Al-Zarqawi Said to Survive Airstrike
2.Special ops A-Team
helped nail Zarqawi
U.S., British defense chiefs formed
task force to kill him 2 months ago
Friday, June 9, 2006 WASHINGTON When Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the
al-Qaida leader in Iraq, was killed today by 500-pound bombs
dropped by two F-16 fighter jets on a house north of Baghdad, it
was the result of intelligence information gathered, in part, by an
elite task force of international special operations forces formed
just a month ago with the express purpose of taking him out.
The "A-Team" created for the mission drew on the skills and
expertise of U.S. Army Green Berets, "Tier 1" of Britain's Special
Air Service and the Israeli Mossad, as reported last month
inJoseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online
intelligence newsletter published by the founder of WND.
The decision to form the unit was taken after a
top-level conference between U.S. and British defense chiefs in
Washington a month ago.
The unit was part of the already-secret Task Force Black run by
Britain's MI6 out of coalition forces headquarters in Baghdad.
Nicknamed " The Untouchables," it was given a no-holds barred brief
in pursuit of Zarqawi in May.
To avoid detection, the team dressed in clothes bought from
second-hand stalls in Baghdad's back-street markets. They regularly
sprayed themselves with a pungent, sweat-smelling odor known as
"souk scent." Each man wore contact lenses that turned their eye
color brown or black. The goal was to permit them to look like any
other Iraqi peasant as they hunted the most bloodthirsty killer in
Iraq.
"The Untouchables" were assured in advance they need fear no
investigation into their methods to bring Zarqawi to summary
justice.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Though Zarqawi was done in ultimately by massive bombs delivered
from high-tech fighters, the unit members were each equipped with
L115A-338 sniper rifles that allowed them to kill at 1,000 yards.
But the key to the mission was the fact that each made high-risk
surveillance operations into normally no-go areas in Iraq.
While officially Israel denies any presence in Iraq, four Mossad
assassins were assigned to serve with the unit.
"The Untouchables" also used thermal-imaging equipment to probe the
"rat holes" the terror chief used as he flitted around Baghdad and
other cities. They also had at their disposal a CIA-operated
Predator unmanned aircraft able to provide a real-time video
feedback of any area where Zarqawi was spotted.
Zarqawi boasted on his website of beheading innocent victims,
including the murders of more than 1,000 British and American
soldiers in Iraq over the past two years. Zarqawi also led
terrorists that killed thousands of Iraqis through relentless
suicide bombings and organized attacks. Many of the bombings were
directed at large crowds of Shi'ites under a strategy U.S. and
Iraqi officials said was designed to trigger a civil war.
Gen. Sir Timothy Granville-Chapman, Britain's vice chief of the
defense staff, had told senior officers in Baghdad that "removing
this terrorist will be a massive blow against al-Qaida."
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told a news conference today the big
breakthrough that led to Zarqawi's location came while U.S. forces
were trailing Zarqawi's spiritual adviser, Sheikh
Abdul-Rahman.
"Through painstaking intelligence efforts we were able to start
tracking him, monitoring his movements. ... Last night, he went to
meet [Zarqawi] again at 6:15 p.m. when the decision was made to go
ahead and strike that target," he added.
Zarqawi came from humble beginnings a former street thug from
Jordan. But he remained elusive despite several U.S. military
offensives, a $25 million bounty on his head and the capture of
what officials said were several of his aides.
Caldwell said an Egyptian militant trained in Afghanistan named Abu
al-Masari, who established the first al-Qaida cell in Baghdad, may
succeed Zarqawi as head of the group in Iraq.
"What everyone needs to understand is the strike last night did not
occur in a 24-hour period," he said. "It truly was a very long,
painstaking, deliberate exploitation of intelligence, information
gathering, human sources, electronics, signal intelligence that was
done over a period of time, many, many weeks."
An Israeli security official told WND final information on
Zarqawi's whereabouts came from Jordanian intelligence, saying
Egyptian intelligence had the same information.
There were six people in the house, including a woman and a child,
but only Zarqawi and Abdul-Rahman have been identified.
Caldwell said important information was found at the location that
led to 17 simultaneous raids later that night in Baghdad and its
outskirts that uncovered a "treasure trove" of information.
But he cautioned against being overly optimistic because Zarqawi's
followers still posed a threat.
"It's not the beginning or the end but it is a step forward," said
Caldwell. "Ridding Iraq of Zarqawi will not instantaneously stop
the violence."
