zarqawi propaganda

* canon on zarqawi:

"Any details provided by officaldom would never convince, since so many recent events have justified cynicism. The Casey slideshow (where the USG documented that Zarq was propaganda) confirmed what many had already suspected: Zarqawi existed solely because he fulfilled a propaganda function. Once that fact became known, it was necessary to bury the revelation. First came the video. When that ploy failed, Zarqawi lost his value as bogeyman and thus had to die."

* riverbend:

" I never thought I’d actually miss the car bombs. At least a car bomb is indiscriminate. It doesn’t seek you out because you’re Sunni or Shia."

* abc:

"U.S. military officials gave no thought to capturing Abu Musab al-Zarqawi alive, U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad tells ABC News.
Khalilzad says he was informed yesterday by General George Casey that the military was getting close to al-Zarqawi and that there was no plan to move in troops for a possible capture."

* rawstory:

"According to activists from Des Moines, Philadelphia, Miami, Sacramento, and other locations, a young woman named "Anna" allegedly infiltrated peace and justice rallies and anarchist meetings, and even attempted to join protests against the Democratic National Committee (DNC) ahead of the DNC's national convention last year as a paid FBI confidential "informant." Activists say that she has tried to provoke conflict at various advocacy events and violent incidents with police to get people arrested. In other words, Anna is not just an informant, she may be a provocateur."

* rawstory:

"The Federal Bureau of Investigations is examining the personal finances records of House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA), his wife and two aides as part of its investigation into the defense contract lobbying scandals linked to disgraced Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA), according to today's Roll Call.
A special agent was also dispatched to the office of another Congressman, Ken Calvert (R-CA) in order to retrieve records."

* i can't find it online, but CNN's Candy Crowley said that Zarqawi could issue instructions "just by moving his eyes" - which kinda reminded me of this foreign policy makin' from the NYT:

"The president grimaced, one aide recalled, interpreting the look as one of exasperation "that said, 'O.K., team, what's the answer?' ""

* blumenthal:

" Former President George H.W. Bush waged a secret campaign over several months early this year to remove Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The elder Bush went so far as to recruit Rumsfeld's potential replacement, personally asking a retired four-star general if he would accept the position, a reliable source close to the general told me. But the former president's effort failed, apparently rebuffed by the current president... The elder Bush's intervention was an extraordinary attempt to rescue simultaneously his son, the family legacy and the country... But the realist was trying to shake the fantasist in vain."