Tweet
MSNBC is reporting that US Special Forces almost captured Al Qaeda's front man in the Iraqi city of Ramadi two month ago. Zarqawi escaped by jumping from a moving vehicle but his driver was captured as were a number of important intel sources such as Zarqawis personal laptop. On the laptop the US found photographs of members of the insurgency, phone numbers of people Zarqawi kept in contact with, and other valuable intel.
Its to bad they didn't catch this guy because it would have been a big psychological victory to catch Al Qaeda's #3 man and the head of their Iraq department.
Its to bad they didn't catch this guy because it would have been a big psychological victory to catch Al Qaeda's #3 man and the head of their Iraq department.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - American special forces were tracking Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of Al-Qaida in Iraq, near the town of Ramadi two months ago, but the Jordanian-born terrorist leader escaped by jumping out of a moving vehicle, a senior U.S. military source tells NBC News.
Al-Zarqawi did, however, leave behind several key pieces of intelligence, the source said, the most important of which was his laptop computer.
Photos of suspected insurgents released by the military last month were taken from the "My Pictures" folder of that laptop, the source said. It was also full of telephone numbers.
Also left behind in the car was a bag with about $100,000 in euro currency. Another bag contained mini, plugin harddrives, the source said, and evidently al-Zarqawi was using these to distribute information to his network in Iraq.
Iraqi officials had earlier revealed that al-Zarqawi's driver had been taken into custody near Ramadi in a Feb. 20 operation and voiced optimism that coalition forces were close to capturing him.
At the Pentagon, other U.S. military officials said special forces have "come close" to capturing al-Zarqawi on several occasions over the past several months and have gathered intelligence, primarily from al-Zarqawi associates caught in the raids.
But even with the setbacks he's suffered, al-Zarqawi is still able to carry out strikes like the recent sophisticated assault on the Abu Ghraib prison, and daily suicide bombings by followers.
Al-Zarqawi did, however, leave behind several key pieces of intelligence, the source said, the most important of which was his laptop computer.
Photos of suspected insurgents released by the military last month were taken from the "My Pictures" folder of that laptop, the source said. It was also full of telephone numbers.
Also left behind in the car was a bag with about $100,000 in euro currency. Another bag contained mini, plugin harddrives, the source said, and evidently al-Zarqawi was using these to distribute information to his network in Iraq.
Iraqi officials had earlier revealed that al-Zarqawi's driver had been taken into custody near Ramadi in a Feb. 20 operation and voiced optimism that coalition forces were close to capturing him.
At the Pentagon, other U.S. military officials said special forces have "come close" to capturing al-Zarqawi on several occasions over the past several months and have gathered intelligence, primarily from al-Zarqawi associates caught in the raids.
But even with the setbacks he's suffered, al-Zarqawi is still able to carry out strikes like the recent sophisticated assault on the Abu Ghraib prison, and daily suicide bombings by followers.
Comment