|
No new intel on Zarqawi from Fallujah attack
 A US offensive that crushed followers of al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the Iraqi city of Fallujah has yielded no intelligence breakthroughs on him, a Marine officer said yesterday. "Did we get any information, for instance, that he is about to move here or there? No, we didn't," said Major Jim West, a senior intelligence officer. "We have come close to Zarqawi before. But our main priority was not Zarqawi, it was defeating the insurgents for the people of Fallujah."West said the US military did gain more insight into Saddam Hussein loyalists and Muslim militants that suggests they are loosely linked groups allied by self-interest, not a shared ideology. It's a structure that also includes criminal elements looking to make money, West said. "All of these insurgents are in it for a personal reason and they will stay in it as long as their interests are met. This makes it more challenging to understand them. It is a unique phenomenon we have not faced before," he said. Marines have detained 2000 people in Fallujah, and released half of them. They have conducted house to house searches for weapons caches in a bid to gather intelligence on the structure of the insurgency and its players. Key leaders of the insurgency including Zarqawi and Iraqi Omar Hadid are still on the run, West said. Finding them has taken on greater urgency as Iraq prepares to hold nationwide elections scheduled for January that Iraqi and American officials believe could face escalated violence. "We will deny the terrorists and Zarqawi the ability to move and set up a new base. We will keep up the pressure," West said. Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-11-28 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=49925 |