Zarqawi tape threatens US forces (Condemns the Shia and Sistani)

news.com.au ^ | April 6th, 2004 | From correspondents in Dubai

[Eurotwit]

JORDANIAN Mussab al-Zarqawi, the alleged leader of a network in Iraq believed responsible for several attacks there, threatened US-led forces in a recording broadcast Monday on an Islamist website.

In the message said to have originated from inside Iraq, Zarqawi claimed that his "heroic Mujahedin have killed more than 200 soldiers from the coalition of the crusaders."

Taking credit for several attacks, Zarqawi said "the most recent and not the last was against the Israeli Mossad in the Jabal Lubnan hotel."

A strong car bomb explosion in front of that hotel on March 17 killed seven people and wounded a dozen people.

"We have torn up their bodies in several places: at the UN in Baghdad, coalition forces in Kerbala, the Italians in Nasirijah, American forces on the al-Khalidiya bridge, US intelligence agents at the Hotel Chahine and the presidential palace in Baghdad, the CIA at the Hotel Rachid, Polish forces at Hilla," he said.

An expert on Islamist organizations said on condition of anonymity that the voice on the tape was identical to that of three previous recordings attributed to Zarqawi, who is suspected of links to al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, and like him, has had a bounty of US$10 million placed on his head by US authorities.

Zarqawi, whose real name is Fadel Nazzal Al-Khalayleh, is considered by US officials as one of al-Qaeda's top experts in biological and chemical weapons.

He has also been linked to the killing of Laurence Foley, an official of US aid agency USAID, who was shot dead outside his home in the Jordanian capital Amman in October 2002.

In his message Zaraqawi also sharply criticizes Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims as a "Trojan horse used by the enemies of the nation" to take over the country.

He also had sharp words for the spiritual head of Iraq's Shiite majority, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who has appealed for calm and urged dialog amid recent clashes between Shiite militias and coalition troops, calling him the "imam of atheism".

"The Shiites are the allies of the Jews and Americans. They are helping kill Muslims," he said.

Agence France-Presse

[Eurotwit]

Interesting. Did he make this tape before Sadr's antics? Probably.

Do you think he could be cooperating with Sadr?

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[freeangel]

Hey, zacowi, muslims are killing mulims. They have always killed muslims and they will always continue to do so because of jerks like you.

[Dog]

I dont know..

But these are fighting words..

He also had sharp words for the spiritual head of Iraq's Shiite majority, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who has appealed for calm and urged dialog amid recent clashes between Shiite militias and coalition troops, calling him the "imam of atheism".

"The Shiites are the allies of the Jews and Americans. They are helping kill Muslims," he said.

Some serious stuff is about to hit the fan..

[Angelus Errare]

I'll wait for the full text, but here's the way I see it right now.

Zarqawi and Sadr both have ties back to Iran and it may well be that they've worked out some kind of a 50/50 deal with the mad mullahs to stir up trouble in Iraq for the US. Khamenei knows that he's next in line to take over southern Iraq if the US fails and Zarqawi would be quite happy ruling over some mini-Taliban in the Sunni Triangle. It also fits with other elements we've seen to date with regard to the Iranian grand strategy in terms of Iraq.

[Dog Gone]

It's no secret that Zarqawi would like to provoke a civil war between Sunnis and Shiites. Whatever it takes to make the Americans turn tail.

If he's actually in Iraq, he's a fool. We'll catch him because he's communicating. I think it's far more likely that he's in Syria. Possibly he's in Jordan, but that's less safe for him.

Regardless, you can't be a regional commander without leaving a lot of tracks. I think he'll either be caught this year or cut off from directing the campaign because he's on the run.

[Dog]

This arrest warrant for Sadr has been sitting around for a few months.......what caused us to move on Sadr now.

I have a hunch.... there is something that has happened under the radar to cause this move.

[claudiustg]

---"The Shiites are the allies of the Jews and Americans. They are helping kill Muslims," he said.---

Well, that's not very nice. It would appear to me that if these boys are the back and front of the resistance in Iraq, then this is not going to be as grim a fight as it might first appear.

Remember the mosque bombing about two weeks ago? The Imam was trying to incite the crowd against the Americans without any success. In fact they haven't been able to put any serious numbers into the streets at any time.

[Angelus Errare]

Jordan's condemned Zarqawi to death in absentia - if King Abdullah's men catch him, he'll be tortured to death if he's lucky.

Don't rule out Yemen, Sudan, or the Magic Kingdom either ...

[prairiebreeze]

Stuff starting to hit the fan ping

[Angelus Errare]

Sadr started this latest violence after we shut down his propaganda newspaper. It was probably his stupidest move to date (and there are many), but I think that was what prompted us to rethink letting him out of the playpen. Oh, and he also openly announced he's aligning himself with Hamas and Hezbollah

Before all of this he was just a demagogue, now he's a stated enemy of the US. There are unfortunate consequences to that distinction, as I expect our Khomeini wannabe is about to learn.

[Dog Gone]

Well, Sadr is going to have a very short career. Whether he's dead or whether he's in prison, I don't think he has much time to watch reruns of Love, American Style before someone pulls the plug.

He's in that wretched suburb of Baghdad that used to be called Saddam City. Now it's Sadr City. Either way, it's a slum of despair and Sadr is the Jesse Jackson of Iraqi life today. An Arab poverty pimp with AK-47s.

[Dog]

Who takes him dowm......the other Shia......or us?

[Dog Gone]

I think that ideally we do it with major credit and publicity to Iraqi police, blah blah blah. We don't want to let Iraq disintegrate into anything approaching civil war. We can't allow that.

[Mo1]

Stuff starting to hit the fan ping

Yep and my money is on our guys to kick major butt

[Boot Hill]

"Some serious stuff is about to hit the fan."

"there is something that has happened under the radar to cause this move"

Agree. The next three months should prove to be very interesting.

--Boot Hill

[Cap Huff]

"what caused us to move on Sadr now. . . .?"

At yesterday's CPA briefing this question came up in a variety of ways, but the question was never answered directly and unequivocally unless you believe it was a coincidence:

"QUESTION: And finally, your position is definitely that this announcement of an arrest warrant, of a murder warrant for Mr. Sadr, coming 72 hours after his sermon in Kufah, is just a coincidence and that it's related exclusively to the initiative of this investigative judge?

SENOR: Absolutely. The arrest warrant has been issued some time ago, well before any sermon he gave on Friday.

QUESTION: But the announcement is now.

SENOR: I'm sorry?

QUESTION: But the announcement is now, 72 hours...

SENOR: That's correct, because we are obviously addressing this issue with regard to Mr. Yaqubi and surrounding events. "

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0404/05/lt.02.html