Zarqawi-Bin Laden Link Is ‘Credible,’ U.S. Says

U.S. counter-terrorism officials Monday described as “credible” an Internet announcement in which Abu Musab Zarqawi’s network in Iraq purportedly “pledged allegiance” to Osama bin Laden.

The CIA, other U.S. intelligence agencies and foreign counter-terrorism officials are working to decipher what led to the apparent alliance, according to one U.S. counter-terrorism official.

In a message posted Sunday on a website linked to Zarqawi’s network, someone claiming to be Zarqawi said that Jamaat al Tawhid wal Jihad recently “joined under the banner of Al Qaeda.”

“We announce that the Tawhid wal Jihad group, its prince and soldiers, have pledged allegiance to the sheik of the mujahedin Osama bin Laden,” the statement said.

“We view it as credible,” the U.S. official said, adding that U.S. authorities believed it was evidence that the two groups had entered into a formal and “mutually beneficial” arrangement.

“It isn’t clear what it means, but it certainly isn’t a positive development,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “For Zarqawi, it certainly elevates his standing among his followers and in the jihad at large.”

The official and other authorities said they believed the two groups would seek to combine resources and organizational know-how in an effort to mount a unified effort in Iraq and galvanize Islamic militants elsewhere against the United States and its allies.

In the Internet posting, the person claiming to be Zarqawi hailed the alliance as “the leading unified brigade of the mujahedin” and called on young Islamic men to unify under its umbrella in an effort to purify Iraq and other Islamic lands of non-Islamic Western influences.

Though Zarqawi’s organization and Al Qaeda have shared similar goals and perhaps even some resources in the past, there has been much disagreement -- even among U.S. officials -- about whether the groups have been communicating and coordinating efforts or whether the Jordanian militant was operating independently.

Zarqawi and Bin Laden share some similarities. Both are Sunni Muslims who went to Afghanistan to fight the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. Zarqawi later returned to Jordan, was jailed by authorities there, then returned to Afghanistan to set up a training camp.

Numerous sources said there was tension between him and Bin Laden’s group. Later, he made his way to Iraq. Over the last year, Zarqawi has gained worldwide notoriety for a series of kidnappings, many of which led to the beheadings of civilian hostages from the United States and its allies. The U.S. government has placed a $25-million bounty on Zarqawi’s head and designated Jamaat al Tawhid wal Jihad a terrorist organization.

As his group has become more active, Zarqawi has sought increasingly to differentiate it from Al Qaeda. In a lengthy letter that U.S. authorities intercepted in January and later attributed to him, Zarqawi described how Islamic terrorists needed to attack the U.S.-backed Shiite leadership in Iraq -- a strategy Al Qaeda had rejected.

Al Qaeda leaders also favored mass casualty attacks over Zarqawi’s emphasis on smaller operations. They began to resent Zarqawi’s efforts to use the Internet and media outlets to promote his organization, American and allied intelligence officials say.

Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman, said the Internet posting supported President Bush’s contention that Zarqawi’s group had long been in league with Al Qaeda, and that their alliance was one reason the administration needed to go to war with Iraq.

U.S. officials said it was also possible, but less likely, that Zarqawi was scrambling for a broader base of support as Iraqi officials demanded that militants in the Sunni stronghold of Fallouja hand him over or face a military offensive.

The author of the Internet statement appeared to underscore the distinctions between Zarqawi’s followers and Al Qaeda. He said the decision by the groups to join forces came after eight months of discussion, negotiations and even discord, in part over how to best fight the United States and its occupation of Iraq, according to various translations of his announcement.

He hinted at possible attacks: “Expecting the month of Ramadan to grant us great victories, it has compelled the Muslims to join together so that they are [a united force] in the eye of the enemies of our religion.” Ramadan began Friday.

Several international counter-terrorism experts said the announcement was significant because, even as it underscored the differences between the two groups, it demonstrated that they had recognized the benefits of uniting against a common enemy.

“Both the Republicans and the Democrats will gloss over this and try to use it to their political advantage and miss the underlying meaning of this,” said Evan Kohlmann of Global Terror Alert, which has closely tracked Zarqawi’s rise in Iraq.

“The fact that these guys are now celebrating this is something we need to take notice of and consider. They’ve never been the best of friends, and at the time our allies are revising any future involvement with us in Iraq, these guys are jumping on the bandwagon with each other.”

Jean-Charles Brisard, who investigated Al Qaeda for a French intelligence service, said the announcement seemed to indicate an official admission by Al Qaeda that Zarqawi’s rash of targeted, small-scale attacks and kidnappings in Iraq had been a success.

“For me it’s more likely that this is Al Qaeda finally endorsing Zarqawi’s strategy,” Brisard said.

“It is a recognition that Zarqawi’s group is well armed and has a lot of support and recruits coming from outside Iraq.”