Replies

Zarqawi is a member of Bani Hassan, a native Jordanian tribe, while Jayyousi is said to be a Palestinian. The photo the media is using of Zarqawi is his mugshot from back when he was released from Jordanian prison in 1997 and I've seen more recent ones showing him as sporting a full beard. Jayyousi also appears to have broader shoulders than Zarqawi.

As far as age goes, Zarqawi is only in his 30s and he in fact dropped out of high school to go fight in Afghanistan. Jayyousi looks to be in his late 30s to mid-40s so my guess is that he's the older of the two. Jayyousi's now confessed that trained at Zarqawi's camp in Herat and my guess would be that he's part of the first generation of Afghan Arabs from the 1980s and folded into al-Qaeda like most of the rest of them after bin Laden assassinated Abdullah Azzam.

I agree that our profiling bracket should expand upwards, but keep in mind that the traditional profile of a suicide terrorist was more or less demolished by the 9/11 hijackers. As of right now, we should probably be ready for anything.

Don't be fooled by the receding hair line.

"Jayyousi" is in his 30s. My guess would be early 30s.

There is no material difference between Jordanians and Palestinians.

If you were Zarqawi and you got busted, would you admit to being Zarqawi?

Zarqawi may indeed be in Iraq, and indeed he may be in Fallujah, but I think the possibility that this "Jayyousi" guy is Zarqawi should be investigated.

Of course, none of the media outlets in the U.S. will even touch the story, let alone investigate the players.

I've learned two interesting things about Zarqawi's home region of Zarqa: it's the only one of Jordan's 12 governorates in which Palestinians are the majority, and it's the home of 1993 WTC bomber Mohammed Salameh.