Free Republic

Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi either claims or is blamed for every atrocity in Iraq from suicide bombings to the brutal beheading of hostages. Paul McGeough reports on the new Osama. While the world focused on Osama bin Laden as the No 1 fomenter of terrorism, another more hands-on, in-the-field jihadist was being shaped. Now Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi either claims or is blamed for every atrocity in Iraq from suicide bombings to the brutal beheading of hostages. His ultimate goal? A bloody - but purifying - civil war. We're still in the chalky hills of Amman. But driving north, the desert chic...

Faced with the series of beheadings and other grisly crimes committed in Iraq by the followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Westerners may wonder why this gang should call itself "Monotheism and Jihad." The group's Arabic name, Tawhid wa'al-Jihad, is often misleadingly translated "Unity and Jihad," which could lead English-speakers to suppose that Zarqawi and company are acting in the name of a united Iraqi nation, or of Arab unity, or of solidarity among jihadists or Muslims generally. But Tawhid does not mean "unity," much less "unification"; it means "uniqueness," as in the uniqueness of God the Creator. To understand the...

/begin my translation Kidnapping and Beheading Were Done By Different Groups A new claim surfaced, that the group which kidnapped (beheading victim) Kim Sun-il, the employee of Gana Trading Co., is different from the group which beheaded him. A high level official in (S. Korean) government said on June 25th, "Based on our investigation so far, we suspect that an armed group kidnapped Mr. Kim for ransom. However, their negotiation broke down over the amount of ransom (to be paid), and they turned Mr. Kim over to Tawhid wa al-Jihad(Zarqawi's group.) Paris Jamar, station chief of Al-Jazeera in Jordan, also...