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[Kuroyume]

Iraqi Group Threatens to Kill Al-Zarqawi

By TAREK EL-TABLAWY, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A group of armed, masked Iraqi men threatened Tuesday to kill Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi if he did not immediately leave the country, accusing him of murdering innocent Iraqis and defiling the Muslim religion.

The threats revealed the deep anger many Iraqis, including insurgent groups, feel toward foreign fighters, whom many consider as illegitimate a presence here as the 160,000 U.S. and other coalition troops.

In a videotape sent to the al-Arabiya television station, a group calling itself the "Salvation Movement," questioned how al-Zarqawi could use Islam to justify the killing of innocent civilians, the targeting of government officials and the kidnapping and beheading of foreigners.

"He must leave Iraq (news - web sites) immediately, he and his followers and everyone who gives shelter to him and his criminal actions," said a man on the video.

The video marked the first time that an Iraqi group made such a public threat against al-Zarqawi.

It was issued a day after U.S.-led coalition forces, who have been targeting al-Zarqawi, launched an air strike in the restive city of Fallujah on a suspected safe house used by his followers. The attack killed 15 people, witnesses said.

In the video, three men, their faces covered with Arab headscarves, were flanked by rocket propelled grenades and an Iraqi flag. The man speaking had a clear Iraqi accent.

"We swear to Allah that we have started preparing ... to capture him and his allies or kill them and present them as gift to our people." the man said. "This is the last warning. If you don't stop, we will do to you what the coalition forces have failed to do."

@_@

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=3&u=/ap/20040706/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_28

 

[Funky Papa]

This is:

a) Propaganda (looks like we had not enough)
b) The possible point of no return for a civil war

Make your pick.

 

[Malleymal]

LOLLLL SALVATIOwNed?

 

[Ripclawe]

not surprising, zarqawi is sunni, this group is probably shiite who zarqaqi thinks are fake muslims anyway.

and there is the 40+ tribes of shiites who want to level Falluja where zarqawi is supposedly hiding.

 

[robochimp]

This is:


b) The possible point of no return for a civil war

Make your pick.

a few dudes and a camcorder is all it takes?

 

[Funky Papa]

If they are just a few dudes with a camcorder it is just propaganda. If they are really trying to kill that bastard... well, it will not be pretty.

 

[Pimpwerx]

Well, if the terrorists started killing terrorists, then I think we might finally have figured out a solution to this problem. PEACE.

 

[ChrisReid]

If they are just a few dudes with a camcorder it is just propaganda. If they are really trying to kill that bastard... well, it will not be pretty.

Is it really a civil war if al-Zarqawi is Jordanian?

 

[Funky Papa]

Is it really a civil war if al-Zarqawi is Jordanian?

It is not the nacionality, it is the consecuence, there are a lot of people in Iraq that support that man.

Iraq is living at the very verge of a civil war, it is not like you need a huge rock on the rails to wreck the entire train, at least that's what I fear.

 

[Alcibiades]

There may be lots of people who support than man in Iraq, but so is there in the US, other Arab nations, other Muslim nation, you'll always find extremists, and maybe because of anger over the occupation many in Iraq support him, but it wouldn't be geographical/demographical support as much as it would be general anti-US support...

That said, the AP is not part of some propagonda project, and if it is to be believed that Iraqis are indeed "nationalistic", it would make sense for there to be anger the murdering of Iraqis by foreigners, American or Jordanian (or for that matter Iranian, since they are #2 on the enemy list for Iraq behind America)...

If it was like 80% of Sunnis supporting him killing Shiites and 80% of Shiites hating him, I can understand the "civil war" notion...

Iraqis may "hate America" in the traditional sense (the way Egyptians, Iranians, Jordanians, etc... dislike the support of Israel), but that's still a far cry from the fundamentalism espoused by the Wahabi tribes in Saudi Arabia and/or Bin Laden followers where America is the "great Satan"...

Besides, there is a difference between the banding of foreign terrorists against the US and Iraq government and having Sunni Muslims in Iraq join his cause (actually fighting and suicide bombing) against their government...