From the Times Online (UK):
ABU MUSAB AL-ZARQAWI, the most feared commander in the Iraqi insurgency, may have been forced to surrender his leadership by rival groups, angered by his bloody tactics and the interference of foreign fighters in the Iraqi conflict.
According to Huthayfah Azzam, the son of Abdullah Azzam, al-Zarqawi’s former mentor, the notorious commander of al-Qaeda in Iraq was stripped of his political duties at a meeting two weeks ago.
“The Iraqi resistance high command asked al-Zarqawi to give up his political role and replaced him with an Iraqi because of several mistakes,†said Mr Azzam in an interview with al-Arabiya, the Arabic news channel. “Al-Zarqawi’s role has been limited to military action,†he said.
The fugitive al-Qaeda leader, who has a $25 million American bounty on his head, is credited with masterminding some of the bloodiest episodes in the Iraqi war, including suicide bombings against the United Nations, Shia Muslims and US forces and the videotaped execution of Western and other hostages.
But his tactics have alienated many Iraqis, even those sympathetic to the insurgency. Mr Azzam, whose father is known as the “prince of the Mujahidinâ€Â, said that he was accused of “creating an independent group†in Iraq, “making political mistakes†and hijacking the Iraqi insurgency for his own cause.
The claims could not be confirmed, but they did add to mounting evidence that al-Zarqawi has been increasingly isolated over the past months because of his ruthless tactics.
In January al-Zarqawi’s al-Qaeda group announced that it was joining five other insurgent organisations to form a body called the “Mujahidin Shura Councilâ€Â. Since then al-Qaeda in Iraq, once the most vocal terrorist group in the world, has stopped issuing its own statements. Now the council appears to have demoted al-Zarqawi and replaced him with a relative unknown, Abdullah bin Rashid al-Baghdadi.
As for al-Zarqawi, a former petty criminal turned jihad warlord, he has not been heard of in public for three months.
If this is true—and the new face of the insurgency turns out to be Iraqi—I think this is (begging the esteemed Mujahidin Council’s pardon) a victory for the coalition.
The vast majority of Iraqis are committed to the democratic process. Those who are not—should they now be seen as responsible for any attacks that kill Iraqi civilians—should be quickly isolated and denounced by all the major religious and civil participants engaged in the political process.
And while putting an Iraqi face on the insurgency could lend some credibility to the media-driven hope for an Iraq “civil war,” it would be a decided one-sided “war,” one that the I suspect will be difficult for the insurgents to wage against their own countrymen for long.
I still don’t think this means we should draw down too many troops too soon. And I suspect the Iraqi leadership will want us around to continue training and rebuilding efforts. Even as the insurgency tries to reinvent itself, we should take care ourselves to keep to the plan to draw down only when the Iraqis can reasonably control their own internal security.
(h/t Allah)
Same model as training the ANA (as RTO will be doing, again). Once they are up and running, you follow along for a bit to observe and help – then you turn it over to them. Help with equipment, maybe a little air power – and what do you know? It works.
I suspect the “blowing up kids” strategy hasn’t won too many friends for Z-man. Guess he could always look for work in Kashmir…
A business associate with extensive Jordanian connections told me the inside scoop on “Zarky”. Incredibly dim-witted, brutal, mafia wanna-be. Just interested in carving out a territory for crime. He is also secular. Not quite the picture of him we have been painted.
Oh come on, Jeff, you know public perceptions don’t have anything to do with how either side is prosecuting this conflict. This must be a rumor floated by one of those mythical Al-Qaeda media committees. Oh, no, wait…
Wait, but according to Greg “Sully wannabe” at Belgravia Dispatch the insurgency is winning. Why would they rep[lace their leader at his moment of triumph?
But, but, but…we’re losing! How can this be happening?
Maybe they are not the Revolution, and they won’t win.
I’ll preface this by saying, “I could be wrong”, but I think this news falls into line with my opinion. I think that the Iraq situation has primarily evolved into a Police situation with rival gangs competing. Iraqi’s are getting fed up with the slaughter of civilians. Targeting Police and Security personnel has not prevented new recruits from signing up. The continued killing of “innocents” by the terrorists is not accomplishing anything except to ostracize those responsible. There is not an organized military force capable of attacking the “occupying forces” (the Coalition).
As the Iraq security forces take over more of the Police & security responsibilities and the Coalition forces stand down, there will be less opportunity to attack the “occupiers”. If the terrorists continue to attack Iraqis, then the Iraqis will continue to fight back, with both force and actionable intelligence.
Iraq is shrinking for the terrorists and it will continue to get smaller.
Yeah…but I think WFB and others are right to wonder whether a stable democracy for all of Iraq will be formed. Unfortunately, he got the verbal willy’s right after the Golden Mosque bombing which proved nothing at all about his premise but did give the left new ammunition.
And WFB’s apostasy was followed in short order by John Derbyshire who opined that the only reason all-out civil war had not broken out was that the Iraqi army didn’t have enough bullets!
Most acts of turning the insurgency into something more palatable for Iraqis are.
actus ain’t Brazilian….he’s German!! Mein Gott!
Please don’t feed acthole.
next stop yale for zarqawi?
A masterpiece!
actuse; a veritable Möbius Strip of reasoning, a virtual Klein Bottle of rationality! actuse, the Cynthia McKinney of brevity! In Vino Actuse! Hail actuse!
tw: The pungent, earthy truth of incontrovertible logic.
Heh. Remember when Wylie Coyote used to look at the Roadrunner and see a big, cooked bird? Don’t you know some of the mujahadin are looking at Z-man in a new way? “He’s a liability now, and who better than me, praise Allah, deserves $25 million?”
I think Zarqawi has already figured out the precariousness of his position and has fled to Iran (can’t go home to Jordan). He probably isn’t dead because wouldn’t his body be worth 25 million?
There has just got to be a position in the democratic party for him somewhere. C’mon Markos, think, man, think!
Noah – It might if you tell the Feds where the stiff is.
Gives me an idea for an action thriller. A handsome middle east studies scum bag leftist student undergoes epiphany but employs his leftist connections and journeys to Iraq, bags the Z-man, kills him and takes his body to Camp Victory. Gets a little nookie along the way. Might make a good B-movie…hell Schwartznegger got his start in the greatest B-movie of all time.
Pitch it to Abramoff. Patriotic camp crap is, or was at least, his bread and butter.
As opposed to bizarre unpatriotic crap like Syrianna by Clooney?
opposed, I don’t know. Never saw Syrianna.
No, Clooney’s specialty is rewriting history to make staunch anti-communists appear to be sympathetic to the Left so he can smear other staunch anti-communists.
Noah, your proposed script sounds good. Except for The Hero getting nookie. Don’t forget General Order #1, which reads, in part, “No nookie”. And while The Hero isn’t subject to GO #1, let’s be realistic here, nookie sources are (I am told) difficult for Westerners. Besides, think of the troops, who The Hero will be presenting Z to. The Hero is supposed to look tired but triumphant, not tired but relaxed.
Unless the nookie provider is, say, a beautiful wench rescued by the reformed leftie, who is rewarded in a most rewarding fashion. Only she can’t be French. Or German. Maybe Danish? Perhaps an aid worker, a reporter, or even an undercover agent.
Think about it, and have your secretary call my secretary about lunch sometime. We’ll discuss it then.
Ciao!
Upon further reflection…the movie opens with said leftist scum bag shacked up off campus with stringy haired co-ed (who cannot disguise her beauty/body) lying in bed with her when the radio alarm goes off to a leftist monologue on “Air America”. This is the first nookie scene with an Al Franken commentary in the background!
Later in Iraq he nails a WaPo stringer. The left get thoroughly nailed!!
His background is disillusioned son of a Lebanese-American spook for the CIA who grew up in Beirut and speaks perfect Arabic.
See it all hangs together!
but we can be assured you saw Red Scorpion and Red Scorpion 2, right?
His epiphany is triggered when he wanders into a David Horowitz lecture on-campus and the audience is asked whether they had read the “Communist Manifesto” and 3/4 raise their hands…they are then asked if they had read “The Road to Serfdom” and nobody raises their hand. His curiosity is piqued and later that day searches the stacks at the library and finds a copy of Hayek covered with a thick layer of dust and spider webs! He reads thru the night and awakes and gets nookie the morning of 9/11. Boom! The world is never the same!
Hee Hee! Which means he’ll be joining the boys in the bunker soon. Won’t they be honored to get blown to bits along with such a shiek? Jeff will have to update his ongoing series!
Problem is, the only “military action” available is:
a.) Planting a roadside IED
b.) Wearing a suicide belt or driving a suicide bomb car.
c.) Leading an attack on an Iraqi Police station.
d.) Leading an attack on Coalition forces.
(b) & (c) are “one timers”, (d) is a potential “one timer” and (a) could possibly be a “one timer”. Doesn’t appear to be much of a career path for Mr. Z.
noah—and his code name is (wait for it) “The Phonecian.”
I saw red scorpion a long time ago. Never knew there was a two till I hit that imdb page.
You’re going to make millions even before the movie gets made.
Noah—consider it a deal. We need to discuss the star and leading lady.
Clooney is out, he won’t do another Iraq flick after their civil war is over, something about making a point. Sean Penn wants to do something with a boat….can we have a scene on the Euphrates? Matt Damon, cool, but, y’know, just so girly. Could he be both star and be the leading lady?
Brad Pitt, maybe, but we gotta write the leading part for Angelina, and you know that means lotsa action wearing skintight clothing. Not sure how much realism you want, you ever see a burqua, man? Might as well put Angie in a barrel and move her around with a forklift, gots no style, yo?
<style, yo? </blockquote>
uh, from what rto told me, that’s not necessarily so. some burkas are really, um, form fitting.
NYT review: “Right wing nutjob action flick replete with gratuitous sex, violence, cornball patriotism, and ahistorical exploitation of a national trajedy, not to mention snarky jabs at progressive patriotic dissent. Emphatically not recommended.”
Guaranteed blockbuster!
What about Pitt and Penn doing a “Brokeback Baghdad” thing?
Angelina? Not to worry. If Angelina straps on her Laura Croft falsies, that burkha’s gonna be moving like a sack full of fighting weasels. Then, in the climactic scene where Lyndie England (played by Rosie O’Donnel) is leading Sean around on a dog leash, Laura unveils those puppies to distract her, throws some of Brad’s skid-marked undies on her head, and leads the boys to the great Ziggurat where they find WMD, move to Massachusetts, and all get married to Ted Kennedy.
Oh, that’s been done already. With puppets.
Yep, hurt ya didn’t it Pablo?
*Jeff will have to update his ongoing series! *
Haha great idea. I suspect our two favorite insurgents would have some degree of fun deciding whether to wack the Z-man, who is smelling up their bunker.
Uh, no. It made me giggle. A lot.