Iraq: al-Zarqawi Seen Handing Out Alms Near Syrian Border

AFAIK, Zarqawi didn't have a plastic shredder.

"the Terrorists are desperate."
Yes. But after reading the whole article. I do not believe it is true. Why? Two fold.
1). We have a FOB set up in Al Quaim, just outside the town. We have 7/24 border patrols on both sides of the river at this latitude, both ground and air. At least that is my current understanding.
2). Unless all those reports during operations Matador and Spear where untruthfull as how the tribes folks where now taking the fight to the foreign insurgents entering their towns, specific to area being discussed here, where false. Then someone would have been on the "hotline" phone within minutes of his appearance. Where the hotline number reaches Iraqi HQ most likely centered in Baghdad. Then a call would go to in this case probably Al Assad where our Marines are headquartered for this AO. In a half hour fast moving Light Armored Recon Battalion Companies with air support would flood into the area where the call came from.

So somehow I don't believe this particular info, and the source. Now if this Ali Babbi is caught in Al Quaim. Great I will be more then welcome to receive lots of laughts and geers from our Freepers that I don't have a clue! Let us hope I become a laughting stock on this one.

Columbian drug dealers do it too. So did Hitler during the depression. The lesson: evil always comes with an attractive face.

AFAIK, Zarqawi didn't have a plastic shredder.

OK.

(Huh? what's that got to do with anything?)

So you know a lot about Zarqawi? Spill it! Tell us hwere he is!

Careful, he's an alms dealer.

I have to wonder who this sort of communication is supposed to reach. A posting to a website? You have to wonder if Zarqy's followers have high-speed Internet in their mud huts, or maybe...uh, just maybe it's intended for us?

The longer he stays in Iraq the more likely he'll end up with a bullet in the head. I can wait.

I did a quick search on FR and did not find reference to the story posted below which seems to also have come out of al-Qa'im ~ if a thread concerning this does exist, could someone please direct me to it.

While researching another topic I happen onto this self proclaimed Leftist web site that appears to be keeping a daily "Resistance Report" accounting of actions by "insurgents". On this site there is an entry for Saturday, June 18, 2005 which includes this account:

"Dead American troops hung from lampposts as savage fighting continues in al-Qa'im Saturday"

"Savage fighting continued Saturday in al-Qa'im sending dozens of refugees streaming out of the city on the Iraq-Syrian border as American forces continued to batter the city in what they call Operation Spear.

"Refugees from the city told Mafkarat al-Islam that on Saturday afternoon, they had watched as leading commanders of the Iraqi Resistance in the city hoisted the corpses of four dead American soldiers to the top of electric poles in the city.

"Al-Hajj Mahdi al-'Ani told the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam in al-Hadithah that he personally saw the bodies of four Americans in their well-known uniforms tied at the legs and hanging by legs from electric poles in the center of al-Qa'im.

"Other families leaving war-ravaged city recounted how they passed dozens of wrecked US vehicles littering the streets as they left the city. They could see the bodies of the dead Americans who had been killed on Friday night and already had been gnawed apart by wild dogs.

"Mafkarat al-Islam noted that US forces had cut off all ground communications with al-Qa'im and were jamming portable and cellular telephone signals, making it impossible for the Mafkarat al-Islam office in Baghdad to make contact with its correspondents in al-Qa'im to confirm the reports."

My instinct is to afford the daily "Resistance Report" accounts posted on this site (Jay's Leftist & 'Progressive' Internet Resources Directory) the credibility I'd give to stories by Baghdad Bob (or Dan Rather, for that matter) but, on the other hand, it wouldn't be the 1st time bodies of our fallen soldiers have been desecrated and I'm wondering if anyone has seen this reported any where else?

I'd like also to point out that a quick glance through "Jay's Leftist & 'Progressive' Resources" gives you a pretty good idea of where the cRATS seem to be getting their 'talking points'.

Re my post #27 ~ Suspicions confirmed... the "Iraqi Resistance Report" is bogus!

From the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs (USINFO) web site:

A Trio of Disinformers: Islam Memo, Muhammad Abu Nasr, and Jihad Unspun

Obscure Web sites play major role in disinformation

"A trio of obscure Web sites and individuals has combined to spread deliberate disinformation, particularly about U.S. actions in Iraq. The entities involved are Islam Memo (Islammemo.cc), Muhammad Abu Nasr, and Jihad Unspun (jihadunspun.net).

"Most of the disinformation appears to originate with Islam Memo, which is a pro-al Qaeda, pro-Iraqi insurgency, Arabic-language Web site based in Saudi Arabia.

"Muhammad Abu Nasr, co-editor of the Free Arab Voice Web site (freearabvoice.org), translates material from Islam Memo into English and posts it as "Iraqi Resistance Reports" on his Web site.

Jihad Unspun publishes selected articles by Muhammad Abu Nasr, giving them a broader audience.

"This trio of Web sites and individuals has attempted to launch many disinformation stories. Most have fizzled out without any great impact, but some have spread more widely.

"Islam Memo

"Islam Memo, or Mafkarat al-Islam, is perhaps the most unreliable source of "news" about Iraq on the Internet. For example, on March 27, 2005, Islam Memo "news items" translated into English by Muhammad Abu Nasr claimed that more than 88 U.S. soldiers had been killed that day. In reality, none had been killed. Such disinformation fabrications are typical of Islam Memo. In the ten-day period from March 20 to March 29, 2005, they claimed that more than 334 U.S. troops had been killed. The real number was eight.

"Muhammad Abu Nasr

"As mentioned earlier, Muhammad Abu Nasr, co-editor of the Free Arab Voice Web site, translates Islam Memo reports into English. The contents of his Web site make it clear that Muhammad Abu Nasr is a communist. For example, he includes on the Web site an obscure 1935 speech by Khaled Bakdash, the former head of the Syrian Communist Party, because he believes it has important "contemporary implications."

"The speech deals with "popular front" tactics -- ways in which communists in the 1930s tried to use popular national causes to advance the victory of communism. For example, Muhammad Abu Nasr approvingly quotes Bakdash's advocacy of working with "revolutionary nationalists ... even when they claimed to be Nazi or fascist."

"Applying this logic to today's world, Muhammad Abu Nasr champions Arab nationalist, anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiments apparently because he believes that a broad-based "popular front" based on such causes will hasten the victory of communism in the Arab world.

"Muhammad Abu Nasr faithfully translates the Islam Memo's many phony "news items" into English every day and posts them as "Iraqi Resistance Reports" on his Web site. They are also posted on other Web sites, including Jihad Unspun.

"Jihad Unspun

"Jihad Unspun is owned and published by a Canadian woman who converted to Islam in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

"Jihad Unspun has a track record of spreading very unreliable allegations. For example, on November 22, 2004, it reported that a November 21 attack on a U.S. base in Balad, Iraq had killed 270 U.S. troops. In reality, no U.S. troops were killed that day.

"Jihad Unspun has often cited Islam Memo reports, praising their "accuracy." On December 19, 2004, Jihad Unspun [JUS] wrote, "[f]rom shortly after the time of our inception almost three years ago, JUS has carried many reports from the news agency Mafkarat al-Islam (Islam Memo). We have done this as we have come to have a great deal of respect for the accuracy of their reporting."

"Two months later, Jihad Unspun revealed some reservations about the accuracy of Islam Memo reports. On February 23, 2005, Jihad Unspun posted the contents of a letter it had written to Islam Memo, which stated, "we are well aware that there is now a ‘family feud' brewing and that Mafkarat al-Islam is currently under attack by many Arab news and Mujahideen sites. ... the voices of your critics are becoming louder, as is the strength of the case they are making against your reporting."

"Jihad Unspun went on to publicly ask Islam Memo several pointed questions, including, "[w]hy are the number of American casualties reported by Mujahideen groups to other news sites far more modest than the numbers reported by Mafkarat al-Islam?"

"It is not clear whether Islam Memo responded to Jihad Unspun, but Jihad Unspun apparently overcame its reservations about the accuracy of Islam Memo's reports. On March 28, 2005, it published an Iraqi Resistance Report based on Islam Memo reporting, which falsely claimed that more than 88 U.S. soldiers had been killed on March 27. As noted above, the real number was zero.

"Disinformation Successes

"While most disinformation fabrications by Islam Memo do not receive much media attention, some have.

"As explained in another article in this Web collection, Islam Memo, Muhammad Abu Nasr, and Jihad Unspun combined to spread the false story that U.S. forces had used mustard gas in Fallujah, Iraq. This disinformation was subsequently repeated by Cuba's official news agency Prensa Latina and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

"In another example of successful disinformation, on December 18, 2004, Muhammad Abu Nasr posted an Islam Memo report that claimed an attack against Abu Ghraib prison had been sparked by a letter from a female inmate named Fatima. In the letter, which seems undoubtedly to be a fabrication, Fatima claims to have been raped repeatedly, along with 13 other girls.

"The charges in the letter are totally groundless and Fatima herself appears to have never existed. Only six females were held temporarily at Abu Ghraib prison at various times from July to mid-December 2004, two of them for treatment in the medical facility. None of them were held for more than 10 days and none were sexually assaulted.

"Despite the fact that the claims in "Fatima's letter" are baseless, the sensationalistic, outrageous nature of the charges ensured that the letter was widely reposted on Internet sites and circulated by e-mail. Jihad Unspun posted it on December 24, 2004.

"On January 7, 2005, Islam Memo claimed that Fatima had been killed in an attack that day on Abu Ghraib prison. Conveniently, this meant that she could not be questioned about the letter she had supposedly written. But, there was no attack on Abu Ghraib prison on January 7, just as Fatima herself did not exist."