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| Terror Networks & Islam |
| Zarqawi's branching out |
| 2005-08-28 |
| Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, was rumored to be gravely injured or dead just a few months ago. Since then, his organization is believed to have been behind barbaric attacks in Iraq and has even claimed responsibility for a failed rocket assault on a U.S. ship in the Red Sea. It's hard to separate the man from the mythology, but recent European intelligence reports reviewed by TIME suggest that al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda franchise is expanding far beyond Iraq and that he now rivals Osama bin Laden in influence among Middle Eastern and European jihadists. Al-Zarqawi has been overseeing preparations by highly trained operatives for a "large scale" terrorist attack in Europe, the reports claim. In communications with another al-Qaeda leader, he has spoken of sleeper cells in Turkey and Iran. The reports imply that these cells may be in contact with European jihadist groups that previously had no links to al-Qaeda. "The fear is we'll see these disparate, relatively inexperienced groups around Europe hook up with Afghan-trained terror cells, all under the influence of Zarqawi," says independent French terrorism expert Roland Jacquard, who says he has seen intelligence similar to that in the reports. "That could reverse the atomization of cells and networks that occurred after the invasion of Afghanistan." European officials say the reports are based in part on U.S. Officials' interrogation of suspected al-Qaeda deputy Abu Faraj al-Libbi, captured last May in Pakistan. (The CIA declined to comment.) Al-Zarqawi has written to al-Libbi about setting up camps in Jordan, Turkey, Syria or Lebanon, European officials say. He hoped the camps would provide instruction in European languages to facilitate jihadi attacks in Iraq and Europe. For now, al-Zarqawi is still on the run from U.S. forces. So there are limits to how much global networking he can do. But he is a skilled delegator, says one French official. And he doesn't even have to contact far-flung cells to influence them; he just has to inspire them from afar. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #6 Zarkawi is waging World War 3 while his nominal counter-terrorist adversaries wage ineffective civil policing remedies. The only solution in the Middle East is the establishment of Secular allies. |
| Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler 2005-08-29 00:03 |
| #5 #2 Has Zarqawi taken credit for Hurricane Katrina yet? Posted by WhiteCollarRednec Good question but an even better one: Has Cindy Sheehan blamed President Bush for Hurricane Katrina? Fox News Channel reported the LA National Guard does not have enough military trucks to load up and evacuate thousands left stranded in New Orleans. Prediction: Sheehan, Moore, Sharptongue, Jackson, Medea Benjamin, et al., will blame war in Iraq and Bush for this shortage. |
| Posted by: The Angry Fliegerabwehrkanonen 2005-08-28 18:59 |
| #4 When was the last time Time got anything that was original right? As for this piece, and Dan knows this better than most, Zarqawi has for the last several years been a franchiser. He has long had operations in Europe and Syria. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-08-28 16:23 |
| #3 DD: And he doesn't even have to contact far-flung cells to influence them; he just has to inspire them from afar. It's not enough to inspire. Muhammad arguably inspires far more people than Zarqawi - he certainly got far better results. But the fact is that Islam's advance by conquest stalled centuries ago and has never really regained its momentum. For the jihadist, Islam has no shortage of inspirational figures - what it lacks today is people who can win on the battlefield against non-Muslims. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-08-28 15:48 |
| #2 Has Zarqawi taken credit for Hurricane Katrina yet? |
| Posted by: WhiteCollarRedneck 2005-08-28 13:54 |
| #1 May his life be short...but his death slow and painful. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2005-08-28 13:34 |