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gilliam
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His resume includes a short stint as manager of a video store. Then there was the job in the paper factory that required him to keep track of chemicals, followed by the position (gotten through family connections) in his town’s government. Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi was fired from these last two jobs for negligence – one of the many revealing facts that are sprinkled throughout “Zarqawi: The New Face of Al-Qaeda.”
The first biography of the man who leads Iraq’s bloody insurgency, “Zarqawi” is a dense, detailed chronicle of the insurgent’s evolution from his teenage years as a street thug. According to this book, Zarqawi has always been rebellious, which is why he put greenish tattoos all over his body, drank heavily and beat up anyone who crossed him. Growing up, Zarqawi wasn’t drawn to religion or to studying but to proving himself one of the toughest people in Zarqa, Jordan. Confronting police. Stealing. Drug dealing. Sexual assault. Zarqawi was essentially a common criminal “looking for a way to break free of the dead-end situation in which he felt he was stuck,” writes Jean-Charles Brisard, a terrorism expert whose previous books have been about Osama bin Laden. …
“In our view, they are the key element of change,” Zarqawi writes. “… In making them our targets and striking at the heart of (their) religious, political and military structures we will trigger their rage against the Sunnis. … Our fight against the Shiites is the way to draw the nation (of Islam) into battle.” If Zarqawi survives the manhunt for him (as bin Laden has done) and the $25 million price tag on his head, he’ll undoubtedly plan bigger, bolder operations that extend far beyond Iraq. In the Mount Rushmore of terrorists, Zarqawi has taken a spot next to bin Laden. Washington will rejoice when Zarqawi is dead, but his legacy has already been mythologized by Muslim extremists everywhere.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com …
The first biography of the man who leads Iraq’s bloody insurgency, “Zarqawi” is a dense, detailed chronicle of the insurgent’s evolution from his teenage years as a street thug. According to this book, Zarqawi has always been rebellious, which is why he put greenish tattoos all over his body, drank heavily and beat up anyone who crossed him. Growing up, Zarqawi wasn’t drawn to religion or to studying but to proving himself one of the toughest people in Zarqa, Jordan. Confronting police. Stealing. Drug dealing. Sexual assault. Zarqawi was essentially a common criminal “looking for a way to break free of the dead-end situation in which he felt he was stuck,” writes Jean-Charles Brisard, a terrorism expert whose previous books have been about Osama bin Laden. …
“In our view, they are the key element of change,” Zarqawi writes. “… In making them our targets and striking at the heart of (their) religious, political and military structures we will trigger their rage against the Sunnis. … Our fight against the Shiites is the way to draw the nation (of Islam) into battle.” If Zarqawi survives the manhunt for him (as bin Laden has done) and the $25 million price tag on his head, he’ll undoubtedly plan bigger, bolder operations that extend far beyond Iraq. In the Mount Rushmore of terrorists, Zarqawi has taken a spot next to bin Laden. Washington will rejoice when Zarqawi is dead, but his legacy has already been mythologized by Muslim extremists everywhere.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com …