Text 20671, 130 rader
Skriven 2006-06-10 09:51:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Iraq
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I don't expect any democrats to acknowledge this...

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http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/06/09/D8I50BV80.html

Zarqawi Hideout Yields Many Clues, Data
Jun 09 7:35 PM US/Eastern
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By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer


WASHINGTON


A U.S. military search of the destroyed safehouse where Abu Musab al- 
Zarqawi was killed yielded documents and information storage devices 
that are being assessed for potential use against his terror network, a 
military officer said Friday. 

The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because results from 
the safehouse search have not been announced, said an M-16 rifle and an 
unspecified number of grenades and AK-47 rifles also were found. The M-
16 was fitted with special optics, the official said. 

 

Also found were "media and documents," the officer said, adding that the 
term "media" as used in this context normally refers to information 
storage devices such as computer hard drives, digital cameras or other 
devices. The officer was unable to be specific in this case. 

The material was being assessed for possible use, the officer added. 

The military and U.S. intelligence agencies have specialized computer 
"forensic" software that can identify and recover digital information 
seized on the battlefield. A senior official with a leading producer of 
such software said Friday it is almost certain that any recovered 
computer disks, even if damaged in the bombing, will yield valuable 
information, given Zarqawi's reliance on computers and e-mail to 
communicate. 

Tim Leehealey, an executive vice president with Guidance Software, said 
in a telephone interview that the first things the U.S. military likely 
will look for on computer hard drives or other information storage 
devices are who Zarqawi has been communicating with and how. He said it 
is likely that Zarqawi relied on portable hard drives commonly called 
thumb drives to pass e-mail messages without making them easily 
traceable. 

Document files on computer disks can be read by the forensic software 
even if it is in Arabic, Leehealey said. 

Earlier Friday, a senior U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said many 
items had been found in raids over the past two days based on 
intelligence gathered from Zarqawi's safehouse, which was flattened by 
two U.S. bombs on Wednesday. 

Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon by video-
teleconference from his office in Baghdad, said that after 17 raids in 
the immediate aftermath of the airstrike, more were launched on 
Thursday. 

Caldwell displayed digital photographs of recovered items that he said 
included a suicide belt, a flak vest, passports and identification 
cards, vehicle license plates, ammunition belts, rifles and other guns 
and a night-vision device. He said they were found under the floorboards 
of a building; he did not identify the location. 

Caldwell also said the man he thinks is a possible successor to Zarqawi 
as leader of the shadowy terrorist group known as al-Qaida in Iraq has 
been operating in Iraq longer than Zarqawi and that the two first met in 
Afghanistan. He was referring to Abu Ayyub al-Masri, whom he described 
as an Egyptian-born terrorist leader. 

He said al-Masri has had "communications" with Osama bin Laden's chief 
lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri. He did not elaborate and would not say 
whether al-Masri also has been in touch with bin Laden, who is believed 
to be hiding in Pakistan. 

The spokesman also disclosed that Zarqawi was still alive when U.S. 
troops arrived on the scene after Wednesday's airstrike by an F-16 
fighter. The terrorist "mumbled a little something" and made an apparent 
effort to get away after being placed on a stretcher by Iraqi police, 
Caldwell said. On Thursday U.S. officials had said Zarqawi was dead when 
he was found. Caldwell said new information indicated that he survived a 
short time. 

Caldwell also suggested the possibility that Zarqawi was not inside the 
safehouse when it was attacked. He said he spoke with several 
knowledgeable Air Force officers on Friday to learn how it was possible 
for Zarqawi to have survived, even for a short time, the devastating 
power of two 500-pound bombs. 

"They assured me that there are cases when people, in fact, can survive 
even an attack like that on a building structure," Caldwell said. 
"Obviously, the other five in the building did not, but he did for some 
reason. And we do not know _ and I've looked through the report _ as to 
whether or not it was because he might have been right outside (the 
targeted building) or whatever. We just don't have that granularity." 

On Thursday, Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., was asked about U.S. military 
photos that showed a dead Zarqawi with relatively little apparent 
physical damage to his face. She said the two bombs, which flattened the 
safehouse, "didn't hit directly where he was so he was probably killed 
by debris or the blast effect." 

Wilson, an Air Force veteran, is a member of the House Intelligence 
Committee. 

In describing the military raids conducted based on intelligence from 
the Zarqawi safehouse, Caldwell said one targeted individual, whom he 
did not identify, was killed in the latest raids and at least 25 were 
captured. 

Pentagon officials have refused to say whether U.S. special operations 
forces participated in the Zarqawi operation Wednesday, but a comment 
Friday by President Bush suggested that some of the military's most 
secretive units may have been involved on the ground. 

Speaking to reporters, Bush mentioned that among the senior officers he 
called to offer congratulations for killing Zarqawi was Army Lt. Gen. 
Stanley McChrystal, commander of Joint Special Operations Command, whose 
forces include the Army's clandestine counterterrorism unit, Delta 
Force. 

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