How The Iraqi Resistence Joined Al-Qaeda

In Newsweek Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau report on how Osama bin Laden and Zarqawi Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi formed a partnership giving Al Qaeda a leading role in the Iraqi resistance,

In the late summer of 2003, bin Laden sent two of his most trusted men to assess the Iraqi resistance and make Al Qaeda a player in Iraq:

"The resistance happened faster than we expected, and differently, so we were not prepared to assist and direct it," one of the two envoys later told a senior Taliban official.

The Newsweek article doesn't, nor should it, present a very flattering picture of Zarqawi:

Zarqawi was widely disliked in Afghanistan. Even bin Laden was repulsed by reports of his vicious temper and gratuitous cruelty. In the late 1990s, commanding a unit of Arab irregulars near Afghanistan's ian border, the Jordanian terrorized local civilians and infuriated Taliban leaders. Mullah Mohammed Omar's men had just taken control of the area and were trying to win the trust of its mostly Shiite inhabitants. When Zarqawi wasn't busy persecuting Shiites, he wrangled with other Arabs and with the local Taliban chief.

The Newsweek article indicates that financially things are improving for Al Qaeda:

Donations to Al Qaeda's coffers had dried up as bin Laden's top men were killed or captured. Now private money is once again flooding in.

I haven't seen any similar report that the evil doers are doing well financially. I pray it isn't so.

Comments

[Brian H]

It would be very interesting to know from where, wouldn't it?