Experts: Al-Zarqawi Rises in Prominence

[maddezmom]

Experts: Al-Zarqawi Rises in Prominence

23 minutes ago Add White House - AP Cabinet & State to My Yahoo!


By KATHERINE PFLEGER SHRADER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist leader allegedly claiming responsibility for the graphic beheading of a U.S. civilian in Iraq (news - web sites), is adopting an increasingly public and influential role in the decentralized world of Islamic militants, U.S. officials and terrorism experts say.


On Tuesday, an Islamic Web site released a video titled "Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi slaughters an American infidel with his own hands," according to one translation. In the most gruesome moments chronicling the beheading of Nicholas Berg, five men disguised by head scarves and ski masks shout "Allahu Akbar!" — or "God is great."


As recently as March, U.S. officials said al-Zarqawi's modus operandi was not to make taped public pronouncements nor to claim credit for attacks.


~snip~

The authenticity of the tape, found on a Web site known for carrying militant Islamic messages, also could not be verified Wednesday.


Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a U.S. official said that authorities were still reviewing the tape to gather information

`snip~
more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=693&e=9&u=/ap/20040512/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/evolving_zarqawi


Who has confirmed the authenticity of all the tapes on the militant Islamic website? The CIA. This article is nothing but more spin and propaganda to lay the blame on AQ before the facts are in.

[Wright Patman]

1. Let's go one step further

What if al-Qaeda IS CIA? Anything is possible.

[htuttle]

2. Well, that's how they got their start...

...just ask the Russians.

[Minstrel Boy]

3. Until just last month, al Zarqawi was said to have one leg.

We were told he'd been treated for an amputation in Baghdad. Then, just weeks ago, the story changed. He now had two legs.

From Molly Ivins, April 13:

Note the interesting little factoids that are being dribbled out as everyone's attention is riveted on the larger slippage in Iraq. Apparently in the spirit of the British civil servant who put out a memo on Sept. 11 advising all departments that today would be a good day to unload any bad news lying around, we now learn that Abu Musad al Zarqawi has two legs.

This will not strike you as a stop-the-presses moment unless you remember that al Zarqawi was one of Osama bin Laden's Number Two men (we seem to have captured several "Number Two" men already, with more still out there.) Pre-war, the administration claimed the reason it was so certain Saddam Hussein had ties to Al Qaeda was that Zarqawi had gone to Baghdad to get his leg amputated. But now, oops, he has two.
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=16754

Why the need, in mid-April, to dribble that out?

And something else to consider:

The CIA met with the founder of Ansar al-Islam before the invasion of Iraq, seeking his collaboration.

Mullah Krekar's organization, so the story goes, is the "al Qaeda-affiliated" terrorist group responsible for the death of Nick Berg.

"The Mullah claims he had a secret meeting with the CIA and US military personnel in Iraqi Kurdistan last year. Could this explain why US intelligence agencies were reportedly so concerned about Powell raising Ansar al-Islam as one of the key connections between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda?"

video interview available here:
http://www.insightnewstv.com/d80 /

Krekar lives in Norway. The United States has not sought his extradition.

[nodictators]

4. It's a miracle! "bin Laden" and/or al-Zarqawi appear whenever...

...Bush is in deep-doo-doo trouble.

After Zapetero won Spanish election, "bin Laden" came along with an audio tape where he offered Continental European countries freedom from al-Qaida attacks if they pulled their troops out Iraq and other Muslim countries. Of course, no sane leader is going to make a bargin with an audio tape. However, the tape made the link that Bush wants: al-Qaida and Iraq.

Last week, just as the abuse/torture scandal hit, "bin Laden" put out a new audio tape offering a $125,000 bounty for killing Bremer or UN Secretary Gerneral Kofi Annan. "bin" seems to have forgotten to tell the Killer(s)-to-be where to go to collect the bounty. Anyhow, "bin" did his job of linking Iraq an al-qaida again, which must have pleased Bush.

Now, this week al-Zarqawi, with his horrific beheading of Nick Berg, does the "link Iraq and al-Qaiddi" trick again, doubling Bush's pleasure.

[ursacorwin]

5. is anyone else sick and tired of unnamed "experts?"

goddamit, I'm an expert! no really! more importantly, my advisors and fellow grad students probably know more about what's going on than that bunch of arrogant pricks in the pentagram and WH. but do they ever reach out to us except to lie to us and then manipulate their relationship with us when it suits them? do they ever employ anyone from a real research university? no...they rely on diploma-mill grads who don't even speak a single one of the languages in the area. myself, i've had to learn seven.

this is such bunk, such trash, and now we've got the miracle of the returning leg to boot.

i hate our media.

[Just Me]

20. Yup! I totally understand your frustration! n/t

[leftchick]

6. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi... hmmm...

I am thinking this guy is dead. The bush* junta use him way too much as the boogey man. I am pretty sure he must be dead.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. The Princess Bride

The Dread Pirate Roberts.

Insert as necessary.

[TahitiNut]

9. An entire generation of Inigo Montoya's being created.

The Bush Legacy: A Generation of Death and Debt.

[htuttle]

10. They keep using that word, "Freedom".

"I do not think it means what they think it means."

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

21. An "inconceivable" post!

[AlCzervik]

8. AP says he died last month

http://news.ibn.net/newsgen.asp?url=sayekis

[hugo_from_TN]

11. Actually AP doesn't say that

They report that a statement was released by a certain group in Iraq:

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in the Sulaimaniyah mountains of northern Iraq "during the American bombing there," according to a statement circulated in Fallujah this week and signed by the "Leadership of the Allahu Akbar Mujahedeen."

There was no way to verify the authenticity of the statement, one of many leaflets put out by a variety of groups taking part in the anti-U.S. resistance.

[leftchick]

13. perhaps they are not unlike the leaflets printed out by the US...

and undoubtedly as reliable.

[hugo_from_TN]

14. I'm sure that all factions are trying to push ...

public opinion with their leaflets. All in all I wouldn't trust leaflets put out by any faction since they all have agendas.

Why would they announce his death if they were supporters? They probably wouldn't so perhaps they are a rival faction or had some other agenda. Maybe they were trying to take some heat off of al-Zarqawi.

[newyawker99]

16. Hi hugo_from_TN!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[hugo_from_TN]

17. Thanks

Been lurking for a few months and thought I would start to weigh in every now and then. I appreciate your welcome.

[Shakespeare]

12. Pretty impressive for a dead guy.

Man, does this story stink.

[goodhue]

15. a one-legged dead guy no less (n/t)

[stickdog]

18. Is this getting more and more obvious?

Or is it just me?

[maddezmom]

19. nope stickdog...I think most on DU get it

;)