Reply #36: You're just reflecting the wilfull ignorance of the mainstream media.

[Minstrel Boy]

It's lazy and misleading to call al-Zarqawi "al Qaeda". He's Ansar al-Islam, which operated in the northern no-fly zone, which was a virtual US protectorate.

The founder of Ansar al-Islam is Mullah Krekar. He lives in Norway, and the United States has not sought his extradition.

What's more, here's a headline for you:

Ansar al-Islam leader threatens to document his links to US

DUBAI, Feb 1 2003 (AFP) - The suspected leader of a Kurdish Islamic extremist group threatened in an interview published Saturday to produce evidence of his contacts with Washington prior to the September 11 suicide hijackings.

"I have in my possession irrefutable evidence against the Americans and I am prepared to supply it ... if (the United States) tries to implicate me in an affair linked to terrorism," Mullah Krekar, who is believed to front Ansar al-Islam, told Al-Hayat newspaper.

He dismissed as "fabrications" reports linking his group to Al-Qaeda, saying they were designed to justify a strike against Iraq.

"I had a meeting with a CIA representative and someone from the American army in the town of Sulaymaniya (Iraqi Kurdistan) at the end of 2000. They asked us to collaborate with them ... but we refused to do so," he said.
www.lightscion.com/krekar.htm

And here:

"The Mullah claims he had a secret meeting with the CIA and US military personnel in Iraqi Kurdistan last year. Could this explain why US intelligence agencies were reportedly so concerned about Powell raising Ansar al-Islam as one of the key connections between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda?"

video interview available here:
http://www.insightnewstv.com/d80 /

Spare us all another disingenuous White Man's Burden under the self-righteous guise of "cleaning up the mess we made."