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It has been reported that Allied intelligence penetrated Zarqawi's group and the tip on his whereabouts came from an agent inside his group.
No-one seems to have reflected that this agent may well have been directed by bin Laden or his organization. Double agents, after all, are quite possible in a situation like this.
Osama had plenty of motive. Zarqawi did not bring his group "into" al Qaeda until after 9-11. He had been a rival of Osama's, but after 9-11 the franchise position must have seemed more profitable to Zarqawi. But Zarqawi remained a threat to Osama's primacy among the terror organizations, and his policy of creating a sectarian war against Shiites was contrary to al Qaeda's longstanding position. The al Qaeda leadership directed Zarqawi to cease from this, but Zarqawi didn't obey orders. By continuing, he was appealing to the anti-Shiite sentiments of Osama's Salafi and Wahhabi followers, endangering the unity of Osama's support if not Osama's primacy. By dropping the dime, Osama would have rid himself of a rival, without blame for it, eliminated or reduced the threat of Salafi unrest in his own support base, perhaps established, quietly within his inner circle, that it is better to follow his drections than to defy them.
He had the motive, and if the agent in Zarqawi's group was a double-agent of his, he had the means and the opportunity. Smoking gun, anyone?
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