That question has confounded the U.S. military for more than a year. U.S. and Iraqi officials insisted for months that the most wanted man in Iraq was hiding in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. But after recapturing the city last month, U.S. forces did not find al-Zarqawi there.
| Since they didn't find him, does that mean he was never there? Or that he left before they got there? What do you think, Occam? |
The Jordanian-born militant has achieved mythic status as a master of disguise and escape. Although al-Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for scores of kidnappings, suicide bombings and beheadings of foreigners, many Iraqis believe that al-Zarqawi does not even exist. They say he was invented by the United States to justify its raids and bombing campaigns.
| That's why we and the Zionists are cutting people's heads off, y'know... |
Al-Zarqawi's influence on the Iraqi insurgency is more complicated than both the U.S. military and al-Zarqawi make it out to be, according to Kurdish security officials. They say al-Zarqawi is likely moving around central and northern Iraq alone, finding shelter in Sunni Muslim areas dominated by former members of Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime. "He can move around any number of Iraqi areas. He can change his appearance, he can change his papers," said Dana Ahmad Majid, head of security for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two parties that control the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. "He could be moving around alone without any problem. Al-Zarqawi is a single man, and it's always extremely difficult to capture a single person."
| On the other hand, you only have to capture him once, unless he's captured in Europe or Pakistan... |
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