Baghdad, Iraq – Now that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is dead, there seems little certainty who will succeed the brutal killer who was the most wanted terrorist in Iraq.
An American general thinks it will be Egyptian-born, Afghanistan-trained Abu al-Masri, whose name is an obvious alias, meaning “father of the Egyptian.”
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said Thursday that al-Masri was the “most logical” successor but offered no details on why.
Caldwell said al-Masri is thought to have come to Iraq in 2002 after training in Afghanistan with the mission of creating an al-Qaeda cell in Baghdad. Al-Masri is believed to be an expert at constructing roadside bombs, the leading cause of U.S. military casualties in Iraq.
But there are other possibilities.
For example, U.S. and Iraqi officials announced that al-Zarqawi’s spiritual adviser, Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi, was among others killed with the Jordanian- born terror mastermind when U.S. warplanes bombed a house northeast of Baghdad on Wednesday evening.
But an Internet statement that al-Qaeda posted Thursday confirming al-Zarqawi’s death was signed by a man with the same name, casting doubt that al-Iraqi had been killed.
“My perception is that if they released a statement in the name of Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi, then he is still around. And, as the deputy head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, he presumably is the new leader,” said Evan Kohlmann, a New York-based terrorism consultant and founder of globalterroralert.com.
But, he added, “It is possible that two guys have the same name.”
He said an al-Qaeda member known as Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi previously was identified as an al-Qaeda military leader, not a spiritual leader.
Caldwell said the U.S. military had discussed the succession question with the Iraqi government even before al-Zarqawi was killed.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday that it made no real difference.
“Whenever there is a new Zarqawi, we will kill him,” al-Maliki told reporters.
It may not be that easy. It took the U.S. and Iraqi military three years to get al-Zarqawi, and there is little likelihood al-Qaeda in Iraq will crumble now that its leader is gone.
“The death of our leaders is life for us,” said the Web statement from al-Qaeda in Iraq, which is notorious for Iraq’s bloodiest terrorist bombings and beheadings.
