Posted on 03/10/2006 7:27:23 AM PST by jmc1969
This is the story of a man who set out to liberate his people from servitude and sin. It is the story of a hoodlum and drunkard who found strength in religious faith and then used that faith to cudgel unbelievers. It is a story with no foreseeable end – even if the man were to die today, the world would be struggling with his legacy for a long time to come. It is the story of Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh, better known as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most dangerous man in the world. Who is this man, beside whom even Osama bin Laden suddenly appears harmless?
"The Russians were braver than the Americans," says Abu Quteiba. "The Americans screamed like pigs when we fired at them. The Russians died without squealing." In Abu Quteiba's living room, half a dozen veterans sit in a circle and wallow in memories of the front. Everyone here knows Zarqawi personally. "One day, this young man came to us," says Abu Quteiba, who in the 1980s organized the passage of young mujahideen to Afghanistan. Hundreds came to his office, he says, but he will never forget this man's face. "He was hungry, and he was wild."
What Saif al-Adel had to tell was informative and explosive. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, he claimed, was not unknown within Al-Qaida's highest circle.
In a 125-page report, the BKA describes how in early 2002, Zarqawi set up new camps and safe houses in Zahedan, Isfahan and Teheran with the knowledge of the Iranian authorities. Iran thus became a hub in Zarqawi's fast growing network stretching from the northern Caucasus to Syria, Turkey and into Europe, with forged passports, money and fresh instructions channelled from here in all directions. Information flows via messengers and telephones, for example a Swiss satellite phone with the Swisscom number 0041793686306.
Saif al-Adel confirmed Iran's accommodating stance: "The Americans noticed that the Iranians were turning a blind eye to our activities there. They launched a large-scale propaganda campaign against Iran." In al-Adel's view, this forced Teheran to arrest and deport members of Al-Qaida. By the time the first cruise missiles targeted Baghdad in March 2003, Zarqawi was already well organized in Iraq. But since his flight from Afghanistan, his efforts had not been focussed exclusively on preparing for the American invasion: in the summer of 2002, Zarqawi personally handed one of his officers a 7mm pistol, a silencer and seven rounds of ammunition. Soon after, this weapon was used to murder the American Laurence Foley in Amman.
During his escape, Zarqawi left his laptop in the jeep. The information it contained facilitated the arrests of around a dozen of his accomplices. Interrogations of those arrested gave the first insights into the outlines of the network. The main field of action, the Sunni Triangle (between the cities of Baghdad, Ramadi and Samarra), is divided into nine zones of command. Each zone is controlled by a regional emir with a large degree of operational autonomy. If an emir is arrested, Zarqawi replaces him immediately. This way, the organization stays constantly in motion.
Driven by Zarqawi's enthusiasm, even close associates are prepared to die for him. The attack with the highest death toll to date, for example, was carried out by a family member, Zarqawi's father-in-law Yassin Jarad. In August 2003, disguised as a doctor, he drove an ambulance packed to the roof with explosives to the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf, the most holy place of the Shiites, and blew up the Shiite leader Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim along with 100 believers.
In a letter to bin Laden he has written: "If the Jihad fails in Iraq, the Caliphate will never be established. Then the Nation will be strangled, our people degraded, and sanctions will be imposed for all time."
Zarqawi is the opposite of bin Laden. Not from a privileged background. Uneducated. Crude. Impulsive. In spite of this, it may not be long before he outstrips the Saudi Prince of Terror. With violence, but also with his sharp instinct for propaganda.
Ping
Ping
And that is why Iraq is the center front of the war on terror as President Bush has been saying for the last three years. It is in Iraq where the islamic terrorists from all over the world have decided to make a stand to fight us, and it is in Iraq where we are going to defeat and annihilate them, we are doing a lot of this and getting close to the ultimate victory.
This is impossible because the MSM tells us that secular Saddam and religious Al Qaeda never cooperated.
This is impossible, because the Democrats tell us that Iraq is not part of the War On Terror.
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