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Zarqawi -- Iraq terror mastermind or bogeyman?
BAGHDAD (AFP) - The US-led coalition has identified Islamic militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi as prime suspect in the Iraqi insurgency but commanders and intelligence officials paint a more nuanced picture of the violence.
The coalition blames the suspected Al-Qaeda operative for at least 25 attacks in Iraq, including the March 2 coordinated suicide bombings of Karbala and Baghdad that killed about 170 people, still the bloodiest day of the insurgency.
His name is invoked readily but it is impossible to say with any certainty what attacks, if any, the man is truly responsible for.
The hysteria was summed up best by US Marine General James Mattis at the height of his troops' assault in April on the Sunni Muslim bastion of Fallujah.
Asked if the Jordanian-born Islamic militant, who has a 10-million-dollar price on his head, was in the rebel city, Mattis compared the phenomenon to America's numerous and dubious post-death sightings of rock legend Elvis Presley.
"Zarqawi is like Elvis. He is everywhere," the grizzled general said.
US military intelligence officers are generally cautious in their assessment of Zarqawi's involvement in the daily violence in Iraq.
"The vast majority of the insurgents in Iraq are local and not foreign fighters," Captain Ben Connable, the intelligence deputy for the US 1st Marine Division, told AFP during the height of the deadly fighting in Fallujah.
Connable described the ringleaders of the insurgency in restive Al-Anbar province, home to Fallujah, as veterans of Saddam Hussein's security services.
Colonel Buck Connor, the senior commander in the flashpoint city of Ramadi, described Zarqawi as dangerous because of his potential to marshal resources for veterans of Saddam's former Baath party and security agents.
"Zarqawi uses these groups. He arranges money for heavy weaponry, smuggles people. He arranges financing ... It's more like a loose spider web."
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the coalition's deputy director for operations, told AFP in late March it was possible Zarqawi had very little contact with any of his followers outside a small immediate circle.
"I stand by that statement," he told AFP on Saturday.
At the time, Kimmitt said: "It is my judgement that you may bring some foreigners in from the outside, but numerically we have far more Iraqis involved in support of these operations -- if not the actual trigger-pullers."
Out of roughly 6,000 security detainees currently in US custody, only 90 are Arab foreign nationals, according to the coalition's latest numbers.
The only arrest of an Al-Qaeda figure in Iraq was Hassan al-Gul in January.
One known Zarqawi associate was killed outside Ramadi on Febuary 19 and the only publicised arrest of a Zarqawi operative was the coalition's announcement that an aide to the militant was captured on May 30.
A senior intelligence officer said last month that Zarqawi does not drive the insurgency but his access to fighters and weapons are what make him dangerous.
The official said the insurgency was fuelled by Sunni Muslim fears of the future after the fall of Saddam, a fellow Sunni Arab.
"It (the insurgency) is motivated by a Sunni identity and an Iraqi identity and belief that the Sunnis ... have a dominant place in the future for Iraq."
After rebel attacks on Baquba last Thursday, Colonel Dana Pittard, the commander of US forces in the northeastern city, told AFP the insurgency in his area was dominated by Iraqis.
Outside experts do not discount the possibility Zarqawi is wandering Iraq, but they believe he serves as a convenient bogeyman for a complicated insurgency.
"Frankly, the coalition may generally believe he is responsible for these high-profile attacks... (but) Zarqawi is a great way of pointing the finger at a foreign terrorist threat," said International Crisis Group security analyst Robin Bhatty.
"Zarqawi is an identifiable target."
June 27, 2004 at 10:46 AM in Al Qaeda | Permalink | TrackBack (31) | Top of page | Blog Home