Catch us if you can: a possible sign that Qaeda is moving into Gaza

The US military announced today that forty senior al Qaeda in Iraq members were captured or killed in November.

A spokesman for the US military noted that the kills include Abu Maysara, a Syrian who was a senior adviser to al Qaeda in Iraq leader, Egyptian Abu Ayyub al-Masri. The good news is accompanied by a caution:

"There is no question that al Qaeda in Iraq remains a dangerous and vicious threat to the Iraqi people and to the security forces and the coalition forces," U.S. military spokesman Major-General Kevin Bergner told a news conference.

"Al Qaeda continues to try to seek spectacular attacks which were so damaging and which continue to be so damaging in inciting sectarian tensions ... we still have a tough fight ahead of us even amidst the progress," he said.

Cautions aside, Qaeda is taking a pounding in Iraq. Yet the deadly game of Whack-a-Mole continues. John Loftus mentioned last night on his radio show that intelligence monitors have "picked up Chechen voices in Gaza." He noted that this turn of events could signal that Qaeda is moving fighters into Gaza.

John's observation comports with the November 30 "bin Laden" audio tape announcement, which reveals a new claim supposedly by Osama bin Laden: "The events of Manhattan were a response to the American-Israeli coalition's murder of our people in Palestine and Lebanon, and it was I who was responsible for 9/11."

The audio tape was released on the heels of the November 27 Annapolis conference and in the run-up to the December 7 presidential vote in Lebanon.

This is the fourth announcement since September that is purportedly from bin Laden. The announcements, taken as a whole, suggest that Qaeda leaders are trying to show their followers that Qaeda has influence on every political situation involving Muslim territories.

Perhaps that is why Qaeda followers have become great fans of objective journalism. Welcome to the revolution, guys.

But Qaeda inserting themselves into Gaza would be an interesting development; it might be the final straw for Palestinians who want peace and a speedy resolution to the two-state negotiations.

I assume at this moment that any Chechen terrorists now in Gaza are working under the direction of Iran's military via Hamas, but Loftus has indeed raised a question about Qaeda's next move.

For more on the latest audio tape announcement, see Neil Doyle's analysis.