There's so many wierd stories floating around about this guy that I don't know what or who to believe. Here's the lastest... __________________ Avoiding attacking suspected terrorist mastermind Abu Musab Zarqawi blamed for more than 700 killings in Iraq By Jim Miklaszewski Correspondent NBC News Updated: 7:14 p.m. ET March 02, 2004 With Tuesday’s attacks, Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant with ties to al-Qaida, is now blamed for more than 700 terrorist killings in Iraq. But NBC News has learned that long before the war the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself — but never pulled the trigger. In June 2002, U.S. officials say intelligence had revealed that Zarqawi and members of al-Qaida had set up a weapons lab at Kirma, in northern Iraq, producing deadly ricin and cyanide. The Pentagon quickly drafted plans to attack the camp with cruise missiles and airstrikes and sent it to the White House, where, according to U.S. government sources, the plan was debated to death in the National Security Council. “Here we had targets, we had opportunities, we had a country willing to support casualties, or risk casualties after 9/11 and we still didn’t do it,” said Michael O’Hanlon, military analyst with the Brookings Institution. Four months later, intelligence showed Zarqawi was planning to use ricin in terrorist attacks in Europe. The Pentagon drew up a second strike plan, and the White House again killed it. By then the administration had set its course for war with Iraq. “People were more obsessed with developing the coalition to overthrow Saddam than to execute the president’s policy of preemption against terrorists,” according to terrorism expert and former National Security Council member Roger Cressey. In January 2003, the threat turned real. Police in London arrested six terror suspects and discovered a ricin lab connected to the camp in Iraq. The Pentagon drew up still another attack plan, and for the third time, the National Security Council killed it. Military officials insist their case for attacking Zarqawi’s operation was airtight, but the administration feared destroying the terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam. The United States did attack the camp at Kirma at the beginning of the war, but it was too late — Zarqawi and many of his followers were gone. “Here’s a case where they waited, they waited too long and now we’re suffering as a result inside Iraq,” Cressey added. And despite the Bush administration’s tough talk about hitting the terrorists before they strike, Zarqawi’s killing streak continues today.
In order to pre-empt war supporters trying to find something to salvage in this article, I would assume that this terrorist camp was in the northern part of Iraq over which Saddam had no control, and which therefore could operate safe from Hussein's grasp, unlike prior to the UN limitations?
The purported Ansar al Islam base was close to but outside of the northern no fly zone. Much of the recent data is from folks captured inside Kurdish terrority that lies inside the no fly zone. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24354-2004Mar2.html By Walter Pincus Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, March 3, 2004; Page A22 The Jordanian-born jihadist who quickly became a suspect in yesterday's bombings in Iraq also wants to assume a leading, independent role in future terrorist operations in other countries, according to senior intelligence officials. Abu Musab Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for two dozen bombings in recent months and was on record threatening new attacks against Iraqi Shiites before yesterday's attacks. But U.S. officials are also increasingly concerned about Zarqawi's ambitions beyond Iraq. Although Zarqawi has worked with al Qaeda in the past, officials say it is increasingly clear he operates independently of Osama bin Laden's organization and has developed his own network of operatives. . . .
