Al Qaeda "Minister of War" publishes video of recent war crimes

AP/Washington Times:

A Sunni insurgent coalition posted videos on the Internet yesterday naming the head of al Qaeda in Iraq as "minister of war" and showing the execution of 20 men it said were members of the Iraqi military and security forces.
The Islamic State of Iraq is a coalition of eight insurgent groups, the most powerful of them al Qaeda in Iraq. It was first announced in October, claiming to hold territory in the Sunni-dominated areas of western and central Iraq.
In the video, a man identified as a spokesman for the group appeared, with his face obscured, speaking from behind a desk with a flat-screen computer.
"It is the duty at our present stage to form this Cabinet, the first Islamic Cabinet, which has faith in God," said the spokesman, wearing robes and a red headdress.
He denounced Iraq's rulers for the past decades -- including Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party and the present government -- saying they "spread corruption and ruined the country and its people, until God helped the mujahedeen bring torture upon them."
"Now the Islamic State emerges as a state for Islam and the mujahedeen," he said.
He then listed a 10-member "Cabinet," including Abu Hamza al-Muhajer as "war minister." Al-Muhajer is the name of the person announced as the successor of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq who was killed in the summer of 2006. The U.S. military and Iraqi government have identified him by another pseudonym, Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
The names listed by the spokesman were all pseudonyms and their real names were not known -- though the pseudonyms included the names of some major Sunni Arab tribes.
The Islamic State is led by Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who holds the title of "emir of the faithful."
Sheik Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Falahi was named as the emir's "first minister," the spokesman said. Other positions included ministers of information, "prisoners and martyrs," agriculture and health.
The group is blamed for some of the deadliest suicide bombings against Shi'ite civilians, as well as numerous attacks on U.S. troops and Iraqi soldiers and police. The U.S. military has blamed it for a devastating bombing Wednesday in Baghdad's Sadriyah market that left more than 200 people dead.
Yesterday's message came hours after another video from al Qaeda in Iraq showing a masked gunman walking down a row of men, blindfolded and bound, shooting each in the head.
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Which is, of course, a war crime. Note, no one was killed at Abu Ghraid and it was an atrocity that still reverberates. Here prisoners are executed on video and the left either ignores it or blames the US for fighting back. Al Qaeda is doing killings in Iraq, that Democrats think or wrong in the former Yugoslavia or Darfur, but not Iraq. For Harry Reid this type of video is just another reason to give up and lose. War crimes by the enemy are just not something that concerns him or the Democrat leadership. But, our retreat will not stop the war crimes, it will just make them easier for our enemies.