U.S. officials: Al-Zarqawi group's statement credible
Militants claim allegiance to al Qaeda on Web sites
From David Ensor
CNN Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. officials are calling credible a statement attributed to Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's militant group declaring allegiance to Osama bin Laden.
In the statement posted Sunday on Islamist Web sites, the Unification and Jihad group headed by al-Zarqawi promised bin Laden it would "listen to your orders."
A U.S. official said the pledge is in al-Zarqawi's interest "because it increases his standing to be seen as a senior al Qaeda leader." The statement is in al Qaeda's interest, the official said, because "it shows they have someone doing their bidding on the ground in Iraq."
The statement addressed bin Laden as "the sheik" and said al-Zarqawi's movement "badly needed" to join forces with al Qaeda.
"We will listen to your orders," it said. "If you ask us to join the war, we will do it and we will listen to your instructions. If you stop us from doing something, we will abide by your instructions."
U.S. intelligence officials have said there are ties between al-Zarqawi and al Qaeda, although they said the two groups sometimes competed for recruits and funds.
U.S. officials have said they believe al-Zarqawi is in Falluja, Iraq, the insurgent-held city west of Baghdad, and American airstrikes have targeted buildings believed to house his followers in recent weeks.
Unification and Jihad has claimed responsibility for the killings of numerous Westerners in Iraq, including the recent slayings of two Americans and a Briton in September.
It also has claimed responsibility for several major bombings, such as the August 2003 attack on U.N. headquarters in Iraq that killed more than 20 civilians, including the world body's top envoy in Baghdad. (Full story)
In June, the U.S. State Department offered $25 million for al-Zarqawi, saying he had "a long-standing connection to the senior leadership of al Qaeda." But other observers consider al-Zarqawi a potential rival to bin Laden, whose group was behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. (Full story)
Sunday's statement said al-Zarqawi has "exchanged views" with al Qaeda over the past eight months.
"They showed understanding for our strategy, and they showed their support for our strategy and style and system," the group's statement said.
Al-Zarqawi also is suspected in the 2003 bombing of the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad that killed at least 16 people.
On a tape made public in July, al-Zarqawi threatened to kill interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi; Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command; and L. Paul Bremer, the former U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq.
In addition, Jordan and the United States suspect al-Zarqawi of planning the October 2002 death of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley in Amman.
A Jordanian court convicted al-Zarqawi in absentia of planning to bomb tourist hotels during millennium celebrations.
On Sunday, a Jordanian prosecutor indicted 17 alleged militants, including al-Zarqawi, on charges of plotting to attack targets in that country with chemical and conventional weapons.
Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, U.S. intelligence reports suggested al-Zarqawi had his leg amputated in a Baghdad hospital after being wounded fighting U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The allegation was part of Secretary of State Colin Powell's February 2003 presentation to the U.N. Security Council in which he laid out the U.S. case for war.
But in April, a senior U.S. official said that report had been called into question: Al-Zarqawi was thought to have received medical treatment in Baghdad, but reports that he had his leg amputated appeared to have been incorrect, a U.S. official said.
Powell held up al-Zarqawi's al Qaeda-affiliated group operating in Baghdad as evidence of ties between al Qaeda and Iraq. He told the Security Council that after al Qaeda and the Taliban were ousted from Afghanistan, al-Zarqawi established a camp in northeastern Iraq to train terrorists in using explosives and poisons.
Intelligence services disagreed whether the camp was linked to Saddam Hussein's regime, and Iraqi officials steadfastly denied they had any ties to al Qaeda, insisting such charges were part of a U.S. disinformation effort to justify a military attack.
Powell said that during al-Zarqawi's stay in Baghdad, nearly two dozen of his associates set up a base of operations in the capital to move people, money and supplies throughout the country.
CNN's Caroline Faraj contributed to this report.
