Word: zarqawi
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...fact that intelligence agencies were able to close in on a man who had eluded capture for three years, during which his terror operations left thousands of Iraqis dead, suggests that some of those close enough to know Zarqawi's whereabouts and connections may have been ready to shop him to his enemies. Not necessarily, of course: The intel services could have simply gotten a lucky break through the slow but steady gathering of information, or Zarqawi could have made a mistake. Either way, a key agent in the chaos gripping Iraq has now been taken out of the equation...
...savagery of Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi may have earned him too many enemies. The terrorist responsible for some of the most gruesome killings in Iraq was killed in a joint U.S.-Iraqi military operation Wednesday, after the U.S. and its allies had finally located him. A well-placed intelligence source in Jordan told TIME that the CIA was tipped off after Jordanian intelligence learned of a meeting that Zarqawi planned to hold in the town of Baquba, north of Baghdad. His safe house was targeted in an air attack, and, says the same source, the Jordanian-born leader...
...takedown was largely a military effort. But a U.S. official told TIME that American intelligence operatives played an important role in determining that Sheik Abd-al-Rahman, Zarqawi's spiritual adviser, was a key link who could lead to Zarqawi himself. "Intelligence was useful in identifying this individual and his importance to Zarqawi," the U.S. official said. "It's as though you had identified Frank Nitti with the knowledge that eventually he would lead you to Al Capone. This was the culmination of a huge amount of effort...
...ability of the U.S. and its allies to isolate and eliminate Zarqawi may be a reflection of the Qaeda leader's growing isolation within Iraq. Six weeks ago, Zarqawi released an unprecedented video showing himself walking around Iraq, unmasked and in daylight, firing weapons and boasting of his continued primacy in the fight against the U.S. But that video itself may have been a response to growing rumors that the 38-year-old Jordanian was being marginalized within the insurgency out of concern by other leaders that his televised beheadings of helpless hostages was alienating even many Iraqis sympathetic...
...Back in his home town, Zarqa, in Jordan, a 12-foot banner was erected Thursday outside the home of Zarqawi?s brother, Sayel "Abu Omar" al-Khalayilaht. In blue letters on white, it proclaimed "the wedding of the hero martyr Abu Mousab al Zarqawi," a reference to the belief among his supporters that his "martyrdom" in the jihad against America has set him on a wedding-like procession to paradise. Veiled women weeping near the house were admonished by al-Khalayilaht, who said "Don't cry, but ululate, for he is a hero and a martyr." That sentiment is unlikely...