THE BEAT OF VICTORY IN IRAQ

"The last days on earth of Abu Osama al Tunisi apparently were filled with anxiety: "We are desperate for your help," he said in a letter to al Qaeda chieftains.

A copy of the letter was found by U.S. troops sifting through the rubble of the building in Musayb, about 40 miles south of Baghdad, where on Sept. 25 Mr. al Tunisi had been meeting with two local al Qaeda operatives when an F-16 cut their discussion short.

Mr. al Tunisi was responsible for bringing foreign al Qaeda recruits into Iraq and placing them in operational cells, U.S. military spokesmen said. That effort suffered a major blow when "Muthanna," the al Qaeda emir for the Iraq-Syrian border region, was killed in early September.

Al Tunisi and Muthanna were among 28 local, city or regional al Qaeda leaders killed or captured in September. Two other very big shots nailed last month were Muhammad al Afari, who was responsible for the bloody attack on the Kurdish Yazidi sect in August, and Abu Taghrid, who ran a car bomb network.

Al Tunisi wasn't alone in calling for help. "Al Qaeda has lost half its leadership over the summer, and American intelligence collectors have amassed a huge number of desperate messages from al Qaeda leaders and operatives," reports StrategyPage.

The beat of victory goes on."

-- Jack Kelly