Jordan Gives Zarqawi 10 Days to Capitulate

Please don't surrender. Be dragged out by your robe so you can be tried, found guilty, condemned, and beheaded. Or, be gunned down, so your autopsy photos can be broadcast throughout the world as were those of the criminal sons of Saddam Hussein.

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Oh, for crying out loud. This is a dumb legal process. If Zarqawi turns himself in, he will be executed. If he's dead, his property does him no good.

America News
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=3&u=/ap/20041124/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

Purported Al-Zarqawi Tape Raps Scholars

By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An audiotape purportedly made by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi lashed out Wednesday at Muslim scholars for not speaking out against U.S. actions in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites), saying they have "let us down in the darkest circumstances."

It was unclear whether the tape posted Wednesday on the Internet was intended as a direct threat against Iraq's Sunni religious establishment, who have come under attack recently with the slaying this week of two Sunni clerics by gunmen.

"You have let us down in the darkest circumstances and handed us over to the enemy. ... You have quit supporting the mujahedeen," said the voice on the tape, purported to be al-Zarqawi's. "Hundreds of thousands of the nation's sons are being slaughtered at the hands of the infidels because of your silence."

On the tape, whose authenticity could not be confirmed, al-Zarqawi addressed his comments to the "ulama" — senior Islamic clerics and scholars. The tape was not posted by al-Zarqawi's designated media coordinator, Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, and it was unclear whether the material on it was new.

Al-Zarqawi, who leads the terror group known as al-Qaida in Iraq, is believed to have escaped from his headquarters in the insurgent-held stronghold of Fallujah during the massive U.S.-led assault earlier this month.

"You made peace with the tyranny and handed over the countries and the people to the Jews and Crusaders ... when you resort to silence on their crimes ... and when you prevented youth from heading to the battlefields in order to defend the religion," he said.

"Instead of implementing God's orders, you chose your safety and preferred your money and sons. You left the mujahedeen facing the strongest power in the world," he said. "Are not your hearts shaken by the scenes of your brothers being surrounded and hurt by your enemy?"

This week, two Sunni clerics were assassinated by gunmen. Both clerics — one slain in the northern city of Mosul, the other in the town of Muqdadiyah just north of Baghdad — were members of an influential Sunni group that openly called for a boycott of Jan. 30 national elections because of the U.S. offensive against Fallujah.

It was unclear whether the two attacks were related, and there has been no claim of responsibility.

The audio message appeared as U.S. and Iraqi security forces continued their search for al-Zarqawi after reports that he was in the region north of Baghdad. The U.S. has placed a $25 million bounty on his head.

His group is believed responsible for dozens of deadly bombings and gruesome beheadings of foreign hostages.

U.S. and Iraqi forces have also been dealing with a wave of violence across Iraq, sparked by the assault on Fallujah and continuing even after the military says the former insurgent stronghold has largely been taken.

Five more bodies were found Wednesday in Mosul, the U.S. military said, bringing the total to 20 found in the city the past week.

Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, with Task Force Olympia, said it was not yet confirmerd whether the five men whose bodies were found belonged to Iraqi security forces.

Before the latest grisly discovery, U.S. troops had found 10 bodies of Iraqi soldiers — nine of them shot execution-style. Five other bodies, including four decapitated ones, have still not been identified.

On Wednesday, Nineveh province's deputy governor said his convoy came under gunfire in Mosul, killing one of his bodyguards and injuring two others. An Interior Ministry special forces member in the area was also killed, he said.

Deputy Gov. Khasro Gouran said he was on his way home when his convoy was attacked. He said authorities were investigating the possibility that the convoy was mistakenly fired upon by the special Interior Ministry force in the area.

In Mahmoudiya, gunmen ambushed a taxi carrying an Iraqi National Guard soldier to his military base after dawn Wednesday, said Dr. Dawoud al-Taie of Mahmoudiya Hospital. There was no information on his condition.

Mahmoudiya, about 25 miles south of Baghdad, is in an area known as the "triangle of death," a region where rebels frequently attack U.S. and allied forces.

Some 5,000 U.S., Iraqi and British forces launched a major offensive Tuesday to clear insurgents from that southern belt of towns — the third large-scale military operation this month aimed at suppressing Iraq's Sunni Muslim insurgency ahead of the elections, following the offensives in Fallujah and Mosul.

Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Wednesday that joint operations south of Baghdad are aimed at clearing out pockets of "the elements that want to inflict Iraq with death and destruction."

In other developments:

_ Some 6,000 Iraqi Army troops — the first batch of quick-reaction forces — graduated Wednesday from a southern military base, a military spokesman said. The new graduates are the first group trained to launch defensive and offensive operations in emergencies, the spokesman said.

_ A car bomb exploded on an overpass on Baghdad's airport road, injuring two Iraqis and causing the route's closure, U.S. military and hospital officials said.

_ The Iraqi National Guard said its troops raided homes in Baghdad, arresting eight suspected insurgents and uncovering weapons and cash.

_ Militants attacked National Guard forces in the northern city of Kirkuk after sundown Tuesday, killing one soldier and a civilian and injuring an Iraqi guardsman, the military said.

What are they gonna do when he doesn't comply? Take the nine prisoners out one by one and shoot them in the middle of the town square? Will Al Zarqawi care if they do?

Yeah but this is a legal step that also might effectively punish his relatives as possible holdings. That might be useful not just for him but also any would be terroist leaders who might like to follow in his footsteps. Maybe the entire Bin Laden clan needs to lose their property unless he gives up as well. So far there seems to have been little repurcussion (except I heard a few of them changed their names).

In the Islamic world, token respect for legal niceties is paramount. Come to think of it, that also applies in other countries. ;') Anyway, the only countries in the Middle East where the practice of law even remotely resembles civilization's are Israel and Jordan, and maybe Turkey. Since the crooks aren't likely to surrender (and they aren't assured of death sentences if they do -- the previous King Hussein commuted quite a few), this removes a barrier for the US, which means that Jordan is finally working in favor of the WOT.

Jordan Gives Zarqawi 10 Days to Capitulate

He won't. Unreasonable people cannot be dealt with reasonably.

There's an underlying issue here, and Jordan is trying to head off a potential problem with the provisional Iraqi government.

Because many of the "insurgents" in Iraq are actually Jordanian radical misfits who have decided to take their notion of jihad across the border into Iraq, the Jordanian government is in a very uncomfortable position here. These Jordanian "insurgents" have no legal status under international law (because they are not Iraqis and therefore are not covered by the Geneva Conventions on Warfare), so the Jordanian government basically has to treat them as criminals even in Jordan -- or else there would be an implicit acknowlegement that Jordan supports their presence in Iraq.

You can get about 17-1 on Zarqawi being captured/killed before the end of November on TradeSports.