Laura Mansfield sent me this video earlier today of the al Qaeda front group, The Islamic State in Iraq, claiming to have named "shadow ministers". For those not familiar with the parliamentary system, it's a kind of way to let your voters know who would rule should your party take over government. Of course, al Qaeda and the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq have no voters, but the priniciple is the same. U.S. forces leave, and these are the guys you can expect to run Sunni provinces--or so they promise.

Nevermind that if and when the U.S. finally does leave the Islamofascists Salafis of the Islamic State of Iraq are going to have to start dealing with the racist Baathists and the various tribal leaders who may not be so keen on letting the Iraqi version of the Taliban take over. But in the fantasy world of al Qaeda none of this seems to matter much.

The video is laughable, but isn't that why we show this kind of propaganda? Al Qaeda is so "confident" about "ruling" Anbar, Babel, and other Sunni provinces and having the "support of the people" that the propaganda video hides the face of the man announcing the formation of the shadow government. Even bin Laden and Zawahiri don't have to hide their identities.

The "cabinet" has at least one prominent name you might recognize. The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, as "Minister of War". All the ten "ministers" are said to be under the command of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the former "emir of the Mujahidin Shura Council". Here are the names as translated by Figo Zidane:

Abu Abderahman Al-Falahi: Prime Minister
Abu Hamza al-Muhajir Minister of War
Abu Othman Attamimi: Minister of the legal council
Pofessor Abu Bakr Al-Jabouri: Minister of the General Relations
Professor Abu-Abd Al-Jabbar Al-Janabi: Minister of the General Security
Sheikh Abu Mohammad Al-Mashhadani: Minister of Information or Media
Professor Abu-AbdelKader Al Issawi: Minister of the Martyrs and Prisonners
Affairs.
Engineer Abu Ahmad Al janabi: Minister of Oil (PETROL)
Professor Mustafa Al- Araji: Minister of Agriculture and the Fishing wealth
The Doctor and Professor Abu Abdalllah Azaydi: Ministrer of Health

And just in case you're wondering what life in the Islamic State of Iraq would look like, earlier today the same group released a video of 20 hostages being murdered.

Posted by: Rusty at 05:48 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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