And we have a winner!!

[Avalux]

A breathless and excited Barbara Starr (CNN) is reporting from the Pentagon that Zarqawi's successor has been chosen. It's now official. Here is "the new face of terror in Iraq". (her words)

Abu Ayyub al-Masri



So print out his picture and put it on your fridge. We're going to be seeing a lot of him since he's won the grand prize - notoriety as the biggest baddie in the world and the reason our troops will have to stay in Iraq.

[Virginia Dare]

1. The head gear is a nice touch....n/t

[JuniperLea]

5. That's to make sure we hate and fear anyone

who wears such a thing.

[Philosoraptor]

2. Oh--! you should have warned us, he's SO scary!

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Funny, I heard on CBS News that we didn't have a picture of him!

[Avalux]

7. Barbara got the scoop I guess.

She's very excited about this news.

[MercutioATC]

4. Are we going to spend another 1/2 BILLION dollars to get him?

How many "successors" wil it take for us to realize that we can't afford to kill every one of them?

[Avalux]

8. There will always be a successor.

That's the thing - it will never end. The American people must have an enemy and as long as the government can invent one, they'll have an excuse for war.

[Greeby]

6. Goldstein is dead! Long live Goldstein!

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. Amazing

it's taken us over three years to elect an leader for the Iraqi government. It took the insurgents 3 days.

I bet they didn't have any hanging Chads either.

[underpants]

10. Yeah but did you see the crop we had to choose from?

I mean let's be real about this.

That is a very good point DYEW

[TechBear_Seattle]

11. The "insurgents" didn't have...

... a foreign occupying force ordering them to comply with its wishes over the votes of the people.

[Avalux]

13. There's no talk at all of the insurgency right now.

There's definitely a full court press right now to make people think all the violence in Iraq is Al Qaeda.

[endarkenment]

20. And the lead hatted coincidence theorists

continue to claim that there is nothing to see here, move along.

[underpants]

12. Roger! Sending it to the Minutemen outposts now

[Rhiannon12866]

14. How long will this guy last? And there will always be a successor...

How Bushco doesn't get this is beyond me...

[swimmernsecretsea]

15. Bringing the war against Oceania within measureable distance of its end...

DoublePlusGood. Chocolate Rectify.

[XanaDUer]

16. I wonder if she is related to Brenda Starr?

...

[endarkenment]

17. He is not nearly mean enough looking.

They will have to get his handlers working on his image.

[SoCalDem]

18. Wow..the winner of "Iraqi Idol"...and an Egyptian, at that

The phone lines must have been jammed during all the voting..that's probably what took so long..

[Spazito]

19. CNN's Starr was positively giddy about this ....

It was nauseating not to mention laughable. It was like the unveiling of a new portrait in a museum combined with the top "10 most wanted" alerts.

My only question is whether they will "catch him" 2 weeks before the election in November or 3 weeks before?

[Avalux]

21. I'd expect as much.

Not beyond the realm that they'll build him up like crazy then take him out right before the election. EVERYTHING they do is politics.

Did you see the caption at the bottom of the screen? "The new leader of Al Qaeda". What about Osama?

[Spazito]

28. Good catch re Osama, or rather the absence of any mention of

him! So, they are trying to totally erase Osama from the American public's memory and replace it with someone they will, gasp, capture in time for the November election, hmmmmm, don't think it is gonna work, at least I sure as hell hope not!

Gosh, I guess killing Zarqawi didn't do squat seeing as there is a new 'leader' who is as skilled in all the things the previous boogieman was, according to breathless Barb.

[goclark]

22. SHE is the "new face and ugly face of terror" to me nt

[KharmaTrain]

25. McIntyre Was Also All "Moist"

That's the other Pentagon suck-up for this propaganda tool of Von Rumsfeldt.

Words can't describe how far up Rummy's behind Starr's head is 99% of the time. I long ago thought she had a uniform fetish as she all but melts when she's attemtping to "interview" a General or other mucky-muck. She's fully signed onto the war...putting on the flack jacket and padded helmet and delivering all the "good news" stories about the war Rummy wants to dominate the news...rather than the real pictures of death and devetation that is Iraq today.

I remember all the fears that bin Laden would be captured before the 2004 election. Rove didn't need to...all that was necessary was a tape and a reference to Kerry in it...that's all it took. bin Laden's the gift that keeps giving...especially when there are elections to be stolen.

Cheers...

[rucky]

23. They really need to find someone with a blue headdress...

to satisfy the Nostradamus freaks.

[MadHound]

24. Well I suppose better late than never

This information was out there a few months ago, you know, back when rumors and information were circulating that Zaqarwi had been replaced. Oh well, I suppose we'll spend another half billion to kill this guy, after he is pushed out of his leadership position.

[Avalux]

26. It's official now though. As announced from the Pentagon.

A few names have been floating around for awhile. I wonder who put this guy in charge anyway? Did Al Qaeda have an election, or was he appointed by Osama? (remember him?)

[MadHound]

27. Official for us perhaps,

But it became official for Al Qaeda in Iraq a few months ago. Actually, I suppose it was official for the US too, since the media announced this a couple of months ago

[deaniac21]

29. All we have to do is wait. Things will turn around for us over time.

There is no way the US is going to win this ugly 'nation building' contest. As the Rolling Stones said, "Time is on my side, yes it is"!

[lonestarnot]

30. Puke alert on terra.

[JNelson6563]

31. She's really something, isn't she

I can't stand Barbara Starr's "reporting". Sickening. What a tool.

Julie

[Avalux]

32. She was positively giddy.

It's pretty bad when a reporter is that transparent.