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
Is Abizaid a Lebanese Christian?
"Just send a CBS reporter out to interview him and follow........"
LOL! Funny, but true!
That's great. A few thousand more corpses and maybe we'll know what his favorite color is.
The operational aspects of al Qaeda are this: kill anything that moves.
---Don't remember his family background but he does indeed speak the local language like a native. That probly makes him the best man for the job and represents how a military talent search works. I'll trust him way before anything CNN comes up with.
Let's be sure they have advanced warning, so they can move.
Well, general, quit your jawin' and go get the mammyjammer.
" General John Abizaid is no idiot - He is a d*mn good man and soldier ..."I'm with ya here. If General Abizaid is an idiot, just don't know who the smart one any more!!!
I hope they arrest him as soon as they find out where he's hiding.
This Zarqawi guy is one of the leaders of the Iraq insurgency, I believe.
He's hiding in a nuclear reactor somewhere in Iran or North Korea... ;^)
No, Kerry, Hillary or Kennedy called to tell him the military was on to him.
Now if we really knnow where he is why are we talking about it instead of grabbing the SOB? I don't give a damn where he is we should be smacking the crap outta him.
People may try to contact the terrorist -- which may confirm location. He may also try to move -- which may make it easier to capture/kill him.
Saying what they did may flush more INTEL out.
This will go over Arab/Moslem sites, and the chatter will be INTEL for us...
Talk is cheap.
Same goes for the CIA with Osama. Results,please.
Then I can't see how this would accomplish anything. If he knew where Zarqawi was, he wouldn't be talking, he would be acting.
You beat me to it. I can only assume it's been announced to prompt him to pop his head up out of the sand. Otherwise this is a case of IDIOCY of the highest order and easily giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
you think that maybe they hadn't already acted and blown up or raided one of the places the man (Z) stays?
believe me when I say he doesn't sleep in the same bed, nor the same city each and every day.
IMHO, they do these imformation releases in hopes of forcing a move that can be detected, thus exposing the perp to extermination. They said they knew where bin Laden was recently also.
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