That Al Qaeda: Still an obstacle to peace?

Who would have thunk that it's not the Shiite militias who are causing most of the problems in Iraq?

But the New York Times is reporting that since the Baghdad Security Program began last month, "deadly bombings by Sunni Arab militants have emerged as [the] greater danger."

And exactly who might these "Sunni Arab militants" that the Times is referring to?

That's right, none other than Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

Information obtained from one of the group's captured laptops, according to the Times, suggests to U.S. intelligence officials that as far as Al Qaeda is concerned “the sectarian war for Baghdad [is] the necessary main focus of its operations.”

As the Times recalls for the reader:

In its efforts to stabilize Iraq, American commanders have had to contend with Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, other Sunni Arab insurgent groups, a variety of Shiite militias, criminals and, they say, Iranian operatives. The greater Baghdad area seems to include all of them, making the mission there one of constant adjustment to adversaries who are revising their own tactics. According to American intelligence analysts, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia’s Baghdad strategy has gone through several changes. The overwhelming majority of the group’s members are believed to be Iraqi. But some senior commanders are foreigners, including Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian who became the leader of the organization last year after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist who founded the organization.