Jordanian Militants Shown Confessing on State TV

Reuters ^ | 4/26/04 | Suleiman al-Khalidi

[steve-b]

Ve haf waves of making you talk!

[Leisler]

Is this the one where he sings, 'Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds'? If so there might be a Geneva Convention prohibition.....

[AmericanInTokyo]

Just visited the alJazeera site in Arabic. They are just showing the usual ANTI US photos of Iraqi civilians (who knows?) with their heads blown off, laying down, and people crying over them. Probably in Najaf or Fallujah earlier today. Graphic. www.aljazeera.net

That's as much as they have on this Jordanian attack think, i.e. ZILCH.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Correction: They are in fact running something. It is at:

http://www.aljazeera.net/news/arabic/2004/4/4-27-4.htm

[swarthyguy]

DOn't know if Zarkawi and Juayassi are the same guy or not.

Why would they hide it? What would be the motive.

But, AE, significant to me that two of these jihadis seem like older guys, not that they aren't prevalent in the islamistinternationale, but you rarely see them in operational squads.

Does make sense that Mid40's somethings guys, entranced by the jihad, would, just like younger men, seek salvation through their jihad.

Maybe that our profiling methods just went out the window and the age bracket should expand upward.

[Angelus Errare]

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.

[GEC]

Thanks for the side by side view.

My brain functions like a face-recognition machine.

I track faces of celebrities in movies and TV with little difficulty in spite of makeup, etc.

If I could see these two guys walking I would know for sure.

The color photo guy has a LOT more weight than the guy in B&W, but I'd bet the ranch that it's the same guy.

That being said, I saw four photos of Zarqawi once and they did not all look like they were the same guy to me.

If the guy on the left is Zarqawi, he was wearing the tuq for a reason. Balding is one of those reasons.

I don't expect the Jordanians to let this guy go either way, but I hope they beat him up some more before they behead him or hang him.

[GEC]

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.

[GEC]

Why would they hide it? What would be the motive

Have you ever known a criminal who doesn't initially try to use an alias when he has a rap sheet as long as his arm, or $10 million on his head?

[swarthyguy]

But why would the JOrdanians hide such a catch.

[GEC]

Never assume that "intelligence" services can figure stuff out on their own. Why did the Jordanians release Zarqawi in 1997 or whenever?

There's a ton of information out there. Sorting through it is the hard part.

Sometimes you miss the forest for the trees.

[apokatastasis]

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.

[swarthyguy]

The things you learn hanging around this place! Thanx.

Now if people at cocktail parties even cared about this stuff.

[VOA]

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