Iraqi Al-Qaeda extends its support to Al-Zawahri for Osama successor; Iraqi Prime Minister willing to continue US troops for next year
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    • Al-Qaeda’s front group in Iraq reaffirmed its support for the terror network’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, a week after US commandos killed Osama bin Laden. Al-Qaeda has not yet announced a successor and there is some uncertainty about whether al-Zawahri will indeed take over for Osama bin Laden. In a statement posted on an insurgent website, the Islamic State of Iraq also taunted President Barack Obama as “the rat in the black house” and said he should remain fearful of bin Laden’s promise to threaten the United States. The statement amounts to an official letter of condolence for bin Laden, was signed by Abu Bakr al-Husseini al-Baghdadi, a pseudonym for the anonymous new leader of al-Qaida’s front group in Iraq. Al-Qaida in Iraq has by and large limited its attacks to its home country.1

    In another development, Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki said that he would be willing to ask thousands of American troops to remain in the country next year as long as the main political parties back the idea. He said reporters that he will meet the country’s political leaders soon to gauge support for having US troops stay beyond a December withdrawal deadline. The issue of the US troops staying has sharply divided Iraqis who face deadly security threats every day but want to assert independence more than eight years after the 2003 US military invasion. Sunni and Kurdish leaders generally want US troops to continue protecting the country. But hardline Shiites who helped al-Maliki get a second term have threatened to revolt if American soldiers remain. 2

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