Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al Qaeda’s Robespierre

DHinMI at The Next Hurrah has a great article on Zarqawi. However, I think he along with most of the world tends to buy the hype created by the news media and the Bush Administration spin masters looking for someone to focus on as a bad guy in Iraq. How much of the information in the press is true is unclear. But there are some hints that imply differences that few seem to notice.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Zarqawi has typically been represented as a lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, when in fact he’s probably more aptly described as a Jihadist “fellow traveler,” with many common goals but important differences.

He's on the mark on this observation. The connections with Al Qaeda may well have been an after thought by a man wanting to grab media attention while pursuing what maybe different goals.

Zarqawi dropped out of school at 17. He arrived in Afghanistan in 1989, just in time to see the Soviets retreat back north. He does not appear to have undergone much tutelage in Islamist theory. After leaving Afghanistan he spears to have circulated through European Jihadi circles before landing in a Jordanian prison from 1992 to 1999 for plotting to overthrow the Jordanian monarchy. Upon release he went to Afghanistan, but instead of joining with Al Qaeda, he set up a rival training operation. Instead of planning sophisticated attacks in Western locales, or networking with Jihadis throughout Western Europe to work on financing and logistics, Zarqawi focused instead on more guerrilla-oriented tactics. Rather than bin Laden or Zawahiri, [Zarqawi] lacked any theoretical sophistication, but was known as a fierce, brutal but charismatic tactical leader of guerrilla insurgency, [who] espouses a regeneration of the Caliphate, of neccesity by violent means.

Intelligence seems to be an oxymoron in Washington, especially during the run up to the invasion of Iraq. But every source I've seen believes Zarqawi received medical treat in Baghdad in 2002, with or without the knowledge of Saddam. It seems likely Saddam's hold on power was tenuous, so he was busy retaining power. Its unlikely Saddam would approve what apparently happened next. During Zarqawi's stay in Baghdad, some number of his associates set up a base of operations in the capital to move people, money and supplies throughout the country in support of Ansar al-Islam, ideologically, s rigid Salafi Sunni Muslim group, based in Kurdistan outside of Saddam's influence. Salafis consider Shiite Muslims to be apostates, a people who have rejected Islam and blasphemers in that they worship their Imams as if they are idols in the image of Allah. The combination of Ansar al-Islam and Zarqawi's Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad became Ansar al-Sunna. Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for sending suicide bombers to PUK and KDP headquarters in Erbil, detonating themselves almost simultaneously, killing 109 people in February 2004.
Zarqawi has acted consistent with his allegiance to Salafi beliefs. Later renaming his group to Al Qaeda in Iraq, he declared war on Shiites, decimated Kurdish leadership, and recruited significant numbers of Salafi Sunnis in Iraq, Jordan and Syria, and their cousins, Saudi Wahhabis, to support his goal of civil war. Its not clear Zarqawi is still alive, but his organization surely is. Although Al Qaeda in Iraq may wish to dominate Iraq again, presumably they are more realistically committed to a partition of Iraq intending to include very likely oil wells around Kirkuk.
DHinMI continues:

Zarqawi doesn't appear to care that the actions he sanctions, leads or claims were the work of his organization are often deplored by fellow Muslims. It's too soon to determine whether the Amman bombings will diminish his stature in the Arab and Muslim societies. But like fellow beheader Robespierre in the French Revolution, Stalin and Mao during their purges, or the deranged Khmer Rouge who perpetrated a savage, enormous class genocide in Cambodia, Zarqawi seems to be moving into a stage where he believes it's more important to pursue his vision of societal and culture-wide cleansing of impure elements, even if it results in the deaths of innocents.

As rabid Salafi, he and/or his organization, Al Qaeda in Iraq, believe they know what Islam is supposed to be and see apostates among Sunnis as well as Shiite. They have enemies in Jordan as well as Iraq. I believe Al Qaeda in Iraq has a regional perspective. It's goals are focused on the Salafi areas of western Iraq, eastern Jordan and Syria. They are seeking to further their own goals, not a pan Islamic movement. Once they've reached their goals, they will be more than willing to join the pan Islamic Caliphate Jihad.