Insurgent Leader in Iraq Vows to Wage Protracted Holy War
By EDWARD WONG NYTimes
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 20 - The most wanted insurgent in Iraq vowed in an Internet audio message posted today to continue waging holy war against Americans, but he also acknowledged that a top guerilla leader had been killed in combat against American forces.
The 75-minute message purporting to be from the insurgent leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, appeared on the first day of the Muslim holiday Id al-Adha and hours before President Bush delivered his inaugural speech in Washington.
Even as President Bush spoke of bringing freedom to oppressed countries, and as violence continued to ripple across Iraq in advance of the Jan. 30 elections, Mr. Zarqawi asserted that the holy war "could last months and years."
"In the fight against the arrogant American tyrant who carries the flag of the cross, we find that despite its military might, it is being crushed emotionally and morally," Mr. Zarqawi said, according to a translation from Reuters. "Our battle with the enemy is a battle of streets and towns and has many tactical, defensive and offensive methods. Fierce wars are not decided in days or week."
The audio message could not be immediately authenticated. Mr. Zarqawi has posted similar audio messages on the Internet at other key moments in the conflict, such as right after the American offensive in Falluja in November. In his message today, the lengthiest he has recorded so far, Mr. Zarqawi said his top military aide, Omar Hadid, who was also one of the most wanted fighters by the Americans, had died in the rebel stronghold of Falluja after helping to kill American troops.
A prominent tribal leader from Anbar Province, which includes Falluja, told this reporter last Saturday that he had heard Mr. Hadid had been killed, but that he had no confirmation.
The Americans are offering a $25 million reward for the capture or death of Mr. Zarqawi, who has pledged his loyalty to Osama bin Laden. Mr. bin Laden subsequently declared Mr. Zarqawi his deputy in Iraq.
Mr. Zarqawi's group, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, formerly known as One God and Jihad, is believed to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people killed in ambushes, bombings and executions, including beheadings, many of them videotaped for public dissemination. American officials say they expect Mr. Zarqawi and other insurgent leaders to step up the pace of violence as the elections for a 275-seat constitutional assembly at the end of the month draw closer.
An American military spokeswoman and a British security company said today that a Briton and an Iraqi security guard were killed and that a Brazilian man working for one of South America's largest construction companies was kidnapped in a roadside ambush north of the capital on Wednesday.
In the city of Ramadi, capital of Anbar Province, insurgents fired six artillery rounds into residential areas, the Marines said. It was unknown whether any civilians were wounded. Ramadi is the scene of some of the toughest urban combat of the war, with insurgents attacking American bases inside the city and regularly firing at the government center along the main street.
In the embattled northern city of Mosul, guerrillas tried to overrun a hospital, but were repelled by Iraqi security forces, the American military said. The attack, on Al Salam Hospital in eastern Mosul, forced hospital workers and patients to flee.
The roadside ambush north of Baghdad took place near the oil refinery city of Bayji, which lies south of Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein. The area is rife with insurgents, and the oil and electricity infrastructure there is the target of frequent assaults.
In the ambush north of Baghdad, the victims were attacked while riding in a convoy near a power station where they worked, according to a statement from Janusian Security Risk Management, a company based in London that has operated in Iraq since April 2003. The Briton and the Iraqi were working for Janusian, which declined to disclose their names.
The Brazilian worked for Odebrecht, a construction company based in São Paulo, Brazil. His captors have not made any public demands.
Attempts to kidnap foreigners have surged after a drop in November, during the bloody American-led offensive in the insurgent stronghold of Falluja. The abductions are often organized by criminal gangs that try to sell the victims back to their countries or employers or to resistance groups that are politically motivated. A French journalist kidnapped in Baghdad in early January is still missing, while an archbishop taken earlier this week in the besieged northern city of Mosul was released within a day without any ransom being paid, according to the Vatican.
The Chinese government said it was negotiating to free eight Chinese workers who were recently abducted in the Sunni triangle area and turned up on Tuesday in a videotape released by insurgents. Their captors are demanding that the Chinese government take a position on the war in Iraq.
The assault near Bayji took place on the same day that insurgents sowed fear across the capital, setting off at least five car and truck bombs that the American military said killed at least 26 people. American and Iraqi officials have predicted a spike in violence leading up to the elections on Jan. 30 to choose a national assembly that will write a permanent constitution.
Already, places such as the southern city of Basra, which had been relatively calm for much of the fall, have suffered a spate of car bombings. Explosions and sustained automatic gunfire are heard regularly in Baghdad, from early morning to evening hours.
A security company operating in Iraq put out a report on Wednesday that warned that insurgents were probably trying to take hostages in order to seize the spotlight during the election process.
The report said that insurgents would consider a prominent kidnapping to be "the perfect backdrop" to the elections. The report warned that British citizens in particular should be cautious and referred to the beheading of Kenneth Bigley, a British engineer whose kidnapping and death in October stirred a political furor in Britain, where opposition to the war runs high.
The report also said the attack near Bayji was a "sophisticated ambush" by a "high number of insurgents."
David Claridge, the managing director of Janusian, said in a statement that "we are investigating the matter and are working with the local authorities in their efforts to locate the missing civilian." The investigation is being led by the Iraqi police, said Master Sgt. Cynthia Weasner, a spokeswoman for the First Infantry Division, which is charged with controlling the Bayji area.
Sal Remtulla, a spokeswoman for Janusian, said her company was a "service provider" for Odebrecht, meaning it is under contract to protect Odebrecht's employees and buildings in Iraq.
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Wonder what kind of outfit you get from Needless Markup for that $200 grand. Maybe it has epaulets and other fake military 'honors' like Bush had made up special for himself.
Of course as always, $250K gets you two tickets for the 9th circle of hell. |
