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The Zarqawi Phenomenon by Dahr Jamail, July 6, 2005, from his Iraq Dispatches Digest, Vol. 11, Issue 1

The Zarqawi Phenomenon
By Dahr Jamail

A remarkable proportion of the violence taking place in Iraq is
regularly credited to the Jordanian Ahmad al-Khalayleh, better known as
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and his organization Al Qaeda in Iraq. Sometimes
it seems no car bomb goes off, no ambush occurs that isn't claimed in
his name or attributed to him by the Bush administration. Bush and his
top officials have, in fact, made good use of him, lifting his reputed
feats of terrorism to epic, even mythic, proportions (much aided by
various mainstream media outlets). Given that the invasion and
occupation of Iraq has now been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be
based upon administration lies and manipulations, I had begun to wonder
if the vaunted Zarqawi even existed.

Continue reading by clicking on the bold headline at top.


About Dahr Jamail:

Weary of the overall failure of the US media to accurately report on the realities of the war in Iraq for the Iraqi people and US soldiers, Dahr Jamail went to Iraq to report on the war himself.

His dispatches were quickly recognized as an important media resource and he is now writing for the Inter Press Service, The Asia Times and many other outlets. His reports have also been published with The Nation, The Sunday Herald, Islam Online, and the Guardian to name just a few. Dahr's dispatches and hard news stories have been translated into Polish, German, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic and Turkish. On the radio, Dahr is a special correspondent for Flashpoints and reports for the BBC, Democracy Now!, and numerous other stations around the globe.

Dahr has spent a total of 8 months in occupied Iraq as one of only a few independent US journalists in the country. Dahr uses the DahrJamailIraq.com website and his popular mailing list to disseminate his dispatches.

Please visit Dahr Jamail's website for honest news from Iraq and the plight of the Iraqi people.

posted by Annamarie at 10:10 PM