G
gilliam
Guest
Saddam and Zarqawi: Al Qaeda’s Shellgame
By: Austin Bay
Now this is interesting. Did Saddam and Al Qaeda connect? Ask the Jordanians. The first report I found dates from May 19 (Khaleej Times, AP report).
I’ve snipped this from South Africa’s Business Day:
…Al-Zarqawi entered Iraq from a neighbouring country shortly before the downfall of the old regime. At the time, we made every effort to bring him back to Jordan to put him on trial, but our extradition request was unsuccessful,” the king told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.
The Jordanian secret service had been informed of al-Zarqawi’s position and his operations in Iraq at that time, the king said. The terrorist’s presence in Iraq was cause for grave concern, he said.
Al-Zarqawi is the leader of a terrorist network in Iraq that has carried out numerous attacks and hostage murders. The network has been calling itself al-Qaeda for some months now.
Arabic newspapers reported yesterday that a taped message from al-Zarqawi has been published on the internet in which he said the deaths of innocent Iraqi civilians in car bomb attacks were a sacrifice for the greater good.
The victims would enter paradise as “martyrs”, the message is believed to say.
In Zarqawi’s sociopathic faith murdered innocents are martyrs. Pass that on to George Galloway.
Italy’s AKI added some depth to its wire service report:
…Al-Zarqawi was sentenced to death in absentia in Jordan in connection with the assassination of an American diplomat there in October 2002. In 1994 he began a fifteen year jail sentence for plotting to overthrow King Hussein’s regime, but was released in 1999 under a general amnesty. He is also believed to have planned a foiled chemical attack in the country and - along with twelve other men, three of whom are also fugitives - faces charges of conspiracy to commit terrorist attacks, manufacturing and possessing explosives and possession of automatic weapons for illegal use.
A thread in these reports: “Zarqawi now heads Al Qaeda.” (See this one from the Turkish Daily News, but it requires registration.) But was he Al Qaeda before 2003? Al Qaeda is a shell game of operational relationships, the common connection sociopathic militancy. Review the record. Osama declared war on the US in February 1998. Zarqawi is a militant Sunni Islamist and committed terrorist. Jordan and the US believe Zarqawi was involved in the assassination of an American diplomat. Zarqawi was operating out of Saddam’s Iraq – at least the Jordanians believe so. Saddam refused to extradite Zarqawi to Jordan, or, refused to respond. Why? Terrorists are an integral part of a tyrant’s tool kit; they are covert weapons to threaten neighbors (Jordan), as well as weapons to weild against internal rebels (eg., Ansar al-Islam against the Kurds).
Saudi Arabia’s Arab News commented on the murder of innocents in pursuit of jihad (read the whole report)
The article includes quotes from Muslim leaders who point out coalition forces also kill civilians in their operations. I was struck by this quote from a Baghdad businessman:
“Any country that is occupied will have a resistance movement,” said Alaa Youssef, 67, a Baghdad soft drinks seller. “But you have to have an honorable resistance instead of one that kills and beheads innocent Iraqi civilians.”
“An honorable resistance.” Sounds like the title of an unwritten Eric Ambler novel.
Read the rest
By: Austin Bay
Now this is interesting. Did Saddam and Al Qaeda connect? Ask the Jordanians. The first report I found dates from May 19 (Khaleej Times, AP report).
I’ve snipped this from South Africa’s Business Day:
…Al-Zarqawi entered Iraq from a neighbouring country shortly before the downfall of the old regime. At the time, we made every effort to bring him back to Jordan to put him on trial, but our extradition request was unsuccessful,” the king told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.
The Jordanian secret service had been informed of al-Zarqawi’s position and his operations in Iraq at that time, the king said. The terrorist’s presence in Iraq was cause for grave concern, he said.
Al-Zarqawi is the leader of a terrorist network in Iraq that has carried out numerous attacks and hostage murders. The network has been calling itself al-Qaeda for some months now.
Arabic newspapers reported yesterday that a taped message from al-Zarqawi has been published on the internet in which he said the deaths of innocent Iraqi civilians in car bomb attacks were a sacrifice for the greater good.
The victims would enter paradise as “martyrs”, the message is believed to say.
In Zarqawi’s sociopathic faith murdered innocents are martyrs. Pass that on to George Galloway.
Italy’s AKI added some depth to its wire service report:
…Al-Zarqawi was sentenced to death in absentia in Jordan in connection with the assassination of an American diplomat there in October 2002. In 1994 he began a fifteen year jail sentence for plotting to overthrow King Hussein’s regime, but was released in 1999 under a general amnesty. He is also believed to have planned a foiled chemical attack in the country and - along with twelve other men, three of whom are also fugitives - faces charges of conspiracy to commit terrorist attacks, manufacturing and possessing explosives and possession of automatic weapons for illegal use.
A thread in these reports: “Zarqawi now heads Al Qaeda.” (See this one from the Turkish Daily News, but it requires registration.) But was he Al Qaeda before 2003? Al Qaeda is a shell game of operational relationships, the common connection sociopathic militancy. Review the record. Osama declared war on the US in February 1998. Zarqawi is a militant Sunni Islamist and committed terrorist. Jordan and the US believe Zarqawi was involved in the assassination of an American diplomat. Zarqawi was operating out of Saddam’s Iraq – at least the Jordanians believe so. Saddam refused to extradite Zarqawi to Jordan, or, refused to respond. Why? Terrorists are an integral part of a tyrant’s tool kit; they are covert weapons to threaten neighbors (Jordan), as well as weapons to weild against internal rebels (eg., Ansar al-Islam against the Kurds).
Saudi Arabia’s Arab News commented on the murder of innocents in pursuit of jihad (read the whole report)
The article includes quotes from Muslim leaders who point out coalition forces also kill civilians in their operations. I was struck by this quote from a Baghdad businessman:
“Any country that is occupied will have a resistance movement,” said Alaa Youssef, 67, a Baghdad soft drinks seller. “But you have to have an honorable resistance instead of one that kills and beheads innocent Iraqi civilians.”
“An honorable resistance.” Sounds like the title of an unwritten Eric Ambler novel.
Read the rest