Was there a deal between the US government and Al Queda to kill al-Zarqawi?

A few things caught my eye yesterday as I scanned the net for news. The first thing that jumped out at me was that the CIA is closing the unit that is dedicated to capturing and/or killing Osama Bin Laden. Remember Bush said he wanted Bin Laden "dead or alive" in the days following 9/11/01. Since the battle against Al Queda and their leader would be of utmost importance in the Global War on Terror I am surprised that our government would close down the Bin Laden desk in the CIA. Here is a portion of the article from the New York Times detailing this new policy.

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden

By MARK MAZZETTI

WASHINGTON, July 3 — The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.

The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

The decision is a milestone for the agency, which formed the unit before Osama bin Laden became a household name and bolstered its ranks after the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Bush pledged to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice "dead or alive."

The realignment reflects a view that Al Qaeda is no longer as hierarchical as it once was, intelligence officials said, and a growing concern about Qaeda-inspired groups that have begun carrying out attacks independent of Mr. bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Agency officials said that tracking Mr. bin Laden and his deputies remained a high priority, and that the decision to disband the unit was not a sign that the effort had slackened. Instead, the officials said, it reflects a belief that the agency can better deal with high-level threats by focusing on regional trends rather than on specific organizations or individuals.

"The efforts to find Osama bin Laden are as strong as ever," said Jennifer Millerwise Dyck, a C.I.A. spokeswoman. "This is an agile agency, and the decision was made to ensure greater reach and focus."

The decision to close the unit was first reported Monday by National Public Radio.

Michael Scheuer, a former senior C.I.A. official who was the first head of the unit, said the move reflected a view within the agency that Mr. bin Laden was no longer the threat he once was.

Mr. Scheuer said that view was mistaken.

"This will clearly denigrate our operations against Al Qaeda," he said. "These days at the agency, bin Laden and Al Qaeda appear to be treated merely as first among equals."

The rest of the article is here

I was reading an article on CNN.com about what was about Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's cell phone and what intelligence the US was able to gain against Al-Queda in Iraq. I found this tidbit that supposedly came from al-Zarqawi's wife.

Meanwhile, al-Zarqawi's wife told an Italian newspaper that al Qaeda leaders sold him out to the United States in exchange for a promise to let up in the search for Osama bin Laden.

The woman, identified by La Repubblica as al-Zarqawi's first wife, said al Qaeda's top leadership reached a deal with U.S. intelligence because al Zarqawi had become too powerful.

She claimed Sunni tribes and Jordanian secret services mediated the deal.

"My husband has been sold to the Americans," the woman said in an interview published Sunday. "He had become too powerful, too troublesome."

She was identified only as "Um Mohammed," which means "mother of Mohammed" and would be a nickname, not her full name.

The Rome-based newspaper said the interview was conducted in Geneva and described her as Jordanian and about 40 years old.

Of course as always you should consider the source. There is no telling if this woman is actually al-Zarqawi's wife or if she has been in contact with him in the month's before his death. There is also no way to know how much this woman knows about the inner workings of Al Queda.

In my opinion, the story makes sense. I would not put it past this administration to let up on the search for Bin Laden in order to calm things down in Iraq. It is apparent to me that the Bush administration has never made the capture of Bin Laden a priority. If they killed or captured him then a newbogeymann would have to be created to scare the bejesus out of theAmericann public. Bin Laden serves this function quite well.

Also, the US desperately needed something good to happen in Iraq to change the situation on the ground and influence public opinion in the US towards the war. Killing al-Zarqawi has been a very good thing for the occupation of Iraq. If we are to trust what the government says, many terrorists were rounded up after the raid on al-Zarqawi's safe house.

Who knows what is really going on? Only a handful of people know for sure. One thing I do know with certainty is that it is very unlikely for anyone in the press to pick this story up beyond the blogosphere. We need for a professional to check this out instead of one guy with an internet connection blogging while his toddler is napping.