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| Iraq-Jordan |
| A chilling Iraqi terror tape |
| 2004-07-04 |
| Jihad leader Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist and the most wanted man in Iraq, this weekend released a telling window into his organization, Attawhid wal Jihad, or Unity and Jihad. In a slickly produced hour-long video Zarqawi lays bare the milieu of his suicide bombers, their safehouses, their rituals and their targeting guidelines. Given directly to TIME, the video is a bold, menacing statement of the group’s intent and capability. The subtext of this disturbing tape is that for the U.S. this is likely to be a long, drawn out fight in Iraq against a committed, well-organized enemy. The tape contains many chilling scenes. When the chairman of the U.S. appointed Iraqi Governing Council, Izzedine Salam, then the country’s highest Iraqi official, was assassinated last month in a car bomb Zarqawi quickly claimed credit. Now he shows the act, in graphic footage shot from a parked car: A convoy of white SUVs disappears down a Baghdad street, followed a moment later by a ball of flame and explosion so intense the windscreen through which the cameraman films cracks before your eyes. When a suicide car bomber intercepted a convoy of security personnel for General Electric in the heart of Baghdad on June 14 Zarqawi’s information unit was there, ready and waiting. The three-vehicle convoy enters the screen and is followed down a crowded little street. As the lens zooms in the vehicles erupt in a blistering ball of flame. Three bystanders are seen turning their backs from the blast, attempting to cover their heads. In contrast to other videos of insurgent attacks, the cameraman does not flee. Instead he holds his position and zooms in on the burning suicide vehicle and the flaming SUVs. Survivors can be seen moving from the vehicles and attempting to take cover. Each episode of this grim "Best Of" the militant group’s attacks over the last year is accompanied by professional-style editing, graphics and camera work. Explanations are given of each operation, the names of the suicide bombers, and the targeting justification. Apologies are given in Arabic screen titles for not showing all the available footage, citing technical problems and operational considerations. One thing the video makes clear is that foreign fighters have developed a sophisticated organization in Iraq. Interviews on the tape, and living wills made by suicide bombers, show how Muslim men have been brought to the country through well-defined and clearly funded channels. Appearances are made by Saudis, Algerians, Libyans, Jordanians and others; the video even claims that one bomber had lived in Italy and played hockey for a premier club. This is also a statement of Zarqawi’s rise in the jihad community. Prior the Iraq war he was a marginal figure in the larger al-Qaeda cluster of militant groups. The invasion and subsequent invasion of Iraq gave him and other insurgents a stage upon which to make their mark as mujahideen heroes, akin to the veterans of the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. In this video, what is believed to be Zarqawi’s voice is heard only once, part of an audio tape he released last month threatening the new U.S.-backed Baghdad government and reinforcing to Islamic extremist recruits and financiers that he is the one to follow. More fascinating than the unprecedented action footage of the suicide attacks are the long glimpses into the culture and mindset of the fighters. In the opening vignette a night vision camera records what’s purported to be a young suicide bomber’s living will and messages to his family as masked men crowd around him. The dozens of fighters then chant as he walks to the cabin of the tanker truck rigged with explosives. The men give the bomber a final hug and farewell. He turns to the masked figures and waves, as though he’s about to board an ocean liner for a holiday. Behind the wheel bomber shows off the wiring to the explosive device and the trigger, a button between the seats. The camera records the truck disappearing into the night and the devastating explosion as it reaches its target, the American position beneath Khalidya bridge, west of the restive city of Fallujah. The group also repeats its claims of responsibility for the attacks on Italian soldiers in Nasiriyah in which 18 were killed, the truck bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad and the death of Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello as well as the bombing of the Mount Lebanon Hotel in March. In the hotel attack, the cameraman is positioned too close to the blast and the camera crackles with digital static as the torrent of yellow and orange flame rolls toward it. This video speaks of a danger more organized than the one viewed through the snippets of the intelligence and glimmers of insight the public previously seen. It does not bode well for the immediate future of Iraq’s fledgling government nor the ultimate exit plans for the 130,000 U.S. troops still here. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #17 not for me either,mucky. |
| Posted by: Raptor 2004-07-04 11:10:07 PM |
| #16 that link isnt work. |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2004-07-04 10:14:55 PM |
| #15 Good point Zpaz, one more reason why competition in capitalism and an open society is a beautiful thing. You can always find someone who will give you the straight story, as well as hold those (as in Time's case) accountable who don't for their actions by canceling your subscription. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-07-04 9:55:32 PM |
| #14 For me, Time was killed by the advent of CSPAN. Back when Colin Powell was on active duty, he gave a speech at the Naval Academy which was carried by CSPAN. A Midshipman asked him what he, a Midshipman, should do if gays are admitted to the military and he disagreed with the policy. Colin Powell said, you should resign if it violates your conscience. I took that statement straight up as advice on a matter of conscience. Not Time magazine. They turned that statement into a blurb to the effect that Colin Powell intended to resign if gays were admitted to the military. Huh? I realized then they were in the contoversy manufacturing business and were playing fast and loose with the truth. I cancelled my subscription. They used to be able to get away with that. Not anymore. CSPAN and the internet provided us with the means to directly access events such that we could fact check them. Big media still has not figured this out. Little Brother is watching. Long live distributed broadcasting. |
| Posted by: Zpaz 2004-07-04 9:39:11 PM |
| #13 Frank, I'll pick up the occasional time/newsweek/US news at the airport or maybe the PX on base if something looks interesting. Time, imho, had a good piece on Tom Jefferson in the last issue which I found worthwhile. I can handle some lefty slant if the critism is constructive & justified (I'm an independent), usually though, they whine too much for my taste. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-07-04 5:33:27 PM |
| #12 JH - I used to subscribe to Time during/right after college 79-86 or so, but the leftys took it too far for my tastes, and when I cancelled, I told them why. Looks like they should've listened - their market share and credibility's at an all-time low |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-07-04 5:14:13 PM |
| #11 I agree w/you Frank G. Aside from the well-informed (news freaks) and intellectual folks who post on this website, I don't believe there are too many average folks reading Time. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-07-04 4:58:00 PM |
| #10 1) The tape shows off "Saudis, Algerians, Libyans, Jordanians" - notice a trend? Foreign fighters. American and administration types can denounce foreign fighters until the cows come home, but if they're bragging about it in their own propaganda, it's damned hard to refute. That makes them, by their own admission, invaders and aliens to the country. No wonder the Iraqis hate them. 2)LHR: Time was a conservative Republican rag during WWII. The wife of publisher Henry Luce was a Republican Representative from Connecticut. They hated Roosevelt, but were still hard-war all the same. The magazine has slid left over the decades. It's essentially a more exploitative twin of Newsweek, which was originally a left-centre alternative to Time's right-centre orientation. Time hasn't quite been the same since Ted Turner orchestrated their buy-out by Warner Bros. 3) It's always useful when the enemy informs you which atrocities they're definitely responsible for, and which they don't care to acknowledge. I don't see anything about the anti-Shia bombings - the Ashoura bombings, last year's massive bombing in Najaf, etc. One question - are they trying to dodge the consequences of Zarqawi's anti-Shia bloodthirst, are they not actually responsible, or Time just not interested in al-Tahwid's little "death to the Shia" quirk? |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2004-07-04 4:54:47 PM |
| #9 Funny that they show that they are essentially a cult. Time has become a useless rag - a propaganda outlet, not a news magazine. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-07-04 4:47:37 PM |
| #8 Notice how the killers skip Al-Jizz and go right to Time. When did Time get to be such a rag? |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-07-04 3:25:46 PM |
| #7 would be more damaging if a substantial number of Merkins read Time. They don't, so it's not |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-07-04 2:46:17 PM |
| #6 Slime magazine is doing psych-ops for Zarqawi, useful idiots. |
| Posted by: Capt America 2004-07-04 2:33:57 PM |
| #5 Ironic that this piece would be placed in the Time edition with Michael Mooreon on the cover. |
| Posted by: Capt America 2004-07-04 2:28:15 PM |
| #4 It does not bode well for the immediate future of Iraq’s fledgling government nor the ultimate exit plans for the 130,000 U.S. troops still here Oh fuck right off "Time", they said the same thing about the Nazi's "there ass got kicked" said the same thing about the Commies "there ass got kicked" on and on and on They were the doom and gloomers after 911. "Time" is shit. It bodes very well for the USA, we have those fuckers right where we want them. They are not over here are they? Those IslamoNazi's are dieing every day are they not? Everyday more and more of those asshole disappear from the planet. They are fighting a war with our military on their turf. Is that not good for the USA? Is that not good for the whole fucking PLANET?!?!? They hate the USA, they know where to find us in there back yard. The problem is they are fighting the greatest most adaptible fucking force the world has ever imagined!! If "Time" was a little more on the side of the USA just maybe they would feel some shame in what they publish. Doom and gloom... When they publish something like this, to me, they have become the enemy. the 1st amendment does not travel over sea's. See Time reporter shoot Time reporter. See guy with camera from Time shoot guy with camera from Time see "little sheet head" in car filming shoot "little sheet head" in car filming. |
| Posted by: Long Hair Republican 2004-07-04 12:59:46 PM |
| #3 "It does not bode well for the immediate future of Iraq’s fledgling government nor the ultimate exit plans for the 130,000 U.S. troops still here." TIME consistantly publishes this crap. |
| Posted by: rich woods 2004-07-04 12:32:39 PM |
| #2 accompanied by professional-style editing, graphics and camera work. Could Al-Jitzz lending their studios to the cause? I wonder if there is any way to trace this back to the production studio.... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-07-04 12:30:54 PM |
| #1 So TIME is being used to spread terrorist propaganda and undermine the morale of those fighting them. No surprise. |
| Posted by: Seger 2004-07-04 12:26:47 PM |