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07/13/2004:
"Zarqawi's Journey: From Dropout to Prisoner to Insurgent Leader"
by Jeffrey Gettleman New York TimesA PROFILE IN TERROR
AMMAN, Jordan, July 10 - Ten years ago, fellow inmates remember, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi emerged as the tough-guy captain of his cellblock. In the brutish dynamic of prison life, that meant doling out chores.
"He'd say, 'You bring the food; you clean the floor,' " recalled Khalid Abu Doma, who was jailed with Mr. Zarqawi for plotting against the Jordanian government. "He didn't have great ideas. But people listened to him because they feared him."
According to American officials, Mr. Zarqawi has come a long way from his bullying cellblock days and is now the biggest terrorist threat in Iraq, accused of orchestrating guerrilla attacks, suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings.full article
This is truly a 'Profile in Terror'. According to this article, Zirqawi used to have one leg but now has two, used to be left-handed but now is right-handed, was at one time a journalist despite being illiterate, and is now a stupid thug with an apparent abundance of charisma. Sort of a Nelson Mandela/Idi Amin-type. The fact that he is apparently capable of regenerating limbs should be a real cause for concern.