May 31, 2005

Light & Dark

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From FoxNews: U.S. Confirms Zarqawi's Voice on New Tape:

On "FOX News Sunday," the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff conceded killing or capturing al-Zarqawi would be a milestone in fighting the insurgency.

“As the Al Qaeda leader and the foreign fighter leader, the jihad leader, in Iraq, ... he's an important target but even getting him, the movement will continue,” said Gen. Richard Myers. “Al Qaeda has a way of continuing to put people in those leadership positions.”

But Myers added that U.S. forces continued to put “24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week pressure on Zarqawi” and his organization. U.S. forces have rounded up about 600 of al-Zarqawi’s foot soldiers and at least a dozen of his closest aides.

Al-Zarqawi made the audio address to Usama bin Laden on Monday to assure the Al Qaeda leader that he was in good health after being wounded in a gunbattle with U.S. troops.

"I am sure you have heard through the media that I was wounded and treated in a Ramadi hospital. I would like to assure you and the Muslim nation that these were pure allegations. It was a light wound, thank God. We are back fighting them in the land of the two rivers."

Al-Zarqawi addressed the message as "a letter from a soldier on the firing line to his commander."

He addressed bin Laden as his "emir," or commander, and asked bin Laden for guidance on conducting the insurgency. He said he sent bin Laden a war plan and asked for comments or approval.

Posted by Forkum at May 31, 2005 08:39 PM
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