Zarqawi’s Hero
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross has an interesting piece up at the Weekly Standard. In it he outlines Zarqawi’s focus on his historical predecessor – one Nur ad-Din Zanki:
“One cannot understand Zarqawi and cannot attempt to predict the future of his organization and the next steps that it will take without being familiar with Nur ad-Din Zanki. Zarqawi was simply fascinated by Nur ad-Din,” al-Adel told Hussein. “Regardless of where he was, Zarqawi would always look for books about Nur ad-Din. The best presents he ever got from his acquaintances were history books that would lengthily describe the jihad that Nur ad-Din Zanki waged against the crusaders and the triumphs that he led his followers to.”
Good read, some pretty strong parallels between the two.
-Shlok
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