A 'wanted' poster for Zarqawi: there is a $25m bounty on his head
Posted on 04/03/2006 10:53:46 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
CAIRO, Egypt - Terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has sharply lowered his profile in recent months, halting his group's Internet claims as the number of big suicide bombings in Iraq — his infamous signature form of attack — has fallen.
Now, a man with close ties to Iraqi insurgent groups claims al-Zarqawi was shunted aside as political leader of a recently formed coalition of militants because they were angry at his propaganda efforts and embarrassed by his group's deadly attack on hotels in Jordan.
But others caution that the claim is hard to verify — and that perhaps the insurgents are just changing tactics.
Even if the report is true and al-Zarqawi has a lesser role, that does not mean the deadly violence in Iraq will decrease, Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, Iraq's deputy Interior minister for intelligence affairs, said Monday.
"Al-Zarqawi or others have a terror agenda against the Iraqi people. This will not change by changing names and people. They will push ahead with their agenda," Kamal said in a telephone interview.
In Baghdad, a U.S. military spokesman, Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, said the report about al-Zarqawi was "nothing we can verify."
Some experts have long cautioned that al-Zarqawi's role may have been exaggerated and that some of the attacks claimed by his group — or that U.S. and Iraqi officials blamed on him — may have been carried out by others.
Iraq's insurgency has always been made up of several disparate groups, and some of them, including Ansar al-Sunnah Army and the Islamic Army of Iraq, have been nearly as violent as al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq.
The Jordanian-born militant, however, seized most of the attention because of his relentless Internet propaganda efforts, the brutality of his attacks — including hostage beheading videos put on the Web — and a series of suicide car bombings that targeted mostly Shiites.
Then came a November triple suicide bombing against hotels in Jordan that killed 63 people, mostly Arab Muslims. That sparked a backlash against al-Zarqawi in Jordan, where there had been some sympathy for the insurgency. Even some fellow militants called for halting attacks on civilians.
In January, al-Zarqawi's group said in a Web statement that it had joined five other Iraqi insurgent groups to form the Mujahedeen Shura Council, or Consultative Council of Holy Warriors. Since then, al-Zarqawi's group has stopped issuing its own statements, a sharp contrast to its previous frequent postings, and al-Zarqawi has not issued a Web audiotape since January.
Instead, the Shura Council has put out daily statements listing its "operations" — including bombings of U.S. Humvees and trucks, shootings of Iraqi Shiite security forces and assassinations of Sunni Arabs cooperating with the government.
On Sunday, Huthayafa Azzam, believed to have close ties to Iraqi militants, told The Associated Press that al-Zarqawi had been confined to a military role within the coalition, specifically barred from making public statements and from any political or propaganda role.
It was not clear how Azzam, a son of one of Osama bin Laden's spiritual mentors, had learned the information, which could not be independently verified. The claim by Azzam, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, could also simply be a sign of squabbling among insurgent factions.
Azzam said Iraqis in the Shura Council had demanded al-Zarqawi give up his political role — particularly in propaganda — because he had "embarrassed" them with beheading videos and statements about regional politics and al-Qaida's activities. Azzam said al-Zarqawi agreed and "pledged not to target Iraq's neighbors, mainly his native Jordan, because that has harmed the Iraqi resistance's relations with the Arab world."
The political duties were handed over two weeks ago to the council head, an Iraqi called Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi, said Azzam.
Kamal, the deputy Iraqi interior minister, said officials do believe there have been meetings in the last few months between al-Zarqawi's group and other groups, to unify efforts. He called it possible, but unknown, if those groups had rearranged their ranks and given al-Zarqawi a different assignment.
"After the losses they suffered in the west of Iraq and the popular anger against their presence, they could be trying to find an Iraqi facade," he said, noting al-Zarqawi's Jordanian nationality.
Kamal said he did not recognize the name of the supposed new political leader, Abdullah bin Rashed al-Baghdadi, and that it was probably a pseudonym.
In the past few months, the number of multiple-death car bombings in Iraq — many of them suicide attacks — has dropped dramatically in a possible sign of either al-Zarqawi's waning influence or a simple change in tactics.
Such bombings, identified with al-Zarqawi but also carried out by other groups, reached a high of 136 a month last May but fell to just 30 in December, 30 in January and 22 in February, according to statistics compiled by the Brookings Institution in Washington.
In contrast, the number of overall bombings, which also includes roadside bombs, is still running at high levels.
The U.S. military has attributed the drop in car bombs to its efforts to destroy several car bomb-making centers between Baghdad and the Syrian border.
Zarqawi 'not leading Iraq unrest'
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Jordanian al-Qaeda militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been forced to step down as leader of a coalition of Iraqi militants, a leading Islamist claims.
A 'wanted' poster for Zarqawi: there is a $25m bounty on his head
I would hope that if the US/UK/whoever had actual data on Al-Zarqawi, then they would not let him know that they know.
I said it yesterday I will say it again today this is total bullshit propaganda to convince Iraqis, Arabs in the region, and the international community that the Iraq insurgents are again "legitimite resistance fighters" and not terrorists.
Zarqawi cares far more about winning then he does his ego. So he is more then willing to make up a fictious person "Mr. Baghdadi" (who according to Iraqi and US intel writes exactly like Zarqawi) and have that person be the one taking credit for attacks.
Now that is real interesting....
Last month, something unusual happened: Al-Qaeda in Iraq changed its name. Or it seemed to. Al-Qaeda in Iraq announced that it had joined something called the Mujahadeen Shura, a council of insurgent leaders that was headed — surprise — by an Iraqi. The leader's name, in case anyone missed the point, was Abdullah al-Baghdadi.
A senior Iraqi security official, who insisted on not being identified by name, said he had been following "Mr. Baghdadi's" writings, and found them remarkably similar to those of Al Qaeda's leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Such tricks are hardly limited to Al-Qaeda. For months, gunmen with the Badr Corps, the Iranian-trained militia loyal to the Supreme Council, have guarded the home of the party's chief, Abdul Aziz Hakim.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/weekinreview/05filkins.html
right ....
It is telling if Zarqawi is posting his writings under a different name.
A 'wanted' poster for Zarqawi: there is a $25m bounty on his head
The Mainstream News Media is simply scrambling to explain the steady, enormous drop in U.S. fatalities in Iraq (simple auto accidents in Iraq are killing more Americans right now than are "insurgent" attacks). Car bombings are down. Suicide atacks are down.
Iraq has some low level sectarian violence right now...about normal for a 3rd world nation sans strong government.
Note that the news article says that Zarqawi isn't attacking any of Iraq's neighboring countries any longer. This would mean that Al Qaeda is concentrating everything it has in Iraq...yet Iraq grows less violent with each passing day.
What the news media fears is that President Bush will be shown to be right after all...that Iraqis really do want to civilly govern themselves...that democracy really can work there...that our invasion of Iraq is a success.
Watch for news articles about Iraq to be even more bamboozled at some times or more desperate at other times.
Sadr is getting ready for another uprising.
http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/
See link in 13....Sadr is going to the matteresses.
Big mistake....for him!
Sadr is overrated by pundits.
The reality is that Sadr has a small militia, and a small amount of power, due to his dad's Sadr-City mosque.
Sadr can't leave that mosque (at least, not without losing his power).
So we know where he lives...a very different situation that Zarqawi, Zawahiri, Bin Laden, Mullah Omar, etc.
And Sadr knows this difference. He is thus limited to small scale covert activities (e.g. death squads hitting Sunnis at night) that won't draw the wrath of the U.S. Air Force (e.g. no more Sadr Mosque).
Of course, the know-nothings will claim that we'd never obliterate a mosque (even though we've already leveled at least 4 of them so far in Iraq). Two in Fallujah back in November of 2004 come to mind.
So Sadr gets his death squads and Sadr gets to rant in public. That's his lot in life. That's his box.
But the important thing to notice is that he is *in* a box.
It's also important to remember that there is going to be some level of violence in Iraq as various parties vie for power. Iraq is not going to be bomb free or assasination free.
What it will be is less violent as the days pass. Certainly less violent than Brazil/Rio de Janeiro. Less violent than Haiti. Fewer car fires than in France, etc.
Sadr *could* cause a riot. But what is he going to attack? If his militia makes an overt raid on the Green Zone, then no more Sadr mosque...no more Sadr, either.
So instead of a large-scale attack, Sadr rants. He talks while others walk. This is *not* a portent of great trouble ahead. Rather, such talk is a sign that Sadr is running out of military options.
By the end of this year, people will look back on the February, March, April timeframe and wonder why there was so much "hype" about a civil war that never did come to pass.
That didn't seem to be specific about Sadr,....there could be others....
You are correct Ernest_at_the_Beach there is a number of clerics looking to do the same thing as Sadr like Shi’ite cleric Yassir Al-Habib. They see democracy as a threat to their vision of an Islamic State and if they don't get what they want they will use violence.
Yeah, saw that earlier. It has to be anticipated. Everyone trying to nudge al-Jaafari out has to be perfectly aware that this will touch off Sadr.
When Rice and Straw went to Iraq this week it was more than a signal that the coalition is ready to deal with Sadr. At the same time so-called "close associates" of Sistani are members of the chorus. As far as I can tell, decisions to deal with Sadr must have been made along a wide spectrum of the players.
Please keep in mind that these same clerics saw no such need for an Islamic State in Iraq back 3.5 years ago when Saddam Hussein was running things...so at the *very* least any such desires are recent and shallow rather than deep-seated and heart-felt.
Trust me when I tell you that the News Media, Iran, Hezbollah, and a few others are quite limited in the trouble that they can stir up in Iraq without Zarqawi "the Shiekh of Slaughters" leading 20 raids and organizing 70 car bombings per month.
Talk only goes so far.
And most Mullahs are bound pretty tight to a single mosque...something that puts them at a grave military disadvantage compared to a "Zarqawi" type whose location is unknown.
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