Iraqis: Zarqawi hurt in U.S. offensive

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/ny-wozarq0520,0,756899.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

Iraqis: Zarqawi hurt in U.S. offensive

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was injured and almost captured during a recent U.S. offensive near the Iraqi-Syrian border, according to Iraqi security officials.

Al-Zarqawi was not badly wounded, and he managed to escape during the weeklong U.S. siege of the town of Qaim, said two senior security officials who spoke by phone from Iraq and asked not to be named. The officials said their information is based on interrogations of insurgents captured in the area.

....

U.S. intelligence officials say they have heard reports about al-Zarqawi being injured, but they have been unable to confirm them.

....

Iraqi and U.S. forces have come close to capturing al-Zarqawi at least twice before. The latest incident was on Feb. 20, when U.S. forces received a tip that al-Zarqawi was traveling to the city of Ramadi. He escaped, but U.S. troops captured his driver and one of his key lieutenants. They also found al-Zarqawi's laptop, which contained pictures of the militant and information about his associates.

<</SNIP>>

[gratuitous]

1. Doggone it, Snowball got away again!

And his nefarious plan would have succeeded if it weren't for those meddling kids!

[evlbstrd]

2. Damn, not again?

That one leg of his is in damn fine condition.

[tanyev]

3. Is he a super-hero, or what?

[underpants]

4. Whoa whoa whoa-What happend to "no unnamed sources"???

Oh in this case it is all right...right?

[pinerow]

5. I thought he was dead...uhh...I thought he was captured...uhh

i thought he was mortally wounded...uhhh...never mind.

[underpants]

8. See what you get for reading them papers and watching the tube

Zarqawi Eclipsing Bin Laden in Prominence
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119700,00.html
In 1999, after being released from jail in Jordan, Zarqawi formed an alliance with bin Laden allowing Zarqawi to operate a training camp in Afghanistan for Arab fighters committed to the overthrow of Jordan's moderate monarchy.
During the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Zarqawi is believed to have been badly wounded in a U.S. airstrike and fled to Iran. Later, he ended up in Baghdad, where Saddam's regime allowed him to recuperate for several months after having his leg amputated.

But check out how CNN spins itself into the ground trying to cover for Bush five weeks earlier
Tuesday, April 6, 2004
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/06/us.zarqawi/
A U.S. official said Tuesday that al-Zarqawi traveled to Baghdad in May 2002 for treatment of a leg injury but, contrary to previous reports, appears not to have had a leg amputated. The official would not discuss the reason for the change in assessment.
Al-Zarqawi, an associate of Osama bin Laden, had been named by the Bush administration as an al Qaeda member who fled to Iraq from Afghanistan in May 2002 for medical treatment and then stayed to organize terror plots. He came to Iraq with about two dozen al Qaeda terrorists, according to the administration.
Before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and other administration officials pointed to intelligence that they said suggested al-Zarqawi had had his leg amputated in Baghdad.

Unfortunately a YEAR before that report CNN said:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/29/sprj.irq.terrorist.capture/index.html
Zarqawi was said to have received medical treatment in Baghdad in May and June of 2002 after being wounded in Afghanistan during the war. His leg was amputated, U.S. officials say, by a surgeon in Iraq.

[Benhurst]

6. What a shame. If they had killed him, then the Iraqi people,

like the Munchkins, could come out of their funny little homes and shower their liberators with rose petals.

But who would get to wear the ruby slippers? Condi or Bush?

[mr_hat]

7. Maybe they just plugged him in the wooden leg.

[NYC Liberal]

9. Zarqawi sure gets around for a dead guy with one leg huh? nt

[ozymandius]

10. He sure is hurt. I've got a picture right here.

[underpants]

11. LOL

again

[chelsea0011]

18. "only a flesh wound"

[Alpharetta]

12. cue Maxwell Smart

missed him by THAT MUCH

[underpants]

14. ...would you believe "pulled a muscle"?

No oh okay

[ckramer]

13. The only explanation that US couldn't capture him today is that

he has the royal support of the Iraqi people. He will be hard to find if people want to hide him.

[frylock]

15. cough*bullshit*cough

[stickdog]

16. The reports of Emmanuel Goldstein's death have been greatly exaggerated.

[Warren Stupidity]

17. his other prosthetic leg was shot off again

but he managed to run away from the special forces team assigned to track him down. Damn that slippery evil bastard!

Meanwhile rumor has it that osama is running low on his dialysis supplies, what will he do?