From the terrorists’ nervous allies at Reuters:

Iraqi Prime Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gestures as he announces during a press conference in Karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Jan. 25, 2008 that the government was sending troops to Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city, to fight the insurgents who have taken refuge there following operations in Baghdad and surrounding areas.

Iraq ready for “final” battle with al Qaeda: PM


By Aws Qusay and Wisam Mohammed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces have begun a “decisive” final offensive against al Qaeda in Iraq to push the Sunni Islamist militants out of their last major stronghold in the north, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Friday.
He said Iraqi soldiers and police were being sent to Mosul, where a massive blast blamed on al Qaeda killed 40 people and wounded 220 on Wednesday, and an operations room had been set up in the city, 390 km north of Baghdad.
U.S. military commanders say al Qaeda, blamed for most big bombings in Iraq, has regrouped in the northern provinces after being squeezed out of western Anbar province and from around Baghdad during security crackdowns last year.
They describe Mosul, capital of Nineveh province, as al Qaeda’s last major urban stronghold in Iraq.
“We have set up an operations room in Nineveh to complete the final battle with al Qaeda along with guerrillas and members of the previous regime,” Maliki said, referring to other Sunni militants the Shi’ite-led government says remain loyal to former leader Saddam Hussein.
“Today our forces started moving to Mosul. What we are planning in Nineveh will be decisive,” he said during a ceremony for victims of violence in the holy Shi’ite city of Kerbala in southern Iraq, broadcast on state television…
Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul-Kareem Khalaf said the Mosul push would include 3,000 extra police. Iraqi security officials in the city said no reinforcements had arrived yet…
U.S. and Iraqi troops have launched a series of offensives in northern provinces this year targeting al Qaeda in Iraq.
The U.S. military calls the group, which commanders say is largely foreign-led, the biggest threat to Iraq’s security. The military said this week that al Qaeda militants killed 3,870 civilians and wounded almost 18,000 in 4,500 attacks last year.“We defeated al Qaeda, now there is just Nineveh province where they escaped to, and Kirkuk,” Maliki said, referring to another northern city…

Let’s hope it is the final battle.
Still, even if it isn’t, just think how amazing it is that Mr. Maliki and the Iraqi government are even using such language and talking about how Al Qaeda has been defeated.
Of course the Democrats and their minions in the media are still insisting we surrender immediately, if not sooner.
Also, notice this little detail buried in the story:

The military said this week that al Qaeda militants killed 3,870 civilians and wounded almost 18,000 in 4,500 attacks last year.

Why is it we so seldom hear these kind of numbers reported?
Of course that is a rhetorical question.Our media knows that the American public only ever wants to hear how many innocent civilians have been killed by our rapacious forces.
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