq Thursday, June 15, 2006. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
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Iraqi Interior Ministry commandos frisk a motorist and search his car in the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, June 14, 2006. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
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An Iraqi soldier watches vehicles at a checkpoint in Baghdad, Wednesday, June 14, 2006. (APTN)
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President Bush greets members of the military at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, June 13, 2006, in surprise visit made to boost the government of new Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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Zarqawi's successor, Abu Ayyub Al-Masri aka Sheik Abu Hamza Al-Muhajer (Dept. of Defense)
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
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Who's Who Iraq Insurgency More on the militant groups behind the insurgency in Iraq and their motivations.
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Interactive Covering The Story Journalists covering the war in Iraq are sometimes part of the story as more are injured, killed or taken hostage.
Caldwell singled out Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi, who in the past had been identified as al Qaeda in Iraq's deputy leader in statements by the group, and Abdullah bin Rashid al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Mujahedeen Shura Council, five allied groups in the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki released documents that he says show that al-Zarqawi planned to try and destroy the relationship between the United States and its Shiite allies in Iraq and help start a war between America and Iran, according to what appeared to be a summary of an al Qaeda in Iraq document.
Documents purporting to reflect al Qaeda policy and its cooperation with groups loyal to ousted President Saddam Hussein were found in al-Zarqawi's hideout following an air strike that killed the terrorist mastermind, the prime minister's office said.
"Now we have the upper hand," National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie said, speaking in English and Arabic at a news conference in Baghdad. "We feel that we know their locations, the names of their leaders, their whereabouts, their movements, through the documents we found during the last few days."
A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, said the document had in fact been found in a previous raid as part of an ongoing three week operation to track al-Zarqawi.
"We can verify that this information did come off some kind of computer asset that was at a safe location," he said. "This was prior to the al-Zarqari safe house."
He added that there "was a series of targets that helped us find the location ... the authenticity is that it came after one of those targets and we know for certain."
Caldwell added that 452 raids have been carried out since al-Zarqawi's death, and 104 insurgents have been killed. He said 255 of the raids were joint operations, while 143 were carried out by Iraqi forces alone, leading to the discovery of 28 significant arms caches and the captures of 759 "anti-Iraqi elements."
One document said the U.S. military's program to train Iraqi security forces to replace American troops was working, according to the announcement.
"Generally speaking and despite the gloomy present situation, we find that the best solution in order to get out of this crisis is to involve the U.S. forces in waging a war against another country or any hostile groups," the document said, as quoted by al-Maliki's office.
According to the document, insurgents were being weakened by operations against them and by their failure to attract recruits. To give new impetus to the insurgency, they would have to change tactics, it added.
"We mean specifically attempting to escalate the tension between America and Iran, and American and the Shiite in Iraq," it said, especially among moderate followers of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
"Creating disputes between America and them could hinder the U.S. cooperation with them, and subsequently weaken this kind of alliance between Shiites and the Americans," it said, adding that "the best solution is to get America involved in a war against another country and this would bring benefits."
©MMVI CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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