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ZARQAWI THE NEW OSAMA

By NILES LATHEM

April 27, 2005 -- WASHINGTON — Information seized from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's laptop computer revealed the Jordanian master terrorist has been expanding his jihad network outside Iraq and is emerging as al Qaeda's preeminent global military commander, The Post has learned.
U.S. intelligence officials who were briefed on data gleaned from a computer taken after a Feb. 20 U.S. Special Forces ambush in Iraq — in which Zarqawi narrowly escaped — said they have discovered shocking new details about the growing threat to U.S. and Western interests posed by the brutish Zarqawi — who is rapidly eclipsing Osama bin Laden in importance.

"He's becoming the new bin Laden. He's the man out there carrying out attacks on Americans every day while bin Laden, who is heavily pressured and having difficulty communicating on a regular basis, is in the shadows and becoming more of a symbolic figure," said former CIA counterterrorism director Vincent Cannistraro.

Counterterrorism expert Rita Katz added, "Zarqawi is more visible and available than bin Laden right now and seems to be the man most willing to take the fight to the Americans," Originally considered a rival of bin Laden, Zarqawi recently pledged allegiance to al Qaeda and changed the name of his organization to "al Qaeda in Iraq."

The data in his computer reveals Zarqawi is directing scores of fanatics from Yemen, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states who volunteered for "martyrdom" missions in Iraq and other countries, sources said.

"The information has given us new insight into the scope of his operations outside of Iraq that we did not know about previously," said a U.S. intelligence official familiar with the analysis.

The official said new secret counterterror operations have been launched by the CIA and intelligence services of other countries as a result of information in his laptop.

Sources said the computer files also yielded recent communications with al Qaeda leaders including a message from bin Laden's No 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in which he urged Zarqawi to expand his operations outside Iraq to include attacks on Americans in the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security released details of that message in a bulletin to law-enforcement agencies last month.

http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/45476.htm