U.K. Report: Zarqawi Set Up Sleeper Cells (in Iraq before war)

[maddezmom]

By ED JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

LONDON - Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi set up "sleeper cells" in Baghdad before the Iraq (news - web sites) war to attack American forces occupying the country, according to a British intelligence report.


The report, dated March 2003 and released as part of an overall review of British intelligence, forecast the string of Zarqawi's attacks against American targets during the past year "using car bombs and other weapons." It said he was setting up groups of fighters to be activated at a later time, known in the intelligence field as "sleeper cells."


Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) claimed vindication Wednesday after a committee led by Lord Butler released its report that concluded British intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was flawed, but said the government had not deliberately deceived anyone as it built a case for toppling Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).


While Butler's report faulted British intelligence for having few reliable sources and not properly analyzing information, it did credit the spies with foreseeing the al-Zarqawi strikes on coalition forces.
~snip~
more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=3&u=/ap/20040715/ap_on_re_eu/britain_iraq_intelligence

[Minstrel Boy]

1. Those who believe the fabulist Zarqawi myth-making machine

are the ones truly sleeping.

[maddezmom]

2. not a believer, but it's interesting if they knew he was there in 2003

(like bin Laden)but have failed to catch him, even with the best military in the world??? :shrug:

[Minstrel Boy]

5. The thing about Zarqawi and the Ansar al-Islam group -

I mean, besides Zarqawi's being employed today as a virtual psyops summerstock revival of Weekend At Bernie's - is that they operated in Iraq's northern "no-fly" zone, which was a virtual US-UK protectorate, and were regarded as a tactical counterweight to Saddam.

The founder of Ansar al-Islam is Mullah Krekar. He lives in Norway, and the United States has not sought his extradition.

What's more:

Ansar al-Islam leader threatens to document his links to US

DUBAI, Feb 1 2003 (AFP) - The suspected leader of a Kurdish Islamic extremist group threatened in an interview published Saturday to produce evidence of his contacts with Washington prior to the September 11 suicide hijackings.

"I have in my possession irrefutable evidence against the Americans and I am prepared to supply it ... if (the United States) tries to implicate me in an affair linked to terrorism," Mullah Krekar, who is believed to front Ansar al-Islam, told Al-Hayat newspaper.

He dismissed as "fabrications" reports linking his group to Al-Qaeda, saying they were designed to justify a strike against Iraq.

"I had a meeting with a CIA representative and someone from the American army in the town of Sulaymaniya (Iraqi Kurdistan) at the end of 2000. They asked us to collaborate with them ... but we refused to do so," he said.
www.lightscion.com/krekar.htm

And here:

"The Mullah claims he had a secret meeting with the CIA and US military personnel in Iraqi Kurdistan last year. Could this explain why US intelligence agencies were reportedly so concerned about Powell raising Ansar al-Islam as one of the key connections between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda?"

video interview available here:
http://www.insightnewstv.com/d80 /

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

10. I was just searching...

... for an article such as this, as I recall reading that Rumsfeld had connections to the Ansar al-Islam group prior to the invasion of Iraq. It was part of the Rummy vs Powell fight for who will control the future of Iraq in pre-war days.

Thanks.

[shadu]

4. That man is a Super Man!

No one can defeat him. He is/was everywhere at once. He can kill a man with his little finger. He grows back limbs and rises from the dead!!!

[rooboy]

3. Don't forget The Joker, The Penguin, The Riddler and King Tut. n/t

[leesa]

6. Was this the dead one or the live one?

I can't believe anyone falls for this al-Qaeda fantasy. Total BS.


The "war on terrorism" is a con-job, folks!

[maddezmom]

7. the phantom pretend one

:)

[Cocoa]

8. so was he in the deck of cards?

whatever happened to that deck of cards anyway...

[rooboy]

9. Dubya had that deck of cards thing destroyed...

because every card had a different picture on it, which made his games of Old Maid with Pickles really boring.