Article

2006-05-01 Iraq

Bush turned down chances to kill Zarqawi: ex-CIA spy

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Posted by Fred 2006-05-01 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I know that what I'm supposed to get out of this is some sort of washing away the sins for Mike Scheuer screwing up and letting bin Laden get away and 911 happening - Bush Bad!! - and all of that...

But what I'm getting out of this is that the French government was protecting Zarqawi and is working actively against us with the Islamists before the war even started.

Posted by 2b 2006-05-01 07:44|| 2006-05-01 07:44|| Front Page Top

#2 was

Posted by 2b 2006-05-01 07:44|| 2006-05-01 07:44|| Front Page Top

#3 He says a plan to destroy Zarqawi's training camp in Kurdistan was abandoned for diplomatic reasons.

Damned cowboys!

Posted by Rob Crawford">Rob Crawford 2006-05-01 08:04|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/] 2006-05-01 08:04|| Front Page Top

#4 I don't believe a word of this. No x-CIA is that stupid to lay his head on the anvil these days.
It smells like the barn.

Posted by wxjames 2006-05-01 15:12|| 2006-05-01 15:12|| Front Page Top

#5 I don't believe a word of this. No x-CIA is that stupid to lay his head on the anvil these days.

Want to bet? He's not just ex-CIA, he's a published ex-CIA agent. From Wikpedia:

Michael Scheuer is a 22-year CIA veteran. He served as the Chief of the bin Laden Unit at the Counterterrorist Center from 1996 to 1999. He resigned from the CIA in 2004. He is currently a News Analyst for CBS News as well as a Terrorism Analyst for the Jamestown Foundation's online publication Global Terrorism Analysis. Scheuer is now known to be the anonymous author of Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror and the earlier anonymous work Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America.[2]

Posted by Steve">Steve 2006-05-01 15:31|| 2006-05-01 15:31|| Front Page Top

#6 I'm not disputing the accuracy, but It is important to remember that Mr. Scheuer's information is a bit dated. We were fighting the war a bit differently at that time. Tactics have changed substantially since pre-invasion times. In hind-sight (which is generally 20x20), yes indeed, it would have been nice if this fellow had been vaporized.

Posted by Besoeker 2006-05-01 15:39|| 2006-05-01 15:39|| Front Page Top

#7 Another thought if I may. What credit does the Scheuer report bring to the issue, or what goodness will it support? The answer appears to be none at all, other than produce yet another session of darkness cursing and Bush bashing. Just another "what if" liberal media spin party.

Posted by Besoeker 2006-05-01 15:44|| 2006-05-01 15:44|| Front Page Top

#8 OK, short history of Zarqawi leading up to time in question:
Upon his release from prison in 1999, Zarqawi was involved in an attempt to blow up the Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman, Jordan where many Israeli and American tourists lodged. He fled Jordan and travelled to Peshawar, Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border. In Afghanistan, Zarqawi established a militant training camp near Herat. According to the Bush administration, the training camp specialized in poisons and explosives. Jordanian and European intelligence agencies claim that Zarqawi formed the group Jund al-Sham in 1999 with $200,000 of startup money from Osama bin Laden. The group originally consisted of 150 members. It was infiltrated by members of Jordanian intelligence and scattered by Operation Enduring Freedom but in March 2005, a group of the same name claimed responsibility for a bombing in Doha, Qatar. [6] Sometime in 2001, Zarqawi was arrested in Jordan but was soon released. Later, he was convicted in absentia and sentenced to death for plotting the attack on the Radisson SAS Hotel.[7]

After the September 11 attacks, Zarqawi again travelled to Afghanistan and was allegedly wounded in a U.S. bombardment. He moved to Iran to organize al-Tawhid, his former militant organization. Zarqawi supposedly traveled to Iraq to have his wounded leg treated at a hospital run by Uday Hussein. In the summer of 2002, Zarqawi was reported to have settled in northern Iraq, where he joined the Islamist Ansar al-Islam group that fought against Kurdish-nationalist forces in the region. [8] He reportedly became a leader in the group, although his leadership role has not been established. In Colin Powell's notorious February 2003 speech to the United Nations urging war against Iraq, Zarqawi was cited as an example of Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism. In his speech, Powell mistakenly referred to Zarqawi as a Palestinian but Powell and the Bush administration continued to stand by statements that Zarqawi linked Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda. At the time, Zarqawi's group was a rival of bin Laden's.

Now we've reached the time in question. Zarq is supposedly in one of the Ansar camps in northern Iraq. Some people were calling for airstrikes, some wanted us to hold off while diplomatic moves were continuing. The diplomats won. When the war started, if I remember correctly, SF working with the Kurds rolled Ansar pretty quick, with the head turbans running for the Iranian border. At the time, Zarq was not a household name, just a up-and-coming thug.

Posted by Steve">Steve 2006-05-01 15:54|| 2006-05-01 15:54|| Front Page Top

#9 File this under more useless non-sense from Scheuer. Warmed over spit from the loony fringe.

While Zarq had his camp in the NE, there was absolutely no foreknowledge of his specific whereabouts. Around that same time, he was none to have been involved in the killing of US diplomat Foley in Jordan, the London ricin attacks, etc.

Posted by Captain America 2006-05-01 22:42|| 2006-05-01 22:42|| Front Page Top

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