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06/16/2005:

"Al-Zarqawi Blamed for Spike in Iraq Deaths"

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A U.S. general on Thursday blamed Iraq's recent spike in bloodshed on a terrorist leader condoning the killing of fellow Muslims, while a suicide car bomber rammed into a truck in Baghdad, killing at least eight police officers and wounding 25 others.

The U.S. military also reported that five Marines and a sailor were killed Wednesday near the volatile western city of Ramadi.

Separately, Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez was charged with murder Wednesday in the deaths last week of two Army officers at a base north of Baghdad, the military said Thursday.

The military initially attributed the June 7 killings of the officers - Capt. Phillip T. Esposito 30, of Suffern, N.Y., and 1st Lt. Louis E. Allen, 34, of Milford, Pa. - to an insurgent mortar attack near Tikrit but said further investigation showed the blast pattern was inconsistent with such an attack.

Jordanian-born terrorist leader Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi's hope to provoke sectarian war suffered a setback Thursday when the Shiite-led parliament and leaders of the disaffected Sunni Arab minority, which is thought to provide the backbone of the insurgency, agreed on a process for drafting Iraq's constitution.

Elsewhere, dozens of hooded insurgents surrounded a downtown mosque in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, to prevent a meeting of local politicians and tribal leaders on the country's new charter and reconciliation efforts.

``We told them to leave Iraq's issues for us, we are the only ones who can liberate Iraq by fighting infidels and not by holding conferences. And instead of spending money for this conference, they have to give it to us to buy weapons to help our fighting against the Americans,'' a masked man told Iraqi reporters outside the empty mosque.

U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Don Alston took aim at al-Zarqawi, saying the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq is most responsible for the nearly 1,100 violent deaths since the Shiite-led government took office seven weeks ago.

``With Zarqawi's push recently, we certainly see the fantastic rise in the number of civilians killed, given that he has proclaimed that taking out civilians is an acceptable thing,'' said Alston, spokesman for the U.S.-led international military force in Iraq.

Last month, an audiotape said to be from al-Zarqawi denounced the country's majority Shiites as collaborators with the Americans and said it was justified for Muslims to kill such people even if they are Muslims.

Alston's focus on al-Zarqawi, whose small group is blamed for many of the bloodiest attacks and hostage takings in Iraq, apparently was aimed at reinforcing growing dissatisfaction among Iraqis over insurgents targeting civilians. He said that anger has brought an increase in calls to tip lines.

``We are getting reports that cells in his network are concerned about the consequences of this behavior and a consequence of what it has done to the Iraqi people,'' Alston said. ``The Iraqi people are increasingly exposing the insurgency. This is not a popular insurgency.''
Full: guardian.co.uk

Gee Zarqawi is doing the Americans so much good he ought to be working for them. O wait...he probably is.