March 18, 2005
WE ONLY HAVE TO GET LUCKY ONCE:
Zarqawi escape (Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough, 3/18/05, THE WASHINGTON TIMES)
A U.S. intelligence official disclosed new details on the near capture of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the top terrorist in Iraq, last month.Iraqi and U.S. forces nearly caught the al Qaeda terrorist during a raid on a vehicle traveling in western Baghdad on Feb. 20.
By either luck or treachery, Zarqawi avoided capture, but two of his key aides — Abu Qutaybah and Zarqawi's driver — were captured. Intelligence officials were baffled that Zarqawi was not inside the vehicle that was stopped. [...]
After the raid, officials reviewed the overhead video provided by a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle used in the operation. After closely studying the video, a man was seen leaping out of the back of a van and rolling to the side of the road shortly before the vehicle was stopped. Officials think the man was Zarqawi.
They aren't much use in an urban setting, unless you can afford the collateral damage, but they're hell on the roads. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 18, 2005 6:24 AM
If he is killed he becomes a martyr to the jihadis. Ideally he'll be captured like Hussein.
Posted by: Gideon at March 18, 2005 12:12 PM"officials reviewed the overhead video provided by a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle"
What the h*ll purpose is served by leaking to the press that we have this capability in survelience? I know that these Predators have been publicized, but do the Iraqis need to know the particular uses now. I guess I was never cut out for spy work, but my instinct is that the less they know the better.
Posted by: h-man at March 18, 2005 8:29 PM"By either luck or treachery, Zarqawi avoided capture..." If he leapt out the back just before the vehicle was stopped, then word came from the inside that he was about to be picked off. Therefore, treachery.
Posted by: Tom at March 19, 2005 8:42 AMdisinformation to explain his absence (to at large members of his crew) in a way that doesn't involve him being captured ? articles like this should be treated like movie pitches -- "and then he jumps out of the suv, and rolls in a ditch just like arnold in Commando"
given the spate of recent photographs taken of zarqawri, it looks like he is caught or there is a mole very close to him.
Posted by: cjm at March 19, 2005 1:22 PM