U.S. checking reports of Zarqawi capture (Denied by Army/was: Z. captured)

[Kellanved]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military says it is checking unconfirmed reports that al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been captured in Iraq.

The Jordanian-born Zarqawi, who Washington says is its number one enemy in Iraq, is accused of masterminding a string of suicide bombings and of the execution of an American and a South Korean hostage.

The reports suggested that Zarqawi had been captured near the town of Hilla, south of Baghdad and in the Polish military area of responsibility.

"We are working on that issue," a U.S. military official said on Monday.

...
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=537000§ion=news

Edit:
Sorry, CNN had a "confirmed", but went back to "possible" just a short moment ago.

[ps1074]

1. good news

Now let's see how they will spin the continuing viloence.

Since they blamed everything on this guy one can expect the violence to go down. It won't happen for sure.

[Corby]

2. Night Crew Gettin All the Scoops

F9/11 is below the fold for shure now. Busy night.

[AnnitaR]

3. Wanna bet they had him before they decided to transfer power?

Let's just throw all this good news out here at once.

On a Monday morning no less!

These fuckers really are getting more transparent by the day!

Who will be the "evil-doer" they blame for everything now?

[nodictators]

15. Wanna bet that al-Zarqawi is DEAD

He was reportedly killed a year ago. If so, he's still been a great asset for the Bush regime. This guy gets the blame for most of the bad things that have happened in Iraq.

Not only that, he also has a supply of orange jumpsuits for captives. And, he must have a mobile video studio to film beheadings and other atrocities. Also, he must have a wireless internet connection to upload his videos to the net.

[Judi Lynn]

4. After seeing your thread, I found this short article:

U.S. Military Checking Reports of Zarqawi Capture
Mon Jun 28, 2004 05:20 AM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Monday it was checking unconfirmed reports that al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been captured in Iraq.

The Jordanian-born Zarqawi, who Washington says is its number one enemy in Iraq, is accused of masterminding a string of suicide bombings and of the execution of an American and a South Korean hostage.

The reports suggested that Zarqawi had been captured near the town of Hilla, south of Baghdad and in the Polish military area of responsibility.

"We are working on that issue," a U.S. military official said.
(snip/...)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=102&topic_id=651099&mesg_id=651099

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've been listening to CBS radio news every 30 minutes, and they haven't had one word on this yet!

Thanks a lot.

(And they WILL have to invent another bogeyman to blame for the next rounds of violence (in response to the other poster.))

[Turley]

5. Capture now denied

As of 11:38 CET Gen Kimmit says reports of capture are untrue.

[Corby]

6. False Alarm.

"We masturbated him for hours but it was for naught," Kimmet said of the captive. "The terrorist is still at large, presumbably unmasturbated and plotting evil."

[swag]

7. Thumbs up, nonetheless

Smiles all around.

[struggle4progress]

8. Zarqawi Capture Denied

The US military today denied that Jordanian-born terrorism suspect Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi had been caught.

“That is false,” said an aide to Brigadier General Mark Kimmit, the deputy chief of operations. “I can tell you that Zarqawi has not been arrested. We just checked with the unit.”

Al-Zarqawi was rumoured to have been picked up in Hillah, a predominantly Shiite city 60 miles south of Baghdad, the scene of a bloody car bombing on Saturday night that killed about 20 people.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3133918


Wow! Somebody in the Administration just loves to make up this stuff! The poor guys in the military must get tired of having to explain that the spin's not true.

[theHandpuppet]

9. NBC just reported the capture as confirmed.

So what is going on???

[Scottie72]

10. What in the world is going on?

I definitely smell something fishy.


The hand over early.. now these reports...

Something definitely looks like it got messed up.

[Corby]

11. Somebody just take the bag off his head and look!

Maybe they're hung up on that one leg v. two legs thing.

[theHandpuppet]

12. Same source now reporting the denial...

.... not ten minutes after they reported the capture. Said the mixup probably came as the result of Kimmel being "misquoted".

[JM]

13. One of two things, or even both

1) They want to flush out extremists allied with Al Zarqawi and can do so if they think he is still in play. It gets more difficult if they think he has been captured.
2) We don't want to overrun the story of the handover.

JM

[stickdog]

14. Emmanuel Golstein will never be captured!

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5528968

Earlier, reports on a U.S.-funded Iraqi radio station had suggested Zarqawi had been captured near the town of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, in an area controlled by Polish troops.

Iraqi officials in Hilla said a man had been captured who resembled Zarqawi and spoke with a similar accent.

Poland's PAP news agency quoted General Mieczyslaw Bieniek, head of the Polish force in Iraq, as saying: "I cannot confirm that such an operation has ended with success, it requires certain identification. A statement will be issued on this matter."