ABC News is reporting that back in February U. S. forces narrowly missed capturing Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, but did manage to capture his computer:
A pickup truck about a half-mile behind the car then quickly turned around and headed in the opposite direction. Officials now believe Zarqawi was in the fleeing truck. U.S. teams began a chase, but when the truck was pulled over several miles later, Zarqawi was not inside.
What the task force did find in the vehicle confirmed suspicions that Zarqawi had just escaped. The official said Zarqawi’s computer and 80,000 euros (about $104,000 U.S.) were discovered in the truck.
Some have commented that it’s unfortunate that we didn’t nab Zarqawi. I’m not so sure.
I guess I just don’t understand the cult of personality that seems to surround figures like Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden. Is the problem in Iraq that Zarqawi is leading Al-Qaeda there or is the problem that there are bad guys blowing up a lot of our soldiers, Iraqi government soldiers and police, and civilians? Securing Zarqawi’s computer and the information in it may lead to identifying his sources of financing and his operatives as effectively as actually capturing him might. Possibly more so—I know that there’s stuff in my computers that I don’t have committed to memory.
That stuff that Zarqawi has in his head might have a pretty short shelf life and be pretty tough to get out. Meanwhile, soon enough there’d be another Zarqawi running things and he might be somebody that we have far less information about than we do Zarqawi.
