THREE months ago Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was said to be badly injured and close to death. But in the space of two days the world’s most active terrorist has demonstrated in typically bloody fashion that he is back at the head of Iraq’s most ruthless and powerful insurgent group.
With yet more suicide bombings in Baghdad yesterday, killing 29 people, there were fears that the city was about to suffer a fresh wave of terrorism intended to exacerbate sectarian conflict between Shia and Sunni Muslims and destroying the new constitution that was supposed to bring the various ethnic and religious communities together. President Talabani of Iraq, addressing the UN summit in New York, begged world leaders for help. “Today Iraq is facing one of the most brutal campaigns of terror at the hands of the forces of darkness,” he declared.
Mr al-Dulaimi called the insurgents “morally bankrupt” and insisted that their cause was on its “last legs”, but unfortunately for Iraq his assessment is probably more wishful thinking. Al-Zarqawi’s tactics, which include the mass murder of Shia civilians, beheading Western hostages and assassinating government officials, are certainly brutal. But there is a method to his madness.
Today it is the richest, best organised, best armed and most powerful insurgent force in Iraq, with thousands of volunteers, including some from around the Middle East and beyond, prepared to fight and die for their cause. His slick propaganda department can record a suicide attack, release it within an hour on the internet and relay it into the homes of Muslim sympathisers around the world.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1782653,00.html