Zarqawi planning chemical attack in Europe: German press

[ECH1969]

Iraq's most wanted man, the fugitive Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been planning a chemical weapons attack in Europe, a German magazine said on Wednesday, citing intelligence sources. "We in Europe have been afraid that a big bang is coming sometime and that Zarqawi is planning it," an official at Germany's BND federal intelligence service told the April edition of the political monthly "Cicero".

According to the magazine, the Jordanian extremist and his supporters, who are linked to the Al-Qaeda network, have been trying to get hold of arms components in Russia's volatile north Caucasus region and in Georgia. Another BND source said that it was unclear whether Zarqawi's attempts had been successful. "We only know that he is working on it," the source said. Cicero said intelligence sources presume he has at least 150 supporters.

Some of them are thought to have operated in the southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg and the capital Berlin where they have tried to set up terrorist cells for a "holy war", it said.

http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/050330103318.mtprfsnv

[whistle]

1. Five days ago BushCo said they had Abu Musab al-Zarqawi...

...surrounded. They must have surrounded him from an elevation of 40,000 feet, eh.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Gee, I thought they had al -Zarqawi surrounded and were about to

capture/kill him the other day. What happened to that 'news' story?

[Guckert]

6. they had the country surrounded and they assume he is in the country.

And we are the Stupidest country in the world. Look at our Leader.

[jayfish]

11. Nice!

:rofl:

Jay

[Newsjock]

3. Info about the magazine: "Promoting conservative values"

http://www.goethe.de/kug/mui/pre/thm/en212212.htm

... Promoting conservative values

So what are Cicero's political leanings? Here, Wolfram Weimer's response is adroit. "We are not left-wing or right-wing; we are clever." It's a marketing expert's answer. However, the choice of topics and authors provides a clearer insight. For example, the October issue contains an interview with former Reagan advisor Francis Fukuyama, a self-proclaimed neo-conservative. There is an extract from the new book, Who are we?, by Samuel Huntington – the author who once caused a furore with his "Clash of Civilizations" theory. CDU politician Rainer Barzel writes about fear in Germany, while journalist Klaus Harprecht demands: "Give us back our taboos!" Author Daniel Wolf, who writes for Britain's Spectator, describes Ernesto Che Guevara as an "unscrupulous thug and a fool". And in his closing article, Wolfram Weimer lumps left-wing PDS and extreme right-wing voters together, coining the acronym "PDSNPDDVU" to describe his creation. In a similar vein, he makes little distinction between "male sperm from Holland" and "trafficking in women from Russia" – both are equally abhorrent, in his view: both are a "perversion of human capital".

Weimer enjoys harking back to Kurt Tucholsky and his cultural and political weekly, Die Weltbühne. But there is one major difference – Die Weltbühne was a mouthpiece for the intellectual left. Cicero is clearly nothing of the sort.

[MrPrax]

10. Sounds nostelgic...

Mostly American neo-con intellectuals, huh?

Why the average German would be interested in Fuckyama or Huntington is a bit of a stretch...

Seems more like one of those publications the ACCF used to sponser back in the 50s...

"Say Fritz have you heard about that American artist Mark Rothko, all of Europe is agog over...?"

"Yes Hans, By 1950 Rothko had reduced the number of floating rectangles to two, three, or four and aligned them vertically against a colored ground, arriving at his signature style."

[Guckert]

4. Surrounded and planning an attack. quite a multi-tasker he is.

I wonder if he will be giving a class on that at the learning Exchange soon?

[radwriter0555]

5. The dead guy? Ooh, get me the popcorn, I wanna watch!

I LOVE watching dead guys RISE up and attack!

[Mugweed]

7. Maybe the US is helping him plan

Who knows what a good terrorist attack in Germany or France might do to help the US promote their American Imperialism Middle-East Tour?

[FloridaPat]

8. We invade, we destroy and kill so the "enemy" is going after Europe?

Sure. That makes as much sense as Bush going after Iraq because 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. And again, unnamed sources.

[SnowGoose]

14. Exactly! That would be stupid.

Come on, divide and conquer, that's pretty basic... if there's already acrimony between the US and Europe that would tend to advance 'terrorists' putative goals of isolating and weakening the US.

An attack such as that would tend to drive the US and Europe together because of mutual interests. This would *not* advance the above goals.

So, if 'they' wouldn't benefit from such an attack, who would benefit? Hmmmmm.....

[adigal]

9. Wasn't he surrounded a few days ago???

How did that tricky terrorist escape again???

[billyoc]

12. They caught hold of him by his

detatchable leg, and he slipped away again. :eyes:

[AlCzervik]

13. and don't forget, he's also dead.

[Shadder]

15. Several times over

As I recall, but he just keeps on coming back. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but he also lost his legs at one point also.

[AlCzervik]

16. yes they said it happend in Afghanistan but who knows, he's just the

generic boogeyman now.