The suspected Al Qaeda operative thought to be responsible for a wave of deadly attacks in Iraq is the target of an intense manhunt there, the commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan said yesterday. General John Abizaid said the coordinated bomb attacks that killed at least 181 people at Shi’ite Muslim shrines this week bore the hallmark of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian accused of links to the Al Qaeda terrorist network. "He’s somewhere in Iraq," Abizaid, head of US Central Command, said in an interview on the public-television program "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer."
| "And one thing he isn't is dead. Yet." |
"We’re looking for him hard, and we’ve found quite a few of his operatives, and we’ve taken out a couple of his senior operatives, and we’ve uncovered an awful lot of the work that he’s doing," Abizaid said. "I believe the threat that he presents to peace and stability in Iraq is one that should worry both the Iraqi authorities and American authorities." The president of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council yesterday suggested that the bombings in Iraq were occurring because US forces have not maintained security. Abizaid said that before the latest blasts, US authorities had indications that an attack would occur and numerous precautions were taken. But he suggested it was impossible to completely secure Iraqis against such attacks. "In a city of 1 million people like Karbala, or 5 million like Baghdad, you can’t be in all places at all times," Abizaid said. "It’s also natural in that part of the world to blame what people view as the most important authority in the region, and that currently is the United States of America." |