Posted on 11/22/2005 10:24:06 AM PST by jveritas
WASHINGTON Nov 22, 2005 — A top U.S. commander in Iraq said Tuesday he has "absolutely no reason" to believe the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, died in a weekend raid in Mosul.
Lt. Gen. John Vines, chief of the Multi-National Corps Iraq, also confirmed that U.S. officials have the ability to determine if al-Zarqawi was there.
"I am told that there is a DNA database of some of his relatives that is able to be compared against some of those who were killed there," Vines told reporters. "If he had been in one of those houses that were part of the objective, we could confirm that."
Eight insurgents and four Iraqi policemen died in the raid by U.S. and Iraqi forces, including three insurgents who blew themselves up to avoid capture, officials said. The allied forces mounted an assault on a house in the northern city of Mosul that was believed used by members of al-Qaida in Iraq.
Iraq's foreign minister has said that tests were being done to determine if al-Zarqawi was one of those killed.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1336818
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Experts agree, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is either alive or dead.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, may pork fat be upon him, if still alive can number his remaining days.
But, consenus was achieved that Mao Tse Tung is indeed, still dead.
Gotta get this guy while he's under the gun!
Well, finally the experts can agree on something!
"Absolutely no reason" is a stretch imo.
We have a least a little reason.
A well guarded AQ safe house (well guared for some reason), 3 suicide bombers blew themselves up rather than be captured..just as Z is known to have planned in such an event. and he is known to wear a suicide belt.
Whether its him or not the DNA test should reveal, but it looks like at least a possibility to me.
US officials would want to play down the chance knowing that if it wasnt Z the media would use it to beat Bush over the head with it as a "failure."
LOL...think it's strange we've not heard anything from this scumbag. It was said we'd be hearing from him if he WASN'T DEAD.
put Grissom on the case.
Yeah we've heard enough about his "Top Lieutenants" that have assumed room temperature.
I don't know what his organizational structure looks like, but it seems to be Zarq over about 75 top lieutenants, who in turn, are over the masses of cannon fodder.
Every now & then we snag a top lieutenant. I can't wait for the head dung ball to take the big dirt nap.
I don't know about that. There were a couple of times Bin Laden "died" that it took a few days to hear from him again.
Here's to hoping he's saying "hi" to Hitler in Hell for us, though.
Nam Vet
""... It is possible, but I have no reason to believe it."
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,17338399%255E1702,00.html
That beats a confirmed negative.
Ive wondered the same thing. What intel did we gather there and why isnt it mentioned like in past articles.
Things are too hush-hush.
I like this.
What??? FreeRepublic isn't on the distribution list for classified material?
How long does a DNA test take?
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!
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