The Adventures of Chester: Zarqawi escapes by the hair of his chinny-chin-chin

A story from ABC News reports that Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi seems to have come perilously close to capture on February 20th:

On Feb. 20, the alleged terror mastermind was heading to a secret meeting in Ramadi, just west of Fallujah, where he used to base his operations, the official said.

Task Force 626 — the covert American military unit charged with finding Zarqawi — had troops in place to grab the fugitive, and mobile vehicle checkpoints had been established around the city's perimeter. Another U.S. official said predator drones were also in flight, tracking movements in and around the city.

A source who had been inside the Zarqawi network alerted the task force to the meeting. Officials deem the source "extremely credible."

The senior military official said that just before the meeting was scheduled, a car was pulled over as it approached a checkpoint.

"Zarqawi always has someone check the waters," said the official.

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.

Drat! Foiled again! A couple of takeaways from this:

1. We're using technical collection, human intelligence, vehicle checkpoints, and snatch-and-grab teams in a combined fashion to chase this guy and his henchmen.

2. The henchmen that we catch are singing like canaries. Note the "extremely credible" source.

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.

This is very interesting. Euros? Are they in easy circulation in Iraq?

Finding the computer, said the official, "was a seminal event." It had "a very big hard drive," the official said, and recent pictures of Zarqawi.

It takes little imagination to see that computer for the gold mine that it no doubt is.

The official said Zarqawi's driver and a bodyguard were taken into custody.

That makes two more, singing like canaries.

The senior military official said that they have since learned Zarqawi jumped out of the vehicle when it passed beneath an overpass, presumably to avoid detection from the air, and hid there before running to a safe house in Ramadi.

Can you hear them narcing on the old boss? How else did we learn when he jumped out of the car? This is his driver and a bodyguard. Impressive.

ABC lists this headline from February 28th as a related story: ABC News: Officials: Bin Laden Seeks Zarqawi Help in United States. You do the math. Now we know how the US figured out that little tidbit. See the fourth rail's commentary from back in early March on that story.

Posted by Chester on April 25, 2005 9:02 PM to The Adventures of Chester