THE STORY BEHIND ZARQAWI'S DEATH: WAS THERE A LEGAL BASIS FOR HIS ASSASSINATION? by Jennifer Van Bergen

"...the killing of Zarqawi is FAR from being as simple as the media is portraying it..."


www.counterpunch.org/vanbergen06132006.html [link to www.counterpunch.org]

June 12, 2006


Was There a Legal Basis for His Assassination?

The Story Behind Zarqawi's Death


By JENNIFER VAN BERGEN


A bu Musab Al Zarqawi is dead. The Jordanian-born Zarqawi was in a meeting with associates at a "safe house" just north of Baghdad last Wednesday (June 7) when he was killed in a joint operation with Iraq carried out by U.S. air forces. Zarqawi has been called the head of "the Sunni insurgency" and the leader of "al-Qaeda in Iraq." On June 8, the Washington Post characterized him as "the mastermind behind hundreds of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq."

However, in April the Washington Post revealed that military documents showed Zarqawi was not as important as was widely believed. The documents showed that the U.S. intentionally magnified Zarqawi's importance both in Iraq and in the U.S. in order to direct violence against Zarqawi from other Iraqis.

Additionally, Greg Palast has made a compelling case that Zarqawi's insurgency was the result of the U.S. policy to sell off Iraqi assets to big business rather than allowing elections to go forward.

More complicating factors in Zarqawi's death: there have been recent unconfirmed reports of a possible rift between Zarqawi and al Qaeda that may have resulted in his demotion or in him being "cut loose," and only minutes after his death was announced, the long-unfilled seats of Iraqi interior minister, defense minister, and national security adviser were quickly filled "in a giddy session of parliament."

The coincidence between these events and Zarqawi's death seems too great to be ignored.

The Creation of Zarqawi

The "Zarqawi PSYOP Program," as it was called in one internal military briefing, was apparently seen as "the most successful information campaign to date." Another briefing defined the purpose of the program as being to "Villainize Zarqawi/leverage xenophobia response." The program used three methods: media operations, special (covert) operations, and PSYOP.

PSYOP is the military term for military actions designed to influence the perceptions and attitudes of individuals, groups, and foreign governments. PSYOP is short for "psychological operations."

One document reveals that Col. Derek Harvey, who was a military intelligence officer in Iraq and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, considered that "The long-term threat is not Zarqawi or religious extremists, but these former regime types and their friends."

Another briefing, possibly quoting Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the military's chief spokesman in 2004, said: "Through aggressive Strategic Communications, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi now represents: Terrorism in Iraq/Foreign Fighters in Iraq/Suffering of Iraqi People (Infrastructure Attacks)/Denial of Iraqi Aspirations."

Was Zarqawi made into a terrorist by "aggressive strategic communications" of the U.S. military? Perhaps the Pentagon is taking more credit than is due it, but if Palast is correct, the actions and policies of Paul Bremer in Iraq contributed to Zarqawi's rise.

Bremer's policies, according to Palast, caused the insurgency. Bremer "instituted democracy Bush style: he canceled elections and appointed the entire government himself." Two months later, Bremer "ordered a halt to all municipal elections including the crucial vote to Shia seeking to select a mayor in the city of Najaf." Then Bremer issued ""Order Number One: De-Ba'athification." Palast says that "In effect, this became 'De-Sunni-fication.'"

According to Palast, "ThePlan" - "101-page document to guide the long-term future of the land we'd just conquered" was to sell off Iraqi assets and create a corporate-owned Iraq. Bremer began to bust Iraqi collaborators; those who had secretly collaborated with the U.S. invasion. According to one collaborator, this action was "a gift" to foreign insurgents who, in Palast's words, "now gained experienced military commanders, Sunnis, who now had no choice but to fight the US-installed regime or face arrest, ruin or death." These insurgents soon linked up with Zarqawi, "who was committed to destroying 'Shia snakes.'"

Legitimate Target?

If it is true that Zarqawi was not as significant a threat as portrayed, that "aggressive strategic communications" made him seem more than he really was, or, in any case, that Bremer's policies "created" Zarqawi, can he still be a legitimate target?

An alleged propaganda video of the "terror mastermind" obtained by the Pentagon shows him as an incompetent leader, confused about how to operate an automatic weapon. Michel Chossudovsky notes that Zarqawi's supposed incompetence "seems at odds with previous media reports" and with Colin Powell's historic presentation to the UN Security Council on February 5, 2003 in which "Zarqawi is upheld as a casus belli" cause of war.

"Meanwhile," says Chossudovsky, "the US has set up an elaborate military command structure . . . to protect the homeland against Zarqawi . . . "

Last Edited by theDtrain on 09/25/2011 05:37 PM