The Beginning Of The End?

This is just too good. Over at Powerline, they have some great quotes from Iraq's National Security Adviser, Mouwafak al-Rubaie:

Al-Rubaie said a laptop, flashdrive and other documents were found in the debris after the airstrike that killed the al-Qaida in Iraq leader last week outside Baqouba, and more information has been uncovered in raids of other insurgent hideouts since then. He called it a "huge treasure ... a huge amount of information."

When asked how he could be sure the information was authentic, al-Rubaie said "there is nothing more authentic than finding a thumbdrive in his pocket."

Rubaie gave a surprisingly upbeat assessment of the implications for Iraq's battle against the terrorists:

"We believe that this is the beginning of the end of al-Qaida in Iraq," al-Rubaie said, adding that the documents showed al-Qaida is in "pretty bad shape," politically and in terms of training, weapons and media.

"Now we have the upper hand," he said at a news conference in Baghdad. "We feel that we know their locations, the names of their leaders, their whereabouts, their movements, through the documents we found during the last few days."

Rubaie said that he believes many coalition forces will be able to leave Iraq by the end of the year.

I know it's prudent to be cautious in our optimism as war is completely unpredictable, but this sounds like great news to me. And I reiterate what I said below...what a bad week for the Left!