While the CIA may no longer have an office dedicated to finding Osama bin Laden, apparently, somewhere in the Bush administration is an office in charge of making deals to help Bin Laden rid himself of certain meddlesome terror lieutenants, at least, that's the story being told by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's family members. And then there's this, courtesy of CNN:
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had the phone numbers of senior Iraqi officials stored in his cell phone, according to an Iraqi legislator.
Waiel Abdul-Latif, a member of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's party, said Monday that authorities found the numbers after al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed in a U.S. air strike on June 7.
Abdul-Latif did not give names of the officials. But he said they included ministry employees and members of parliament.
He called for an investigation, saying Iraqis "cannot have one hand with the government and another with the terrorists."
Meanwhile, al-Zarqawi's wife told an Italian newspaper that al Qaeda leaders sold him out to the United States in exchange for a promise to let up in the search for Osama bin Laden.
The woman, identified by La Repubblica as al-Zarqawi's first wife, said al Qaeda's top leadership reached a deal with U.S. intelligence because al Zarqawi had become too powerful.
She claimed Sunni tribes and Jordanian secret services mediated the deal.
"My husband has been sold to the Americans," the woman said in an interview published Sunday. "He had become too powerful, too troublesome."
She was identified only as "Um Mohammed," which means "mother of Mohammed" and would be a nickname, not her full name.
The Rome-based newspaper said the interview was conducted in Geneva and described her as Jordanian and about 40 years old.
In Jordan, Al-Zarqawi's eldest brother, Sayel al-Khalayleh, said the family had not been aware of the woman's whereabouts for about two years.
Iraq's national security adviser said Sunday that al-Zarqawi had been buried in a "secret location" in Baghdad despite his family's demand that the body be returned to his native Jordan. Hey, but I thought Bin Laden thought Zarqawi to be a "great knight for al-Qaida?" Confused yet? Me too.
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Tags: Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, Bush, GWOT, Iraq, Terrorism, Osama, Zarqawi |
