UQ Wire: Zarqawi, 9/11 and the Bogus War on Terror

As reported in 2004 by Jim Miklaszewski of NBC News the U.S. Military presented President Bush three plans to kill or capture Abu Musab Al Zarqawi [link] between June of 2002 and January, 2003 before the invasion of Iraq. In each instance the authorization was not forthcoming. They never pulled the trigger and by March of 2004 over 700 terrorist killings had been blamed on Zarqawi. Investigative reporter, Greg Palast presents the case that it was the U.S. that effectively invited Zarqawi into Iraq in the first place [link].

Yesterday in the wake of the air attack which killed Zarqaqi, as reported by Brian Ross of ABC [link], the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilizad, said that the U.S. military, which had pin-pointed his location, gave no thought to capturing Al-Zarqawi. Why not? Wouldn’t the alleged leader of Al-Qeada in Iraq and his men provide a treasure trove of intelligence for the U.S. military and intelligence apparatus to go after his terrorist network strung around the world? And why not bring him to justice for the murder of Americans such as Nicholas Berg? Rumsfeld went so far as to say that "Arguably over the last several years, no single person on this planet has had the blood of more innocent men, women and children on his hands than Zarqawi," And yet they acted to kill rather than capture.

And it appears they had the forces with a good track record to do just that. CNN reported Thursday that U.S. special forces on the ground identified by Rawstory.com as Task Force 145 [link], confirmed the presence of Zarqawi and gave their 100 percent assurance to higher ups and bomber pilots that Zarqawi was in fact inside the safe house they had identified. The New York Times confirmed [link] Rawstory's report today reporting that, "Commandos from Task Force 145, the antiterrorist unit, moved into Hibhib and surrounded the grove." The task force had achieved notable success of late "capturing or killing crucial members of Mr. Zarqawi's network, as well as netting documents that provided the basis for more raids."

The military command was "100%" sure according to Air Commander Gen. North and they had the most capable people on the ground and ready; but they were not tasked by their superiors to capture Zarqawi. Why not? And why during the network to network coverage across cable news, are no network hosts posing this simple question to U.S. military officers and civilian leadership who are now celebrating the lethal strike against Zarqawi?

In this apparent victory in the war in Iraq we find further evidence that the so-called War on Terror as waged by the U.S. and its allies is a brazen farce. And if the war on terror is a farce then the neo-con agenda driving the current U.S. foreign policy is a dangerous and bogus misadventure with tragic and deadly consequences for thousands of American troops and tens of thousands of innocent civilians, a campaign which is serving well to sew seeds of hatred and violence in those most impacted by the horror. One can read the once avowed neo-con Francis Fukuyama [link] to see that I'm not alone in such criticism.

Again, in the same spirit as the ever repeated refrains surrounding coverage of Zarqawi’s death I ask this simple question again, If U.S. Generals had the elite of the elite on the ground, the “best trained and equipped special forces in the world”, surrounding Zarqawi and giving absolute assurance of his whereabouts why not order them move to capture him? After all, if he is in command of foreign fighters in Iraq, responsible for kidnappings and beheadings, including of Americans, and even as some are saying, influential outside of Iraq, then why not seek to gain the intelligence that might be secured through interrogation, of Zarqawi himself and the six others purported to have been killed in the attack? Why not bring him to justice for his crimes against humanity? For his alleged murder of Nicholas Berg?

Instead they hit the building with two 500 pound bombs sending smoke and fire bursting into air. And miraculously the pictures released show a ‘cleaned up’ Zarqawi with his upper torso and head virtually unscathed with even his hair unsinged.

The fact that authorities did not choose to capture him when surrounded is yet another case in point and proof of a bogus war on terror. Bin Laden’s capture, the man reportedly behind the near 3000 murders on 9/11 was ‘never a priority’ in the Afghanistan war, this according to General Myers and other Pentagon brass speaking in the aftermath of the war. Don't believe me? Type in "Bin Laden not a priority" either with quotes or without and see how many American generals said as much about Bin Laden and the mission in Afghanistan.

This lack of interest in serious prosecution of those alleged to be behind the 9/11 attacks was further evidenced in the repeated escapes of Bin Laden himself during the war; particularly from Tora Bora where CIA commander and 'whistleblower' Gary Berntsen had pinpointed his location but now claims the U.S. military let him escape [link]. Further, this bogus war and perhaps even treason at the top is evidenced by the U.S. sanctioned military airlift of thousands of Al-Qeada [link] and Taliban fighters from Kunduz in Afghanistan into the relative safety of Pakistan as reported by Seymour Hersh in New Yorker Magazine [link].

This is a bogus war led by deceitful and lying military and civilian leadership that is raping the American economy while owners of military contractors and private security firms line the pockets and oil companies line up agreements for the oil and gas pipelines they were unsuccessful in securing under the Taliban.

For further evidence still of a bogus war on terror and a fraud perpetuated on the American people, witness the fact that alleged Bin Laden lieutenants, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Ramzi Bin-al-Shibh, Abu Zubaydah, and Khalid Bin Attash have still yet to be brought to justice [link] despite have been held by U.S. authorities for years in "undisclosed locations". The decision not to order the capture of Zarqawi is in keeping with an apparent policy at the highest levels of the U.S. leadership not to bring any of these war criminals, these unlawful combatants, to justice for the heinous crimes that are so often enumerated and condemned by military analysts and spokespersons.

The time has come for the "lie behind the lies" to be exposed and those proffering it held accountable. The /war on terror/, the so-called ‘long war’, as professed and championed by most of our leaders, Democrat and Republican alike, is as bogus as the government's 9/11 Commission Report which according the 9/11 widows failed to answer 70% of the questions posed by the 9/11 Family Steering Committee [link]. And all the top 9/11 terror suspects are as elusive and illusory as the /white paper/ on Al-Qeada guilt for 9/11 promised but never delivered by former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

See also:

*Greg Palast | Unreported: The Zarqawi Invitation* http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060906A.shtml

"They got him - the big, bad, beheading berserker in Iraq. But, something's gone unreported in all the glee over getting Zarqawi," writes Greg Palast: "Who invited him into Iraq in the first place?"

Kyle F. Hence is co-founder and Executive Director of 9/11 CitizensWatch , a watchdog and advocacy group dedicated to a re-newed, truly independent and full investigation into the events of, and circumstances surrounding, the attacks of September 11th, 2001

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