Zarqawi network appeals for help in first signals of defeat

Zarqawi network appeals for help in first signals of
defeat



SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, November 26, 2004
BAGHDAD �? Sunni insurgents backing Abu Mussib Al
Zarqawi have expressed alarm at the prospect of a
defeat by the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

An audio tape said to be from Al Zarqawi charged
Muslim clerics with letting down the insurgency
"because of your silence."

On Wednesday, Al Zarqawi, with a $25 million bounty on
his head, was the target of a major manhunt in the
Sunni Triangle, Middle East Newsline reported. Iraqi
military sources said Al Zarqawi was said to have been
seen in an area south of Fallujah.

Islamic sources said that for the first time in more
than a year the Tawhid and Jihad group led by Al
Zarqawi appears to have lost control over many of its
insurgents in the Sunni Triangle.

The sources said Iraqi and U.S. assaults on major
insurgency strongholds in such cities as Baghdad,
Fallujah, Mosul, Ramadi and Samara have resulted in
heavy insurgency casualties and a break in the command
and control structure.

Over the last few days, Al Zarqawi supporters have
appealed for help from Al Qaida and related groups.
The sources said Al Qaida's allies, including the
Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call, have sought to
increase recruitment of Muslim volunteers to fight the
coalition.

The Internet has also reflected the growing concern
that Islamic insurgents would be routed in Iraq. A
message posted on an Islamic website appealed for help
from Islamic insurgents in Afghanistan, Chechnya,
Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority.

The message, posted by a purported insurgency
supporter who used the name Abu Ahmed Al Baghdadi,
acknowledged that the Sunni insurgency has been harmed
by the U.S.-led offensive in Fallujah. Al Baghdadi
said insurgents have lost their haven in Fallujah, but
asserted that Al Zarqawi has acquired a broader base
for operations and recruitment.

For his part, Al Zarqawi has also expressed concern
over the U.S. military operation against Fallujah,
Mosul and other insurgency strongholds.

On Wednesday, an audio tape posted on an Islamic
website and purportedly from Al Zarqawi accused Muslim
clerics of failing to support the insurgency in Iraq.

"You have let us down in the darkest circumstances and
handed us over to the enemy," the message said. "You
have stopped supporting the holy warriors. Hundreds of
thousands of the nation's sons are being slaughtered
at the hands of the infidels because of your silence."

In early November, Al Baghdadi posted a plan for the
Tawhid group to take over Iraq. Islamic sources said
Al Baghdadi was believed to be pseudonym used by a
major Islamic operative.

Al Zarqawi accused unnamed clerics and scholars of
preventing Muslims from joining the Sunni insurgency
in Iraq. He said Muslim clerics abandoned the
insurgents to the United States.

"Are your hearts not shaken by the scenes of your
brothers being surrounded and hurt by your enemy?" Al
Zarqawi asked.

"How long will you continue to abandon the nation to
the tyrants of the east and of the west, who are
inflicting the worst suffering, cutting the throats of
the holy warriors, the best children of the nation,
and taking its riches?"





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