Posted on 06/27/2005 7:49:04 AM PDT by dead
WASHINGTON - The US military is close to locating al-Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, General John Abizaid, the commander of US forces in the region, said.
"I think we have a good idea of where to find him," Abizaid told CNN.
"We know what we're doing in our efforts how to get him," he said.
"But I want to also stress that it's not about one man. It's about his network. His network exists inside Iraq. It's connected to al-Qaeda. It's got facilitation nodes in Syria," Abizaid told the US cable news channel.
"It brings foreign fighters in from Saudi Arabia and from North Africa. It is connected to what is happening in Afghanistan and what is happening in Pakistan. It is a global battle that we face," he said.
"The Zarqawi part of the network needs to be taken down. He needs to be captured or killed. But we should understand: It's a long war ahead of us. It's a difficult enemy that we'll have to fight over time throughout the region," the general said.
Jordanian-born Zarqawi, who has a 25-million-dollar US bounty on his head, is blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Iraq and is the country's most-wanted man.
Zarqawi warned militants against contacts with the "enemies of God" and dismissed as lies revelations that US officials had been in contact with insurgents in Iraq.
"We are warning anyone who meets the Jewish, the Crusaders and their agents," according to an Internet statement attributed to Zarqawi's al-Qaeda organisation in the Land of Two Rivers.
Abizaid spoke after US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld earlier confirmed a British newspaper report that US officials had contacted insurgents in a bid to stem the violence plaguing Iraq.
"Sure, my goodness, yeah. The first thing you want to do is split people off and get some people to be supportive. The same thing's going on in Afghanistan," Rumsfeld said.
AFP
Seems to be a pattern. How many times has "the beheader of the innocent" been able to slip away because someone said "we have him surrounded," "we know where he is," etc.
My God, look how much notice we gave Saddam.
Perhaps the heat is getting to him, but it's time for him to shut his face.
The main problem in the war is that the average Iraqi citizen favors the Islamic insurgent over the mostly European-Christian soldier. Not all of them, but it is obvious a bunch do. Otherwise, these turds would have been tracked down and captured/killed by now. In short, they're being protected. Its too obvious.
"Uh, General, I'd rather you not tell us, given that he's probably already packed up and moved with this announcement."
He could be doing this to flush the game.
So quit tipping your hand, General, and just go get him.
General John Abizaid is no idiot - He is a d*mn good man and soldier -
Some useful pysops going on here -
And whatever happened to Mullah Omar???
While I am sure we don't know exactly "where" Zarqawi this was more pysops than anything else (with regard to him) - Though we perhaps are starting to run within his OODA loop -
As for UBL while we don't know his exact location....we do know "his general whereabouts"....that being the Pakistan border region -
And NO, we can't just go in there and get him out! - Simply doesn't work that way in that area of the World. The logistics alone make Ops extremely hard (let alone sustained Ops that would be needed). - But we do know where UBL is eking out a survival....there is just no fire sure way of getting him -
And one can very reasonably know "where" someone is (general whereabouts) without being able to catch / kill him - We know Zarqawi is operating in Iraq for example....and we knew UBL was in Afganistan after Sept 11th ....we went in to get him....but did we?? - Yet he was certainly there through Nov of 2001 -
Foolishness (and have you been on the ground in Iraq? - The answer to that is clearly NO) - There is NO popular support for these insurgents in the least - It is a small and ruthless group operating within the Country (small in terms of the over all population) -
And Iraqi's are turning insurgents in each and every day!! - They are pointing out weapon caches each a every day - Iraqi's are fighting and dying each and every day against these insurgents.
The Zarqawi (and Al Duri) networks simply work with a very short and compact OODA loop which does not encompass those outside their network (or to the most minimal limit possible).
no sh*T. maybe it's a psy-op.
I can undwestand why he said it...get Zarqawi moving.
understand....sheesh.
Cute..
Your two responses, and those of a few others refering to "flushing out" for instance, should be taken as representing a more accurate picture as to what is going down. Some of us tend to forget that general staff officers are required to interface with the news media. And whatever is voiced in public often does not represent what is happening in the field. Always been this way, always will be.
That's how the media tried to paint it. I saw no contradiction. The general is likely speaking operationally, while the Vice President probably has a more strategic view. By many accounts this insurgency is in its death throes, especially compared historically to other insurgencies. Doesn't mean it still can't be considered strong by virtue of its ability to kill a lot of innocent people.
That's categorically false.
Cute and Clever. OBL's pic could have been replaced with one of the crocs, with equal effect.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.