Second Tier Leadership Hits Cause Most Damage to Al-Qaeda in Iraq

Al-Qaeda in Iraq has been reported to be suffering heavy set backs in Iraq, brought on thanks to the increasing competence of the Iraqi Army and the shift in military strategy to the dubiously titled "Troop Surge", which has waged an aggressive series of battles on the terrorist faction's own turf. But perhaps the most important shift in strategy, in addition to gaining the support of Concerned Local Citizens' Groups and the various tribal uprisings against the shadow government known as the Islamic State of Iraq, has been the changing of targets from high level terrorist suspects to their mid-level counter parts.

In recent days, the majority of operations have not been targeted at the cabinet of al-Qaeda's umbrella organization, which formulated itself in the style of "The Islamic State of Iraq", but have instead been waged against their most valuable team leaders and others who don't just bring figures and leadership to the table, but an expertise in specific trades not so easily replaced.

Multinational Force Iraq has reported a string of victories against al-Qaeda in Iraq cells, particularly those surrounding Baghdad and the Salah ad-Din regions, making it increasingly difficult for AQI to carry out its operations effectively, culminating in incidents such as the recent female suicide bomber that turned herself in in the former AQI capitol of Baqouba.

Most of the operations have been conducted around the volatile province of Diyala, the province to the east of Baghdad, which took on the mantle of insurgency hotbed following the capitulation of the formerly hostile Anbar. Targeted individuals include bomb makers and mid-level organizers, positions generally filled by experienced terrorists with several years' experience in such organizations.

Unlike high level leadership, these positions can not be so easily filled by the crippled insurgency, as they require a technical expertise usually acquired on the field. Where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was simply replaced by Abu Ayyub al-Masri - although his leadership skills have been called into question several times as he has consistently steered the insurgency away from what many called a "sure victory" for the terrorist faction - due to his high ranking in al-Qaeda, bomb makers and other mid-level lieutenants are usually valued for the experience that they can bring to their position.

In addition to the actual experts being routinely detained or killed, Coalition and Iraqi forces have also continued to sweep out IED manufacturing facilities, which has also set the insurgency back to nearly irrecoverable levels.

The effect of these constant operations has already borne fruit, as high level strategists and news agencies report a decline in al-Qaeda focus on Iraq, and instead an attempted resurgence in Afghanistan, where the Taliban are attempting to slowly re-stake their claim on the impoverished nation.

Sources:
Multinational Force: Iraq
Various Interviews