The Washington Times’ Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough report that al Qaeda Islamopuds are fleeing by sea.

A recent search of a foreign freighter by the U.S. Navy revealed that a group of al Qaeda fighters had been hiding inside a shipping container, officials told us. Inside the container, searchers found materials and equipment linked to the terrorist group, but not the terrorists themselves. The group apparently escaped from the large metal container a short time before the ship was searched.

The discovery prompted an increase in surveillance of ships, as well as trucks carrying shipping containers leaving Afghanistan for Pakistani ports.

Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations for the Joint Staff, told reporters recently that U.S. forces in Southwest Asia have probed “hundreds” of ships. ‘We have done permissive boardings [but] we’ve not come up with anybody that we’re looking for,’ Adm. Stufflebeem said.

Y’know, Maureen Dowd said my boy Admiral Stufflebeem was “boring” (‘t least, I think it was Dowd). But I like the guy. He’s one of ’em standup dudes who measures his every word, and honesty pours from his eyeballs like so much “I-got-your-back” fiducial ambrosia. Like Rumsfeld, only taller. I trust these guys to tell me what I need to know.

So. Board them ships and bring us back some waterlogged, prune-toed Islamo-baaads, Stufflebuddy! Sir!

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