Al Qaeda ties to Zarqawi stronger
By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Osama bin Laden or other senior al Qaeda leaders are trying to communicate with
Abu Musab Zarqawi, who is operating what the United States concedes is a "very
effective" terrorist ring in Iraq, a senior general said yesterday.
Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, the deputy chief of U.S. Central Command, said
intelligence shows that bin Laden now communicates strictly through couriers.
This is to avoid having his voice electronically intercepted, which could give
away his location in the vast Pakistani tribal lands near Afghanistan.
"Hence you end up using very slow means of trying to communicate, whether
it's couriers that carry compact discs from Pakistan or Afghanistan through
Iran or through other countries to Zarqawi," Gen. Smith told reporters at the
Pentagon.
The disclosure is further evidence that the Jordanian-born Zarqawi, who has
maintained links with al Qaeda, now is apparently a full-fledged member. It
means that American troops are trying to kill or capture one of al Qaeda's most
effective and deadly terrorists, and perhaps the second-most-revered among
Islamic militants, after bin Laden himself.
"We do have indications that we believe they are trying to communicate,"
Gen. Smith said. "Whether it is to congratulate him on having announced that he
wants to be part of al Qaeda, or whether it's to communicate and give him
instructions or what it is, we don't know. But we do believe that through the
process they are trying to communicate."
Gen. Smith said that the United States believes al Qaeda senior leaders are
giving overall guidance to Zarqawi and his followers rather than tactical
advice. "You all need to hold the course and attack the coalition and attack
those members of those infidels with the government," is the way Gen. Smith
described the guidance.
The U.S. command in Baghdad previously had disclosed intercepting a letter
written by Zarqawi to bin Laden. In it, Zarqawi expressed frustrations that the
killing of Americans had not resulted in President Bush's pulling troops out of
Iraq.
Zarqawi, who fought U.S. troops in Afghanistan before going to Baghdad for
medical treatment, leads cells of foreign and Iraqi terrorists of undetermined
numbers. The cells are believed responsible for a series of suicide car
bombings and beheadings that have killed hundreds of U.S. personnel and allied
Iraqis.
Zarqawi himself has beheaded hostages, then released the gruesome videos. A
reward for capturing him is $25 million, but so far, as with bin Laden, no one
is willing to turn him in.
Zarqawi is believed to have used Fallujah as his command center, but fled
long before a Marine-led invasion captured the city last week.
"I think Zarqawi sort of left his followers in the city to fight and he
booked," Gen. Smith said. "I don't have any proof that he's someplace else, but
we believe he did leave the city."
Marines and soldiers did find a building thought to have housed Zarqawi
followers. On one wall, a CNN news camera showed the words "Al Qaeda
Organization." Also found were computer files containing the names of foreign
fighters from around the globe.
Gen. Smith said troops are going back through buildings originally cleared
to make sure insurgents do not backtrack and establish new pockets of
resistance. There was scattered fighting last night.
"It looks like these are some of the jihadists," the three-star general
said. "We're not sure whether they're foreign fighters or local, but what we
see from them is the type of people that are there prepared to fight to the
very last."
He said some wear "explosive vests" that they plan to detonate if coalition
troops come near.
Also found are facilities for making improvised explosive devices, both of
the roadside and vehicle variety, which have killed many Americans and Iraqis.
Gen. Smith said the wave of violence nationwide inflicted by insurgency
during the Fallujah battle is evidence of a "certain level of talking" among
leaders, but not a "robust command and control system."
He conceded that the killings, including beheadings, are affecting the
average Iraqi. "I will tell you that the intimidation campaign that is ongoing
is very effective," he said. "We see it permeate many levels of the Iraqi
government and the Iraqi security forces."
The hope is that Iraqis, like the Afghans who voted this fall, will go to
the polls as scheduled in January despite the threats.
"It's going to take a certain level of courage on the part of the Iraqis,"
Gen. Smith said.
On Thursday, Lt. Gen. John Sattler, the top Marine officer in Iraq who
commanded the Fallujah operation, declared the victory had "broken the back" of
the insurgency.
Yesterday, Gen. Smith said he could not make that statement "until we can
get the intimidation campaign, the widespread intimidation campaign, under
control."
At another Pentagon briefing, U.S. contracting officials said a $100
million plan to rebuild Fallujah will begin in several weeks. Throughout Iraq,
the U.S. Embassy plans to accelerate construction projects in a strategy that
says the insurgents do not have sufficient fighters to bomb every site.
"One of our mechanisms to deal with that, frankly, is to start as many
projects as we can, given the fact that we know the insurgents can't be
everywhere," said Charles Hess, director of reconstruction in Baghdad.
"Consequently, the more projects we start, we are moving Iraqis out, we're
getting them employed, they are doing meaningful labor, they're restoring their
country, and in and of itself that is a very positive and powerful thing we
want to accomplish between now and the elections in January."
Congress has appropriated more than $18 billion for such projects, but less
than $2 billion has been spent to date.
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