Jordon's focus on Zarqawi

NY Times:

At the time of his death, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was still trying to transform his organization from one focused on the Iraqi insurgency into a global operation capable of striking far beyond Iraq's borders, intelligence experts here and in the West agree.

His recruiting efforts, according to high-ranking Jordanian security officials interviewed Saturday, were threefold: He sought volunteers to fight in Iraq and others to become suicide bombers there, but he also recruited about 300 people who came to Iraq for terrorist training and sent them back to their home countries, where they await orders to carry out strikes.

There have been scattered reports that Iraq had become a training ground, but Jordan's assessment was the first to offer firm numbers.

Of a range of intelligence experts in the United States, Europe and Jordan interviewed about Mr. Zarqawi's reach, only the Jordanians offered such detail.

Counterterrorism officials in the United States said they, too, had seen a flow into Iraq of terrorists from other countries, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, seeking training under Mr. Zarqawi and his associates. But they said they believed the "bleed out" of people trained and sent home to await orders was probably significantly lower than 300.

Steven Simon, a former National Security Council staff member now at the Council on Foreign Relations, said: " "My sense is that the next step might have been mobilizing his recruitment networks to attack Europeans. That's one reason I think his death makes a difference."

The Jordanians have a particularly strong intelligence focus on Mr. Zarqawi, a native of Jordan. Their security services have been following him for nearly two decades, scrutiny that strengthened after he took credit for sending suicide bombers into three Jordan hotels last December, killing dozens. King Abdullah II then authorized creation of a new intelligence unit called "Knights of God," hoping to challenge not only Mr. Zarqawi's activities, but also his claim to be doing God's work.

Members of the new intelligence unit were dispatched into Iraq and neighboring countries and ordered on the offensive in what was more than a battle — practically a personal conflict — between Jordan's intelligence unit and Mr. Zarqawi.

The Jordanian officials agreed to speak about his work, his organization and the operation which eventually killed him on the condition they not be identified because of the covert nature of their work.

They said that they picked up Mr. Zarqawi's whereabouts two months ago and were able to confirm the United States' own intelligence that located Mr. Zarqawi on the day he was killed.

They described Mr. Zarqawi as a strong, smart organizational leader who changed routines any time any of this followers were arrested, and who managed to set up logistical operations in Syria, Iran and Libya that funneled volunteers into Iraq.

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There is much more on his activities outside Iraq, particularly in Jordon and Europe. While some think he has gained status in dying, it can only be hoped that the rest of al Qaeda will gain the same status as soon as possible.