Triangle of Death 3

This story
from CNN links to Zarqawi's despairing accusation of Muslim scholars for
having 'abandoned' the Jihad in Afghanistan and Iraq to the United
States. He seems to be alleging that he has been thrown to the wolves. This
story was reported by several readers in the Comments section of the Triangle
of Death 2.

"Instead of implementing God's orders, you chose your safety and
preferred your money and sons," said the voice, which could not be
independently confirmed as al-Zarqawi's. "You left the mujahedeen facing
the strongest power in the world." The message was posted on Islamist Web
sites. "Are not your hearts shaken by the scenes of your brothers being
surrounded and hurt by your enemy?"

The same text was included or perhaps was the same source as Zarqawi's
denunciation of an Arab
Cairo conference which failed to condemn the coming January elections in
Iraq. Zarqawi said:

"We are committed to intensifying armed attacks against coalition
forces and their spies and agents... in response to the Sharm al-Shaikh
conference - a sordid and suspect farce," said Wednesday's statement
signed by groups including the al-Qaida Group in the Land of Two Rivers
(Iraq). ...

It also accused Egyptian President Husni Mubarak of wanting to use
"plotters and mediators" at the forum for US benefit. "Numerous
Arab regimes neighbouring Iraq, following the lead of Mubarak's regime... took
part, along with the puppet power [Iraqi interim government], in the massacre
of Iraqis, the destruction of their property, as well as the training and
arming of [Iraqi] policemen and national guardsmen," the statement said.

"Oh scholars of the nation... you have betrayed us in the darkest
circumstances. You have delivered us to our enemy... you have left the
mujahidin to confront [alone] the greatest world power," said the voice
attributed to al-Zarqawi, who has a $25 million US bounty on his head.
"Until when will you abandon the nation to the tyrants of the east and of
the west, who are inflicting the worst suffering, cutting the throats of the
mujahidin, the best children of the nation, and taking its riches?" said
the recording.

Then Zarqawi unequivocally takes the side of the Ba'ath Party.

Al-Zarqawi's group said it backs the call of Saddam Hussein's Baath party,
which issued a previous statement calling for action against US-led forces in
Iraq. The signatories said they signed "the statement written by the
Iraqi Baath party, not because we support the party or Saddam, but because it
expresses the demands of resistance groups in Iraq".

In one of the strangest twists, the Jordanian authorities arrested several of
Zarqawi's relatives including his brother-in-law and nephew.

The tape surfaced as Jordanian security forces detained the husband of al-Zarqawi's
sister in Amman. Relatives of Salih Ilhami told Aljazeera that the authorities
arrested him after storming his home on Tuesday night. The authorities also
detained al-Zarqawi's nephew. Sources from Ilhamy's family added that al-Zarqawi's
first wife and his sons left their home in al-Zarqa, near Amman, and
dissappeared about three months ago.

A report
from Jordan, which may be related, gives Zarqawi ten days to capitulate or
else his money will be confiscated. From the context, it appears the Jordanians
are holding some of his property in connection with an earlier Zarqawi attack
mounted inside Jordan. The interesting tidbit is that Zarqawi's money is within reach of the US.

The Jordanian Security Court has given 10 days for the Jordanian
fundamentalist leader, Abu Musab Zarqawi and three other men to turn
themselves in for plotting attacks in Jordan. According to Jordanian papers
publishing the Court's ultimatum, if Zarqawi and the three men, each of whom
have a $25 million bounty on them from the United States, do not capitulate,
the US administration will confiscate their property holdings.

Interestingly enough some of Yasser Arafat's $1.9 billion fortune has been traced
to Canada. Arafat also appears to have invested in at least one gambling
casino on the West Bank through an Austrian bank.

Quoting a Central Intelligence Agency report, it said yesterday the CIA had
conducted inquiries after receiving information that a holding company of the
Palestinian Liberation Organisation had invested $11.6 million in a small
pharmaceutical company in the Canadian town of Belleville, Ontario. Format
said investigators had "stepped on an anthill" when they uncovered
the stake held by the Palestinian Commercial Service Corporation in Bioniche
Life Sciences. They uncovered a whole network of PLO funds such as Chalcedony,
Onyx, Evergreen, SilverHaze and Avmax International, the latter based on the
Caribbean island Aruba.