Authorities Still Searching for Terrorist Suspect Zarqawi

 

By Ursula Lindsey

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been identified as an al-Qaida-linked operative and a lead suspect in many of the worse acts of terror in Iraq this year.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi grew up in the Jordanian town of Zarqa from which he eventually took his name. Fellow Jordanian and director of the Jerusalem Center for Political Studies Uraib El Rantawi, says al-Zarqawi was an unremarkable petty criminal in his early years.
"Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was an ordinary guy. He used to live in the city of Zarqa. He has not been a politician. He was not interested in ideologies¹ or religion even," he noted². "He has a record as a man who committed many violations³ of the law here, even many crimes, and he was arrested many times." It was in Jordanian jails that al-Zarqawi, whose real name is Ahmad Fadel al-Khalayleh, met several leading Islamic fundamentalist thinkers, and began to embrace their ideas. In the 1980s, when he was about 20-years-old, he went to fight in Afghanistan against Soviet⁴ forces.
After the Soviets⁵ were defeated, al-Zarqawi went back to Jordan and was rounded up along with other veterans of Afghanistan and accused of conspiring⁶ to overthrow⁷ the monarchy⁸ and establish an Islamic state. On his release four years later, he fled the country, and was sentenced to death in absentia for plotting attacks on American and Israeli targets.
His relatives in Jordan say they lost all contact with him long ago.
Reached at his home in Zarqa, a cousin of al-Zarqawi's who asked not to be named, said that al-Zarqawi had left 20 years ago, and that his relatives knew nothing about him afterwards.
Around 2000, al-Zarqawi traveled to Pakistan and then Afghanistan, where he renewed contacts with Osama bin⁹ Laden¹⁰, organized training camps and recruited followers¹¹ of his own. Two years later, he was accused of planning the assassination¹² of U.S. diplomat¹³ Laurence Foley in Jordan, and in 2003, was linked to bombings in Casablanca and Istanbul.
In Iraq, his group, Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War), has been blamed for the videotaped execution of American hostage Nicholas Berg, the killing¹⁴ of a Bulgarian truck driver and, most recently, of a Turkish worker. He is also seen as the brain behind the assassination of Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim and of at least 50 other Shia worshippers in Najaf, the attack on the U.N. compound last August and the recent coordinated¹⁵ attacks on Iraqi churches.
Last week, the United States raised the reward for the capture of the 37-year-old al-Zarqawi to $25 million.
In February, coalition¹⁶ officials in Iraq released a letter they said was written by al-Zarqawi, which outlined a strategy of destabilizing Iraq by provoking sectarian conflict. In the letter, he claimed responsibility for more than two dozen terrorist attacks.
Some analysts¹⁸ have expressed doubts that the poorly educated al-Zarqawi could have composed a letter in such formal Arabic, but Mr. El-Rantawi says the seasoned terrorist had plenty of time to educate himself.
"I don't think Zarqawi [is] that stupid, small criminal anymore. In the jail here in Jordan, he met one of the most important thinkers of al-Qaida, Abu Hamid El Magdisi. And he spent many months with this man, and I think he took a lot from this man," he said. "Those people [like al-Zarqawi], they don't attend university or schools to learn. They have their own sheikhs, they have their own people who teach them."
According to Muhamad Salah, a political analyst¹⁷ at the London-based Al Hayat newspaper, it is difficult to know anything for certain about al-Zarqawi's current activities in Iraq.
Al-Zarqawi could have already been killed or be hiding somewhere, says Mr. Salah. But his group has become the most famous and ferocious¹⁹ one in Iraq, and has used its experience in Afghanistan to turn Iraq into a new battlefront.
Ursula Lindsey，VOA News, Cairo.
注释：
Jordanian 约旦
Zarqa 扎尔卡
unremarkable 不值得注意的
petty 不重要的
fundamentalist 原教旨主义者
conspire 共谋，阴谋
absentia（拉）失神
assassination 暗杀
diplomat 外交官
Casablanca 卡萨布兰卡
Istanbul 伊斯坦布尔
hostage 人质
provoke 激怒，惹起
sectarian 宗派主义者
ferocious 残忍的

1 ideologies   

n.思想（体系）( ideology的名词复数 )；思想意识；意识形态；观念形态

参考例句：

• There is no fundamental diversity between the two ideologies. 这两种思想意识之间并没有根本的分歧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Radical ideologies require to contrast to their own goodness the wickedness of some other system. 凡是过激的意识形态，都需要有另外一个丑恶的制度作对比，才能衬托出自己的善良。 来自辞典例句

2 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

4 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

5 soviets   

苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式）

参考例句：

• A public challenge could provoke the Soviets to dig in. 公开挑战会促使苏联人一意孤行。
• The Soviets proposed the withdrawal of American ballistic-missile submarines from forward bases. 苏联人建议把美国的弹道导弹潜艇从前沿基地撤走。

6 conspiring   

密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They were accused of conspiring against the king. 他们被指控阴谋反对国王。
• John Brown and his associates were tried for conspiring to overthrow the slave states. 约翰·布朗和他的合伙者们由于密谋推翻实行奴隶制度的美国各州而被审讯。

7 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

8 monarchy   

n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国

参考例句：

• The monarchy in England plays an important role in British culture.英格兰的君主政体在英国文化中起重要作用。
• The power of the monarchy in Britain today is more symbolical than real.今日英国君主的权力多为象徵性的，无甚实际意义。

9 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

10 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

11 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

12 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

13 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

14 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

15 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

16 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

17 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

18 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

19 ferocious   

adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的

参考例句：

• The ferocious winds seemed about to tear the ship to pieces.狂风仿佛要把船撕成碎片似的。
• The ferocious panther is chasing a rabbit.那只凶猛的豹子正追赶一只兔子。