cross-referenced news and research resources about
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (born October 20, 1966) is alleged to be a senior asso ciate of
Osama bin Laden in
Al Qaida and head of the
Ansar al-Islam group.
U.S. officials have accused of trying to train terrorists in the use of poison for possible attacks in Europe, running a terrorist haven in northern
Iraq - an area outside
Saddam Hussein's control even before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, organizing a bombing of a
Banghdad, Iraq hotel, and organizing an attack that killed an American aid executive in Jordan in 2002.
His primary claim to fame is that he and Mohamed Atta, the lead Sept. 11 attacker, who America claimed met with a senior Iraqi intelligence official in Prague five months before Sept. 11, were used by the George W. Bush administration as a pretext for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, bolstering support for the war by pumping up links between Iraq and terrorism. It was revealed by the New York Times on October 21, 2002 that Atta did not meet with Iraqi Intelligence in Prague.
Polls of the US public have shown that up to 80% have stated a belief that Saddam actually planned or caused the 9/11 attacks. The role of these two individuals thus takes on an almost mythic importance. However, the Bush administration consistently denies that it created this impression in the public:
In an interview in September 2003, Bush said "No, we've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th... What the vice president said was is that he (Saddam) has been involved with al-Qaida.
"And al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida operative, was in Baghdad. He's the guy that ordered the killing of a U.S. diplomat. ... There's no question that Saddam Hussein had al-Qaida ties."
But bin Laden and Saddam did not get along even against a common prime enemy.
[1] One of the audio tapes purported to be of bin Laden called for the overthrow of Saddam and his "secular, socialist, infidel" government.
[2] Britian's defence intelligence staff asserted that any fledgling relationship foundered on ideological differences.
[3] CIA had great difficulty backing up Bush's claims.
[4] FBI investigators looking for a link said "we just don't think it's there."
[5]
Israel denied the Iraq and al- Qaeda connection (while asserting the connection between Iraq and Palestinian terrorism).
[6]
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Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
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updated Mon. March 18, 2024
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NRT
April 21, 2018
SULAIMANI — In a statement on Friday (April 20), Islamic State (ISIS) declared war ahead of the May 12 parliamentary elections in Iraq. Referencing a 2005 statement by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi calling for a “bitter war,” the group said that any candidates or voters who participated would be consideredÃâà...
Voice of America
April 20, 2018
As Iraq approaches an important election to choose a new parliament and government, the Islamic State terror group has vowed to carry out attacks against candidates running for office. Referencing the Jordanian radical Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's 2005 call for a "bitter war" on Iraq's parliamentary elections atÃâà...
Truthdig
April 15, 2018
Is American foreign policy to be dictated by the fickle emotions of Donald Trump, whose perception of reality appears to be obtained exclusively from a television screen? The radical Islamists can always count on the West to intervene and resurrect them. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian radical, foundedÃâà...
The Hindu
April 12, 2018
More importantly, by destroying the state apparatus in Iraq, Washington threw a multi-ethnic, multi-religious country into utter chaos. It was in this chaos that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi found the fertile ground to build his terrorist empire which, after his death and under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,Ãâà...
Task & Purpose
April 6, 2018
Bakos' book, The Targeter: My Life In The CIA, On The Hunt For The Godfather Of ISIS, offers an inside look at her former role as an analyst and targeting officer, where it was her job to help CIA “find, fix, and finish” top-tier targets inside al Qaeda — such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born terroristÃâà...
Daily News Egypt
April 5, 2018
There was no Al-Qaeda in Iraq before the US and British invasion. It first appeared in Iraq in 2004, when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi formed an alliance with Al-Qaeda, pledging his allegiance to Osama bin Laden in return for his endorsement as the leader of the group's franchise in Iraq. Al-Qaeda's main targetsÃâà...
Open Democracy
April 5, 2018
The group was led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, until he was killed by US special forces in June 2006. His replacement, Abu Ayyub al-Masri met the same fate four years later. Al-Zarqawi had been the key person in building up the determined and brutal AQI. It took a sustained and very low-profileÃâà...
WTOP
March 31, 2018
The al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is believed to be the one who commits the act with a knife pulled from under his clothes. Far from Baghdad where Nick's 26-year-old body was found nearly 14 years ago, Michael Berg will be continuing his search for peace in the wake of Nick's death on MondayÃâà...
Business Line
March 16, 2018
ISIS's predecessor al-Qaeda in Iraq had also suffered huge military setbacks in 2006-08 after the death of its leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Al-Qaeda was down, but was never defeated. Its fighters retreated to the deserts, waiting for the right opportunity to strike back. They got one when the sectarianÃâà...
Antiwar.com (blog)
March 15, 2018
Some of what he did say was leaked by the administration: for example, the claim that bin Laden and his ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi [Zarqawi was not an ally of Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden -editor] were working directly with Saddam Hussein to destabilize the autonomous Kurdish region inÃâà...
Eurasia Review
March 14, 2018
During the US occupation of Iraq a few years ago, ISIS was nothing but a small offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. After the assassination of Zarqawi, the new leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri announced the creation of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) in 2006. Abu Omar al-BaghdadiÃâà...
The Arab Weekly
March 3, 2018
Since the 1980s, Jordanians have joined jihadist organisations around the world, first in Afghanistan with Abdullah Azzam, al-Qaeda's ideologue, and then in Iraq with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a former criminal turned zealot, and finally in Syria which, along with Iraq, has attracted more than 2,000 fightersÃâà...
CNN
March 2, 2018
The group, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was the ideological precursor to al Qaeda in Iraq. Hussein embraced Zarqawi's ideology. "We saw many things that happened in front of us, rapes, killings, corruption, the Americans stealing money," Hussein tells CNN. Hussein says he helped the radical jihadistÃâà...
The Diplomat
March 1, 2018
One area of focus for Aman was the works of Jordanian cleric Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, spiritual mentor to the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, founding leader of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). Aman was particularly drawn to Maqdisi's emphasis on the “near enemy” and prioritizing the subversion of “apostate”Ãâà...
The Quint
February 28, 2018
ISIS, of course, is the byproduct of AQ in Iraq, which was led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on whose ideas the Islamic State was announced by Baghdadi in 2014. Zarqawi famously shunned AQ leader Osama Bin Laden to forge his own path to jihad, and since ISIS's success, AQ has looked to regain its formerÃâà...
The Cipher Brief
February 12, 2018
The founder of the Iraqi branch of al Qaida, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was a Jordanian national, and the remnants of that group gave rise to the so-called Islamic State. And as al Qaida rebrands itself in Syria under the name of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), it could easily find adherents in Jordan. The HTSÃâà...
Financial Tribune
February 6, 2018
Prior to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the jihadist largely blamed for stoking a civil war between Iraq's Sunnis and Shias, led a group in the area called Ansar al-Islam, which merged with IS in 2014. Many of Kurds now fighting with IS are part of a second generation of militantsÃâà...
We Are The Mighty (blog)
February 1, 2018
In President Trump's 2018 State of the Union Address, he mentioned that the U.S. military captured Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi but released him. This may have been a surprise to many watching. “We have foolishly released hundreds and hundreds of dangerous terrorists, only to meet them again on theÃâà...
Financial Express
July 18, 2017
Some women dentists practising in North Goa's Calangute belt have received letters “signed” by slain IS founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, demanding between Rs 1 to 2 crore as “protection money”, the police said today. The Calangute belt is known for “dental tourism”. Prima facie, around five dentists haveÃâà...
CNBC
August 11, 2016
The terror quasi-state that is variously called Islamic State, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh was founded by a bloodthirsty religious zealot named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2004. The native Jordanian moved to Iraq, along with thousands of other insurgent volunteers, to fight the American and British forces that hadÃâà...
CNN
June 29, 2016
His name: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Zarqawi was "Hitler-like" and "incredibly brutal," said Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, a retired former director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. "He was a dictator with a plan," Flynn said on CNN's TV series "Declassified." "His plan was to kill as many people that did not see lifeÃâà...
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