Word: al-zarqawi
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...differs from the extreme Wahhabist version he embraced. For that, they deserved even more gruesome punishment than nonbelievers. Fighters from his inner circle told TIME he lost his cool only when discussing Shi'ites. "He really hates [them], even more than the Americans," says a mid-ranking al-Qaeda operative. Although al-Zarqawi taunted and harangued the U.S. in videos and statements posted on the Internet, in recent months it was the sectarian war that consumed most of his energy. He launched scores of attacks against Shi'ites and their religious sites, culminating in the Feb. 22 bombing...
...campaign has shattered the centuries-old sectarian balance in Iraq and set Shi'ites and Sunnis at one another's throats. The ensuing civil war may be al-Zarqawi's most poisonous legacy. In his last known communiqué, an audiotape released just days before he was killed, he exhorted Sunnis to "get rid of the infidel snakes ... and don't listen to those advocating an end to sectarianism and calling for national unity...
...just as unforgiving of fellow Sunnis who refused to subscribe to his extreme vision, sending his suicide bombers to kill those who tried to join the peaceful political process. His unbending will caused splits in the Iraqi insurgency, as nationalist fighters and al-Zarqawi's jihadis fought armed skirmishes with one another. But, eventually, even those who disagreed with his methods conceded they were better off with him on their side than fighting against him: they needed the money, the materials, the men and the legitimacy that the fighter-superstar brought to the table...
...Zarqawi sought a different kind of legitimacy. In exclusive interviews with TIME, fighters from his inner circle said that al-Zarqawi wanted to be seen, like bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, as a religious authority as well as a military commander. He may also have been trying to project a more moderate image, mindful of the revulsion induced by his barbarism toward fellow Muslims. One jihadist contact says al-Zarqawi had a growing sense that he couldn't trust those around him. He took to mimicking the habits of the Prophet Muhammad recorded in Muslim texts, including...
...dinner party had gathered last Wednesday evening in a farmhouse in the fertile, fruit-growing countryside just outside Baqubah, 30 miles north of Baghdad. One of the attendees was Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. With him were at least three women and three men, including Sheik Abdul-Rahman, al-Zarqawi's so-called spiritual adviser and confidant. Also in the house was one of al-Zarqawi's most trusted couriers, an aide tasked with relaying messages from the commander to militants in the field. What al-Zarqawi could not have known was that...