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Former cellmate says al-Zarqawi was tortured in Jordanian prison

Tanalee Smith - Canadian Press

Sunday, November 20, 2005

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - A man once imprisoned with Iraq's most feared terror leader said Sunday that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was tortured regularly by Jordanian prison officials in the late 1990s and was held six months in solitary confinement.

Offering possible partial clues as to why the Jordanian-born al-Qaida leader chose Amman for triple hotel bombings earlier this month, the former cellmate, Yousef Rababaa, said: "He hated the intelligence services intensely, and the authorities didn't know how to deal with his new ideology."

Al-Zarqawi, whose real name is Ahmed Fadheel Nazzal al-Khalayleh, has claimed responsibility for the Nov. 9 suicide attacks in the Jordanian capital that killed 60 people, mostly Muslims.

Reacting with outrage to al-Zarqawi's latest threat - to kill Jordan's king - members of his own family, including a brother and cousin, disavowed him publicly on Sunday.

A U.S. official, meanwhile, said Sunday that efforts were under way to determine if al-Zarqawi was among eight suspected al-Qaida members killed the day before in a gunfight in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Three of the insurgents detonated explosives and killed themselves to avoid capture, Iraqi officials said.

Rababaa, who spent three years in jail with al-Zarqawi until both were freed under a royal amnesty in 1999, recalled his cellmate's inflexible, radical Islamic ideology.

"He divided the world between Muslim and infidels," Rababaa said, adding that al-Zarqawi was quiet at the time and did not show a violent nature.

"I didn't see that side of him, although he had very strong opinions. I am very surprised at where he is today," said Rababaa, suggesting that maybe someone helps al-Zarqawi plan his terror operations.

"He had very little education, only medium intelligence. But he was very brave," Rababaa said.

He did not specify how he knew al-Zarqawi had been tortured or offer any specific evidence to back the claim.

Jordanian officials were not immediately available for comment but have strongly refuted several other recent claims of torture by other Islamic militants on trial in Jordan's military courts.

In its latest worldwide human rights report, the U.S. government also cited what it called "allegations of torture" in Jordan's prisons.

Jordanians, including some who had supported the insurgency against American "occupiers" in Iraq, turned fiercely against the 39-year-old terror leader after the Amman suicide attacks.

Even al-Zarqawi's tribe rejected him, announcing in a statement published in major newspapers on Sunday that they would "sever links with him until doomsday."

"A Jordanian doesn't stab himself with his own spear," the 57 family members wrote.

The statement was a blow to al-Zarqawi, who will no longer enjoy the protection of his tribe and whose family members may seek to kill him.

Al-Khalayleh is a branch of the Bani Hassan, one of the area's largest and most prominent Bedouin tribes, which along with several other tribes form the bedrock of support for the royal family's Hashemite dynasty. Relatives hold senior posts in the army and other government departments.

Al-Zarqawi, who took his name from the city of Zarqa, 27 kilometres northeast of Amman, often boasted of his family's influence when was he was jailed in his native Jordan, Rababaa said.

Rababaa said he debated regularly with al-Zarqawi in prison. Rababaa led a group that advocated purging Muslim lands of foreign occupiers and setting up Islamic states. Al-Zarqawi's group was more fanatical, believing that Islam was worth killing for.

"His way of thinking, in general, is restricted, and he understands Islam with restrictions," Rababaa said. "We had vastly different ideologies."

Rababaa, 36, was serving a life sentence for plotting terrorism against Israeli targets in Jordan when he met al-Zarqawi, who was doing jail time for militant activities aimed at toppling the monarchy.

Rababaa, who has renounced violence, but still advocates an Islamic state, is now a professor of Arabic language at the University of Jordan.

Rababaa said he believes al-Zarqawi will follow through on his threats, made in an audiotape released Friday, to continue attacks on Jordan.

"The problem with this group is that it wants to target any location. It's very hard to control him when he's declared all of Jordan a battlefield."

But he dismissed al-Zarqawi's threat to kill Jordan's King Abdullah II.

"It's words without deeds," he said. "He doesn't seek to topple regimes altogether, but to basically create trouble for the existing regime."

Jordan sentenced al-Zarqawi to death in absentia for planning a terror plot that led to the 2002 killing of U.S. aid worker Laurence Foley. He has claimed responsibility for several other plots in Jordan, including a foiled April 2004 chemical attack.

He also leads a campaign of bombings and kidnappings in Iraq, and the United States has offered $25 million US for information leading to his capture.

Combat Center brings intense glimpse of urban warfare to Marines

Story by Lance Cpl. Regina N. Ortiz

Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif. (Nov. 15, 2005) -- As Marines are steadily deploying to fight the war on terrorism, the Marine Corps is progressively preparing for the real deal with an imitation of Iraq’s urban infrastructure in training exercises. There are numerous military operations on urban terrain facilities that attempt to capture the reality of urban warfare.

The MOUT facility at the Combat Center’s Range 215 has replicated the average Middle Eastern village with more than 100 buildings and 260 role players, 50 of them contracted linguists originally from Iraq. Some of the buildings represent an Iraqi police station, an Iraqi Army compound and a “souk,” an Iraqi marketplace, said Lt. Col. Patrick Kline, director of urban warfare training.

“I do feel a lot more confident going out there than I did last time,” said Cpl. Ash Day, team leader, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, who deployed to Iraq last year. “Everything is so realistic, I get flashbacks. The realism is amazing. The way they set up the buildings in proximity, the same as they are in Iraq, is something I haven’t seen at other MOUT facilities.”

There are four training lanes that Marines rotate in and out of throughout the day. One is a vehicle checkpoint, which can appear at any area on a road in Iraq. Another lane is the urban assault, where Marines use paintball rounds to simulate live-fire during encounters with insurgents.

The third lane is the tank and mechanized vehicle integration point, where Marines practice utilizing tanks and other large motor transportation in operations. The fourth lane is the cordon and search, where Marines practice securing an area and searching it.

Throughout the lanes, Marines interact with role players, who are given a profile they are required to follow throughout the training. A third are friendly, another third are neutral and the rest are unfriendly. Marines are put to the test, as they must identify each type of person, whether friendly or life threatening, they come upon during the exercise.

One challenge is picking out non-combatants that are intermixed with insurgents, said Kline.

“This way, we learn how to read people and guess what their motives are with live role-players,” said Day. “You catch on to the way people act, and after a while it’s easy to tell right away what approach to take.”

One main objective of this training aims to create realism to give Marines the cultural awareness needed before they deploy. The training also seeks to give Marines the confidence to interact in an unknown environment, the respect for foreign customs and how to appropriately approach any situation, said Kline.

A new element embedded into training at Range 215, is actual Iraqi natives serving as role players to bring the MOUT facility to life. At the souk, the air is filled with bartering and arguing over the sounds of music and singing in their native language. The scene replicates that of high-density areas Marines will have to patrol through to complete missions. This teaches Marines how to connect with the locals and move through crowded areas, said Kline.

The isolation of the range is another factor to the success of the training. It’s easier for Marines to stay focused and really get into it, said Day.

“I think they should extend the days of the lanes,” said Day. “The training is pretty long as is, but I’d want to spend more time in the MOUT facilities, especially with the young Marines who haven’t deployed yet.”

The Marine Corps is continually improving training by keeping up to date with current tactics insurgents are using in theater. When new incidents occur, the training changes to implement new situations, said Kline.