Is Al Zarqawi just a myth?

[TexasLawyer]

An interesting article in Al Jazeera.

Who created Al Zarqawi myth?
11/12/2005 8:10:00 AM GMT


The recent attacks in that targeted three hotels in the Jordanian capital Amman killing 57 people, said to have been carried out by four Iraqis, including one woman, have been used to further strengthen Washington’s claims that the Middle East harbors terrorists and thus justify interference. Hours after Jordan bombings, numerous Western media outlets reported, citing unauthentic statement posted by an anonymous website, that Al Qaeda an Iraq organisation, led by Jordanian militant Abu Mus’ab Al Zarqawi, was behind the attacks.




"He became what we wanted him to be.
We put him there, not the Jihadists,"
Napoleoni said.


The Associated Press claimed that Al Qaeda in Iraq carried out the attacks in Jordan simply because “Jordan has become a haven for Christians and Jews”, and they want to stop that, again linking the matter to Islam and animosity towards “Non Muslims”. Loretta Napoleoni, a terrorism expert and author of “Insurgent Iraq”, says that Abu Mus’ab Al Zarqawi, the alleged leader of armed groups in Iraq, is nothing but a myth created by the United States.

Al Zarqawi’s myth was born on February 2003, when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell presented to the UN Security Council the case for war with Iraq, said a United Press International editorial. Speaking to reporters last week, Napoleoni said that Powell's argument falsely exploited Zarqawi to support a fake link between the toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda network.

<snip>

http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=10090

[lvx35]

1. I was just thinking that.

I saw him onn CNN with this demented grin, simply acting psychotic...I couldn't believe that anybody could follow him. Maybe its nothing, but there is something about that guy that reminds me of the villian from a bad movie.

[TexasLawyer]

2. Plus all the stories that al Zarqawi is dead

make you wonder. Here's one of them.

IRAQ: FALLUJAH SHEIKH SAYS AL-ZARQAWI DIED ON FRIDAY


Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi


http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.173437230&par=0


Baghdad, 2 June, 2005 (AKI) - The Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq - died on Friday and his body is in Fallujah's cemetary, an Iraqi Sunni sheikh, Ammar Abdel Rahim Nasir, has told the Saudi on-line newspaper Al-Medina. He claims that gunfights which broke out in Fallujah in the last few days involved militants trying to protect the insurgency leader's tomb from a group of American soldiers patrolling the area.

During a telephone conversation from the city of Fallujah with the Saudi newspaper, Nasir said al-Zarqawi was taken there after being injured in the city of Ramadi around three weeks ago, and may have been treated by two doctors who had worked with his aides in Baghdad. He said the two doctors had stopped a serious haemorrhage in al-Zarqawi's intestines, but that after his condition worsened last week, the militant died on Friday.

<snip>

[lvx35]

3. hmmm..

I remember reading that a major Palestinian intelligence figure was killed in the last attack as well. Its all sounded like BS for a long time.

[Neil Lisst]

7. Let's not forget when he appeared and why ...

He was manufactured when the Bushies needed to put a face on the insurgency, create a focal point.

Every time something bad happens ... Zarqawi!!

Recall that they have used these CDs and letters with no authenticity to prove who he is, his alleged relationship with Osama, and his recent communiques allegedly from al-zawahiri.

I've thought he was a fiction since day one.

[AntiCoup2K4]

9. Hopalong died?

Was it a worm virus, or boot sector?

[staticstopper]

4. maybe

Al Zarqawi is code for something else, like a composite charater created in historical novels?

[meow2u3]

6. Maybe bin Laden is just another code word, too

I think bin Laden is just a mythical figure, too, a symbol on which all the evils of American government is projected. Just my opinion.

[No Exit]

5. It's not just Al Jazeera which is saying that--in AsiaTimes I read

"The Myth of Zarqawi" about a year ago. I'll try to find the article.

I myself believe that Zarqawi and the hype about him are a myth created by neocons. I'm not saying there never was a Zarqawi. I'm saying that this post-Bin Laden bogeyman is not the all-encompassing menace that the neocon propagandists want stupid Americans to believe.

[moondust]

8. Odd coincidence.

For some unknown reason there was no media coverage at all of Al Zarqawi during the seige of Al Sadr. Nothing for weeks. Did he stop blowing up police stations during that time? On vacation?

Apparently not. Shortly after the seige of Al Sadr ended reports of Al Zarqawi blowing up police stations returned to the news cycle.