"From the information we have gathered we have to conclude that Zarqawi is more myth than man," one "military intelligence agent" told the British Telegraph.
" At some stage, and perhaps even now, he was almost certainly behind some of the kidnappings," said the agent. "But if there is a main leader of the insurgency he would be an Iraqi. The insurgency, though, is not nearly so centralised to talk of a structured leadership."
The spook goes on to cite the U.S.'s lack of intel in Iraq: "We were basically paying up to $10,000 a time to opportunists, criminals and chancers who passed off fiction and supposition about Zarqawi as cast-iron fact, making him out as the linchpin of just about every attack in Iraq," he said. "Back home this stuff was gratefully received and formed the basis of policy decisions. We needed a villain, someone identifiable for the public to latch on to, and we got one."
There's also this from the piece: "Military intelligence officials complain that their reports to Washington, are largely being ignored. They accuse the Pentagon of over-reliance on electronic surveillance and aerial and satellite reconnaissance carried out for the CIA."
Of course, this is the British press, but I buy it...
And yes, I made many of the same points a few months ago.
Comments