A man identified as al-Qaida operative Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi said on a tape aired Friday that his terror group..
There you go.
I figured your claim Zarqawi was not al Qaeda was based on the Hoffman quote “He is not competing with al-Qaida, but he’s emulating it,”.
This is just playing with the definition of "Al Qaeda". If "Al Qaeda" is defined as a rigid organization controlled by Osama bin Ladin then Zarqawi could be considered as something other than "Al Qaeda". If "Al Qaeda" is defined as a web of allied groups working toward a common goal - which seems a better description - he is "Al Qaeda".
For some time, the intelligence community has been paying attention to al-Zarqawi, also known as Ahmed al-Khalayleh. The Jordanian has been described as an al-Qaida associate, a senior operations planner and, in Iraq, a leader of a network targeting Americans.
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A specialist in poisons, he spent time in Afghanistan’s camps alongside al-Qaida fighters and other militant Muslims. Over the years, al-Zarqawi is also thought to have developed ties to terrorist groups ranging from Iraq’s Ansar al-Islam to Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
Senior US officials view him as evidence of an evolution under way, as the al-Qaida organisation and its affiliates – under siege by the United States - devolve into a more diffuse, less centrally organised network of militants who follow al-Qaida ideology.
Oh, one more thing. If Zarqawi and you were to somehow meet, do you think he'd want to whip out his butcher knife and cut your head off? |
