Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Hamza Rabia, the latest alleged "Number 3 Al Qaeda leader" (who might have been just a key associate) is definitely dead. Maybe.

Pakistani officials insisted Monday that DNA evidence and communications intercepts both confirm that a top al-Qaida operative died in an explosion at his tribal hide-out last week, brushing off Washington's reluctance to confirm the man was dead.

You have to wonder how these folks were able to apprehend the guy's DNA, but unable to apprehend the guy himself.

But wait, there's more! The head of Pakistani counterterrorism, Javed Iqbal Cheema, is being cagey on whether or not Pakistan's sample of DNA was matched to DNA found at the scene, or if its DNA sample was matched to DNA actually taken from Rabia's body:

He would not say whether Pakistani forces had recovered Rabia's remains from the blast site. The Karachi-based Dawn newspaper reported that Rabia's body had been retrieved by associates from outside Pakistan and spirited away.

So, this is uh, one hell of a victory, isn't it? At this rate, the War on (Some) Terror is going to be over in no time. Maybe.