Posted on 04/28/2005 3:54:52 AM PDT by jmc1969
Baghdad, 28 April (AKI) - The Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is reported to have been seen on Wednesday at the hospital in Ramadi, which was later searched by US forces. The director of the hospital, Munam Aftan, told the Iraq-based newspaper Al-Zaman that US troops surrounded and raided the entire hospital, searching for al-Zarqawi, who is believed to be al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq.
"They told me they had to search the entire hospital - Aftan explained - because they had received information saying that al-Zarqawi was here, accompanied by four Opel cars, inside of which were his bodyguards and followers."
On Wednesday the Kuwaiti news agency Kuna cited local sources as saying that American soldiers had closed off the two main bridges in Ramadi, to the west of the capital Baghdad, and were carrying out major raids on both the hospital and residential neighbourhoods in the centre of the city. Two days ago al-Zarqawi's group announced that there were ongoing violent clashes in Ramadi, between US troops and militants trying to stop the raids.
It also emerged this week that US forces almost caught al-Zarqawi as he tried to enter Ramadi in February. He escaped, but they did seize his computer, which contained information which is reported to have led to a number of subsequent arrests.
A European intelligence official says that he is not sure Zarqawi was ever in the truck. But the information on the computer was very valuable, he confirms. Among other things, it may indicate that Zarqawi is in worse physical condition than previously believed, and taking painkillers as he recovers from a wound to his stomach.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0427/p03s01-woiq.html?s=t5
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I wonder when they are they going to start leaking the info about Zarqawi's past? I would like to see what they found about his links to members of Saddam's regime and other info on his computer.
Small blessings.
Yup. He's hurtin', pong
At least someone is still buying GM cars!
We're getting closer and we've seized the initiative. Everytime this happens, Zarqawi has to spend more time & effort & energy figuring out how to avoid being captured versus how to attack US or Iraqi forces.
LOL!
Everytime this happens, Zarqawi has to spend more time & effort & energy figuring out how to avoid being captured...
Let alone more time & effort keeping his GM cars runnning.
Opels donated by the UAW..
He travels with an entourage of bodyguards and followers in a caravan of same-make cars and "Mr. Elusive" can't be caught? Strange.
where in the hell did they find four opels that they could keep running simultaneously
Well, I'm sure he often changes his personal security organization, pattern of movement, routes, type of transportation, uses decoys and so on. The four Opel caravan, if correct, is just one manifestation of how he travels. He will now probably send out several four Opel elements filled with civilian women and children just hoping at least one of them sucks in a Hellfire missile so he can exploit it for propaganda.
I was directly involved in the hunt for Aideed. We had informers, aerial & satellite surveillance up the kazoo, electonic intercepts--so it seemed a sure thing until you actually had to make it work! The reason guys like that last so long is that they are smart & experienced. Eventually we'll get him, but he's not going to make it easy for us.
While everyone is looking for a fleet of Opals he will be walking down a street leading a donky all by himself.
There were rumors during the Fallujah takedown that someone in the bad guy leadership had been wounded....this jives.
Fox news indicated the laptop had records of bank accounts in 3 countries with millions in them. I would like to know who's funding those accounts...
Isn't Zarqawi supposed to only have 1 leg? It's amazing the things he does & close escapes he has. How do you jump out of a moving vehicle with one leg & get away like that?
I assume that we've already gotten everything valuable we can off of his computer, the way they are publicising that - it would sure alert a lot of people to pull up stakes & get back on the run. But maybe that is the plan, to round them up in some sort of trap. I hope so.
Gutshot/gut wound. Life is good and would be even better with a maggot infestation.
Snip:
The American who led the hunt for Iraq's missing weapons of mass destruction has revealed that the investigation was cut short after he was targeted by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the militant leader in an attack that left two people dead. The head of the Iraq Survey Group, Charles Duelfer, has reported that his investigation into the possible transfer of WMD to Syria had been wound up because of the "declining security situation".
Thank you for your service. A lot of people like to play Monday Morning QB. I hate when the libs say "Why can't we find Bin Laden. If he's still alive, he could be anywhere. He has Billions at his disposal and a network of friends. I'd like to see the critis spend a day in those mountains trying to find him.
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