h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So, I was reading an opinion piece the other day in which Scott Ritter, former American weapons inspector in Iraq, suggested that according to his "contacts" in Iraq, the Al Zarqawi that the Americans are looking for, the one that led them to level Fallujah, doesn't actually exist. According to Ritter's contacts, Saddam's secret police are putting into effect a resistence plan which was made before the invasion.

"Right now, the Mukhabarat controllers of the al-Zarqawi network think themselves clever as they watch the US military play into their hands through the destruction of Falluja, and the futile search for a phantom menace."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9FA18AFB-F2C9-4678-8E6A-3595D91B83A1.htm

Interestingly, just two days later, this appeared on CNN:

"The most wanted man in Iraq, Islamic militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is most likely in Baghdad after losing his sanctuary in the western city of Falluja, but he is having a tougher time planning and launching attacks, a top U.S. general says."

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/16/iraq.main/index.html

One can't help but think, whether Al Zarqawi is real or a myth, "look out, citizens of Baghdad!"

All those Iraqi guys are called "Al"!

I blame Paul Simon for that.......

I don't remember the exact numbers, but:

The US captured 400 suspected insurgents in Falujah and released half of them after interrogating them. But they shot and killed many more. We will never know how many of those were innocent.

Awu

Well, if they were unarmed prisoners at the time, they were all innocent.

anhaga, I have a story somewhere that I printed, which I got from PopBitch who usually just do celebrity gossip(!)about the possibly fictional nature and doings of Al Zarqawi...