Free Republic

If you are looking for the legacy of Abu Musab al Zarqawi, do not look in the concrete rubble of so-called safe house in Baqubah that became his final resting place. Instead, look less than 10 miles to the west, on the side of the road in the desert town of Hadid, for a pile of cardboard banana boxes. Inside those boxes were nine human heads. Some of the heads still had their blindfolds on. Iraqi police are still attempting to identify the murdered men. Days earlier, in Baquba, Iraqi police found another eight severed heads. One of those heads...

CAIRO, Egypt - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's new video marks a shift by the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq toward a less radical image, one that might appeal to the Iraqi insurgency more than the beheadings for which he's become notorious, analysts said Wednesday. The video released Tuesday, the first by al-Zarqawi that shows his face, features scenes of the black-garbed terrorist firing a gun and hunkered over a map plotting strategy. The Sunni Muslim extremist, 39, looks youthful and healthy in the springtime desert. "It's a departure from the past. There's no strident anti-Shiite rhetoric and no beheadings," said Joost...