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Laptop in militant truck aided capture of zarqawi aides { April 27 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/27/international/middleeast/27zarqawi.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/27/international/middleeast/27zarqawi.html
April 27, 2005
Laptop in Iraq Militant's Truck Aided Capture of His Aides
By DAVID S. CLOUD
WASHINGTON, April 26 - The recovery of a laptop computer in Iraq by American forces in February has helped in the capture of several associates of the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.
The laptop was found in a vehicle used by Mr. Zarqawi as he fled to avoid imminent capture by American troops near the city of Ramadi on Feb. 20, the officials said. ABC News, which disclosed the existence of the laptop this week, reported that United States officials believed they had nearly caught Mr. Zarqawi there after receiving a tip.
Using leads found on the computer, troops have taken into custody several suspected associates of Mr. Zarqawi in the past two months and have raided at least one location in Iraq where bomb-making materials were found, according to one Defense Department official. A senior Pentagon official said, "It's been very valuable information."
Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed at a Pentagon briefing with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday that the United States believes it nearly captured Mr. Zarqawi in the raid. "We were close," General Myers said.
He and Mr. Rumsfeld said the military has recently received better intelligence about Mr. Zarqawi, but neither would say whether it was coming from the laptop. "I think, in general, the intelligence is getting better. Having said that, we still don't have Zarqawi and other leaders that we are looking for as well," General Myers said.
Computers belonging to Islamic militants have sometimes provided important windows into their operational planning, intelligence officials say. Last year, United States homeland security officials raised the terror alert level after finding detailed surveillance reports on financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington on a computer recovered in Pakistan.
Mr. Zarqawi's organization, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, has claimed responsibility for bombings, beheadings and ambushes that have killed hundreds across Iraq in the past two years.
Asked Tuesday about Mr. Zarqawi's importance in the insurgency, Mr. Rumsfeld said: "In terms of lethality, I would rank him quite high."
He added, "He may be doing it through proxies, through criminals on some cases. But there have been quite a few suicide attacks in Iraq, and that is not something that criminals tend to get up in the morning and say, 'Gee, I think I'll go engage in a suicide attack.' " He added that suicide attacks are also unattractive to former Saddam Hussein loyalists, because they "want to take back the country."
Until late last year, terrorism experts said Mr. Zarqawi had maintained his independence from Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, despite their mutual animosity toward the United States, largely because Mr. Zarqawi wanted to escape from the Saudi militant's control. But a statement in October attributed to Mr. Zarqawi urged the unification of their two efforts and asserted that Mr. Zarqawi had sworn allegiance for the first time to Mr. bin Laden.
Mr. Rumsfeld said intelligence analysts now believed that Mr. bin Laden gives Mr. Zarqawi "broad direction," rather than "detailed instructions," on carrying out the insurgency. He said analysts also believe the two groups have begun exchanges that may include operatives and money.
Pentagon officials said Mr. Zarqawi appeared to have eluded American troops positioned around Ramadi by sending a car carrying associates ahead of the truck he was in. When troops stopped the car, the trailing truck turned around and fled. When American soldiers eventually caught up with the vehicle, Mr. Zarqawi was gone, ABC News reported, in an account confirmed by several Defense Department officials. Pentagon officials said Tuesday that the laptop and more than $100,000 were found in the truck.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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