Killing of Al-Qaeda 'Emir' Called Blow to Insurgency

A roadside bomb also killed a U.S. soldier traveling north of Baghdad on Thursday, the military said in a statement.

[On Saturday, in a video posted on an Islamic militant Web forum, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader, said hundreds of suicide bombings in Iraq had "broken the back" of the U.S. military, the Associated Press reported. It was the latest in a recent series of messages from the terrorist network. Zawahiri also denounced the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq as "traitors" and called on Muslims to rise up to "confront them."

[The video was first obtained by IntelCenter, a U.S. government contractor that does work for various intelligence agencies. U.S. counterterrorism officials were aware of the video and analyzing it, two officials said on condition of anonymity. One of the officials, who would not be identified in compliance with office policy, said it was part of an ongoing propaganda blitz by al-Qaeda to demonstrate it is still relevant.]

The seesaw nature of the violence and the constant dangers posed by the war are taking their toll on the Iraqi public, according to new poll data released by the International Republican Institute, a Washington-based organization that promotes democracy outside the United States.

Although 45 percent of the 2,800 Iraqis questioned said they favored a government uniting the country's ethnic and sectarian factions, and only a small number supported the division of the country into separate parts, 52 percent said they thought the country was headed "in the wrong direction." Thirty percent believed the opposite.

The poll was taken in late March, while the country's politicians were deadlocked over the choice of a new prime minister, and may have reflected the frustration of waiting for the parliament to make its choice.

Meanwhile, some Iraqis marked what was once cause for mandatory national celebration: the 69th birthday of Saddam Hussein, the former president, who is in jail while being tried by his countrymen.

In Auja, Hussein's home town, a group of about 200 young men showed some of the old spirit. A disc jockey played folk music, and guests ate cake as others chanted, "Our blood, our lives, we sacrifice for you, Saddam." Some read poetry describing the ousted leader as a symbol of the Arab nation.

The birthday party went undisturbed by a passing police patrol, which left without saying anything. The town resounded with celebratory shooting and songs until midnight.

Special correspondents Naseer Nouri, Saad al-Izzi and K.I. Ibrahim contributed to this report.