Posted on 06/08/2006 6:43:27 AM PDT by gopwinsin04
Obituary: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Zarqawi was released in Jordan under a general amnesty Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was Iraq's most notorious insurgent - a shadowy figure associated with spectacular bombings, assassinations and the beheading of foreign hostages. The Jordanian-born militant first appeared in Iraq as the leader of the Tawhid and Jihad insurgent group, merging it in late 2004 with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
But most information on him was restricted to what his enemies and supporters have attributed to him.
While many analysts argued he had used the Iraqi insurgency as a springboard to expand his operations, sceptics said his influence was exaggerated.
In the style of Bin Laden, Zarqawi apparently released a number of audiotapes rallying support and challenge the US and its allies - but he only appeared in one video message, less than two months before his death.
However, videotapes did appear in the name of Tawhid and Jihad - horrific footage showing the beheading of foreign hostages, with Zarqawi himself said to be the man wielding the knife.
Pretext for war
In the run-up to the Iraq war in February 2003, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told the United Nations that Zarqawi was an associate of Osama Bin Laden who had sought refuge in Iraq.
ZARQAWI-CLAIMED ATTACKS 28 Oct 2002: US diplomat Laurence Foley killed in Jordan 19 Aug 2003: Bombing of UN office in Baghdad, 23 dead 29 Aug 2003: Bombing of Najaf shrine killing Shia cleric Muhammad Baqr Hakim, 85 dead 2 March 2004: Co-ordinated attack on Shia mosques during Ashoura ceremony, 181 dead 11 May 2004: Nick Berg beheaded, first of at least nine foreign hostages killed in 2004 14 Sept 2004: Car bomb targeting police recruits in Baghdad, 47 dead 19 Dec 2004: Car bombs in Najaf and Karbala, 60 dead 19 Aug 2005: Rocket attack in Jordan on Israel and US navy 9 Nov 2005: Triple attack on hotels in Amman, 60 dead
Zarqawi in his own words Intelligence reports indicated he was in Baghdad and - according to Mr Powell - this was a sure sign that Saddam Hussein was courting al-Qaeda, which, in turn, justified an attack on Iraq.
But some analysts at the time contested the claim, pointing to Zarqawi's historical rivalry with Bin Laden.
They had both risen to prominence as "Afghan Arabs" - leading foreign fighters in the US-backed struggle against Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
It was a far cry from Zarqawi's youth as a petty criminal in Jordan, remembered by those who knew him by his real name - Ahmad Fadil al-Khalayleh - as a simple, quick-tempered and barely literate gangster.
But after the defeat of the Soviets, Zarqawi went back to Jordan in 1992 with a radical Islamist agenda.
Sentenced to death
He spent seven years in prison there, accused of conspiring to overthrow the monarchy and establish an Islamic caliphate.
Not long after his release under a general amnesty in 1999, he fled the country.
'Zarqawi' shows face in video Jordan tried him in absentia and sentenced him to death for allegedly plotting attacks on American and Israeli tourists.
Western intelligence indicated Zarqawi had sought refuge in Europe.
German security forces later uncovered a militant cell which claimed Zarqawi was its leader.
Cell members told their German interrogators their group was "especially for Jordanians who did not want to join al-Qaeda".
According to the German intelligence report, this "conflicts with... information" from America.
Kurdish connection
The next stop on his itinerary was said to be his old stamping ground - Afghanistan.
A 'wanted' poster for Zarqawi who had a $25m bounty on his head He is believed to have set up a training camp in the western city of Herat, near the border with Iran.
Students at his camp supposedly became experts in the manufacture and use of poison gases.
It is during this period that Zarqawi is thought to have renewed his acquaintance with al-Qaeda.
Following the 11 September 2001 attacks and the US invasion of Afghanistan, he is believed to have fled to Iraq after a US missile strike on his Afghan base.
US officials say that it was at al-Qaeda's behest that he moved to Iraq and established links with Ansar al-Islam - a group of Kurdish Islamists from the north of the country.
Sectarian strategy
In October 2002, Zarqawi was blamed for the assassination of US aid official Laurence Foley in Amman.
But it has been in Iraq, though, that he was said to have been most active.
He was blamed for some of the first big insurgency attacks to shake Iraq following the US-invasion to overthrow Saddam.
These included the truck bombing that killed 23 people including UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello at the world body's headquarters in Baghdad on 19 August 2003 and the blast in Najaf 10 days later that killed a senior Shia cleric and more than 85 others.
A letter released by the Americans in February 2004 seemed to support their claim that targeting Shias is central to Zarqawi's strategy in Iraq.
In it, Zarqawi appeared to share his plans for igniting sectarian conflict in Iraq as a means of undermining the US presence there.
Within days of the letter's release, bomb attacks on recruiting centres for the Iraqi security forces had killed nearly 100 people.
Another approach that sent shockwaves around the world was the beheadings of foreign hostages, which were posted on the internet in video footage attributed to the Tawhid and Jihad group.
In some of them, Al-Zarqawi himself was said to be the man wielding the knife.
Bin Laden rival?
The US military claimed to have injured Zarqawi in an assault in 2005. A statement released by al-Qaeda appeared to confirm this but said the injuries were minor.
Several men alleged to be key aides of Zarqawi have also been killed or captured - but these appeared to have had no effect on his group's ability to operate.
The US offered a $25m bounty on Zarqawi's head - the same sum they offered for Bin Laden himself.
But in the last year, he seemed to have been able to move his campaign beyond Iraq's borders again, claiming responsibility for a triple suicide bombing in the Jordanian capital Amman in November 2005, as well as other attacks.
Shortly afterwards, the al-Qaeda in Iraq group posted a web statement saying that it had joined five other insurgent groups in Iraq to form a new umbrella group, the Mujahideen Shura Council.
It was also reported that Zarqawi was forced to step down as leader of his group.
A leading Islamist who was behind the reports, Huthaifa Azzam, said some followers had been unhappy about Zarqawi's tactics and tendency to speak for the insurgency as a whole.
Jimmy Carter and Christie Whitman rushed to pay homage at Arafat's gravesite. Wonder which of our esteemed congress-creatures will be lamenting the death of this murdering scum.
Bump. My sentiments, exactly!
I'm sure Jimmah will be in mourning today.
At this monumentous time in American history, I'd lke to go on record as penning an obituary for the "Prince of Al Qeada" :
Borrowed from Ez.28 -
6'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
'Because you think you are wise, as wise as a god,
7 I am going to bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of nations; they will draw their swords against your beauty and wisdom and pierce your shining splendour.
8 They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die a violent death in the heart of the seas.
9 Will you then say, I am a god, in the presence of those who kill you? You will be but a man, not a god, in the hands of those who slay you.
10 You will die the death of the uncircumcised at the hands of foreigners.
I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD.'
11The word of the LORD came to me:
12 Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
'You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.
14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.
16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendour. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.
18 By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching.
19 All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.'
Prince of al qaeda, meet prince of darkness...
Yep, he fianlly met his 72 Virginians!
Are they deeply saddened over at DU?
Zarqawi was helping them with their agenda. Strange bedfellows.
I'm sure there will be a BBC reporter sheding tears during a broadcast at the scene of Zarqawi's death today.
He was exhibit A that the US had a failing policy in Iraq BEFORE today. Now he will be an exaggerated threat and truly an all around misunderstood nice guy.
May he rest with pigs...
Peter Arnett.
Sheila Jackson Lee, Cynthia McKinney, Murtha....oh the list goes on and on.
Yes.
Dems Irked Over Zarqawi's Death
NewsMax.com ^ | June 8, 2006 | Carl Limbacher
Posted on 06/08/2006 8:15:55 AM CDT by Carl/NewsMax
And nowhere in this article is any form of t-word used. Not even once.
...and may all 72 look like Helen Thomas....
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