Tuesday, April 26, 2005

"Guess who's back? / Once again? / Zarqawi's back! / Tell a friend!"

Yahoo! News
Tue, Apr 26, 2005

Official: Al-Zarqawi Eluded U.S. in Raid

Tue Apr 26, 9:13 AM ET Middle East - AP

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - U.S. forces in Iraq believe they just missed capturing most-wanted terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a February raid that netted two of his associates, a senior U.S. military official said Tuesday.

The official, who discussed the operation on the condition of anonymity, could provide no details on how Zarqawi escaped. U.S. forces recovered a computer belonging to Zarqawi, the official said, although he did not say how it was obtained.

Iraqi officials announced the Feb. 20 raid at the time but did not say Zarqawi was the target.

Al-Zarqawi, who has a $25 million bounty on his head, is believed to have orchestrated a relentless wave of car bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and beheadings across the country.

(...)

"Aw crap..."

"They won't tell us much even when they don't tell us who they are, so we'd better print what we can find when we can find it."

"Wait-- "

"You got something?"

"What is it boy?"

"Holy crap! That's a lot of stuff!"

"I thought they didn't know nuthin'!!!"

"You sure about ANY of this?"

"I mean the last guy just said they didn't know nuthin'..."

"And don't they get in trouble if they say stuff they ain't supposed to?"

"So how come... oh, nevermind."

"Print it."


(...)

He was on his way from Fallujah to a meeting in Ramadi when he caught wind of U.S. troops in the area, ABC News reported late Monday, citing an unidentified senior military official. Troops with a covert military unit were reportedly in place to arrest the fugitive.

The official said that just before the meeting was scheduled, a car was pulled over as it approached a checkpoint. A pickup truck trailing the car then turned and headed in the opposite direction.

Officials believe Zarqawi was in the fleeing truck, but when U.S. teams pulled the vehicle over several miles later, he was not inside, ABC reported. The official told the network that Zarqawi apparently jumped out of the vehicle when it passed beneath an overpass and hid there before escaping.

Inside the truck, the official told ABC, U.S. troops found Zarqawi's computer and about $104,000.

NBC, quoting U.S. military sources, reported Tuesday that among the items seized with the laptop were several small plug-in hard drives. Numerous pictures of Zarqawi were found in the computer's "My Pictures" file, the network said.

Captured in the Feb. 20 operation was Talib Mikhlif Arsan Walman al-Dulaymi, also known as Abu Qutaybah, an Iraqi government announcement said at the time.

Qutaybah "filled the role of key lieutenant for the Zarqawi network, arranging safe houses and transportation as well as passing packages and funds to al-Zarqawi," the government said.

It said Qutaybah was a known associate of other al-Zarqawi lieutenants already held by coalition forces, including Abu Ahmed, an al-Qaida-linked insurgent leader in the northern city of Mosul, who was detained Dec. 22.

During the same raid, Iraqi forces captured another al-Zarqawi aide who "occasionally acted as his driver," the government said. He was identified as Ahmad Khalid Marad Ismail al-Rawi, who also helped arrange meetings for al-Zarqawi. He also is known as Abu Uthman.

A few days afterward, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Fox News Channel "we've been very close" to capturing Zarqawi.

(...)

SOURCE - http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050426/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_terror_suspect

(...)

"You say, Fallujah,
I say, Zarqawi,
You say, Fallujah,
I say, Zarqawi,
You say, Fallujah,
I say, Zarqawi,

Let's call,
The whole,
Thing off..."


- Black Krishna, Song: "Bomb Dropping Shenanigans"

(...)

"And if you go to Europe and talk to some of the intelligence people there and some of the people in the Middle East who are our friends — we have many friends, who are very sad about what’s happened to America, are praying for the next election — they will tell you even the stuff you’re hearing about Zarqawi — Zarqawi, excuse me, Zarqawi is mister everybody, he’s never liked bin Laden, and it’s not clear that the person that we claim responsible for all those acts is he. Some of the people who know the Arab world very well and very carefully and listen to his statements. He’s a Jordanian, and many of the comments that have been alleged to have been in his name are not made by him. In other words, the suggestion is that he’s a composite figure. He’s very convenient."

- from Seymour Hersh's ACLU Keynote Speech, July 15, 2004

(...)

SOURCE - http://www.pastpeak.com/archives/2004/07/post_1.htm

(...)

BONUS: SNITCH CITY

Students Rewarded for Tattling at School

Tue Apr 26, 9:26 AM ET U.S. National - AP

By DOUG GROSS, Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA - For a growing number of students, the easiest way to make a couple of hundred dollars has nothing to do with chores or after-school jobs, and everything to do with informing on classmates.

Tragedies like last month's deadly shooting at a Red Lake, Minn., school have prompted more schools to offer cash and other prizes — including pizza and premium parking spots — to students who report classmates who carry guns, drugs or alcohol, commit vandalism or otherwise break school rules.

"For kids of that age, it's hard for them to tell on their peers. This gives them an opportunity to step up if they know something that will help us make an arrest," said James Kinchen, an assistant school superintendent in Houston County, Ga., which earlier this month started offering rewards of up to $100 for reporting relatively minor crimes like vandalism or theft and $500 for information about a crime, or plans for a crime, involving a gun.

Critics call them "snitch" programs, saying they are a knee-jerk reaction to student violence. Some education professionals fear such policies could create a climate of distrust in schools and turn students against each other.

"There are very few things that I can think of that would be more effective at destroying that sense of community," said Bruce Marlowe, an education psychology professor at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I.

SOURCE - http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=11&u=/ap/20050426/ap_on_re_us/school_tattling

(...)

BONUS: AGAIN?

It's Official: There Were No WMDs In Iraq

In other news on Iraq - it's official -no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq. On Monday the Iraq Survey Group published its final report on the hunt for WMDs. The group concluded that a two-year search had uncovered no nuclear, biological or chemical weapons stockpiles in Iraq. In addition the US investigators reported they had found no evidence that any weapons of mass destruction were moved to Syria before the war.

SOURCE - http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/26/1354259

(...)

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