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SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq, May 26 (AFP) - 5h45 - Kusrat
Rassul Ali, known locally as the "Lion of
Kurdistan", says he wants Iraq's Al-Qaeda leader Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi as his next trophy after helping US
troops track down Saddam Hussein in 2003.
"We want to find Zarqawi because of the danger he
represents to democracy in Iraq," said Ali, chief of
the peshmerga fighters of the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK), the party of Iraq's new President
Jalal Talabani.
"He is sowing terror among the population."
Ali's modest residence in the heart of Iraq's
Kurdish north is a heavily guarded compound
surrounded by concrete blocks and protected by
dozens of armed men.
He needs the security -- for jihadists bent on
violence in Iraq, especially insurgents loyal to
Zarqawi, Ali is a target.
His operations have stopped many insurgents in their
tracks, including members of the anti-American group
Ansar al-Islam, which was founded by Islamist Kurds.
"Our information networks have led to arrests of
Zarqawi terrorists in Baghdad, Tikrit, Mosul and
Kirkuk," Ali said. "They are Kurdish, but also
include Arabs, Turkmens and Assyrians."
An Internet statement issued by Zarqawi's group
Tuesday said the Jordanian-born militant, the most
wanted man in Iraq with a 25-million-dollar bounty
on his head, the same as was on offer for Saddam,
had been wounded.
"Zarqawi is weakened, it's true; the Americans
almost stopped him two months ago close to Ramadi
(west of Baghdad). But he still is able to do harm,"
said Ali, his well-tanned face framed by jet-black
hair, black eyes gleaming.
The legendary 53-year-old fighter was born in Arbil
and joined the peshmerga militia at the age of 23
after studying agriculture in Bulgaria.
Following a split in the Kurdistan Democratic Party
in June 1975, Ali sided with Talabani who founded
the PUK.
His political actions did not go unnoticed -- former
dictator Saddam's secret police picked Ali up in
1977 and tortured him.
"They stubbed out cigarettes close to my eyes and
kept my hands tied behind my back with a cord for 27
days, trying to make me turn in my network," said
the peshmerga commander.
Ali was freed after six months but his eyesight was
permanently damaged. He was later hit by shrapnel in
1986 and again in 1997, and remains partially
handicapped in the left arm.
Put in charge of hunting leaders of the former
regime, Ali's men first caught Taha Yassin Ramadan,
the former vice president, on August 19, 2003, in
northern Iraq's commercial hub of Mosul.
According to a colleague, Ali wanted Ramadan to be
tried by the Kurds, who have an autonomous
government, but Talabani insisted he be turned over
to American custody.
Then, Saddam was caught in December 2003, following
a tip-off from Ali's network, on what turned out to
be "the most beautiful day of my life", he said.
"We found a bodyguard connected to Saddam Hussein in
Tikrit. I gave the lead to the Americans. The
bodyguard led them to the hole where the dictator
was hiding," Ali said.
"Saddam is a coward. He was armed but he didn't
fight. In any case, I am happy that his sons were
killed before his arrest. He is also suffering the
pain of a father," Ali said.
Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay were killed on July
22, 2003, in a stand-off with American forces in
Mosul.
The Kurdish combat veteran knows the feeling. His
young sons, one eight and the other nine, were
killed in 1986 during an aerial bombardment ordered
by Saddam.
Today, the former premier of the Kurdish government
believes that US forces are tracking those loyal to
the deposed president with "less passion" than they
once did.
He is convinced Saddam's right-hand man Ezzat
Ibrahim is still in hiding north of Baghdad.
"We have obtained information on several occasions
about where he is, but they always arrive too late
to catch him," Ali said.
With Saddam in jail, Ali believes the days of
dictatorship are over and that a new, federal Iraq
has been born.
When it comes to asking for independence for the
Kurdish north, however, a dream of most people
living in Iraqi Kurdistan, he said, "my generation
will not see it."
AFP
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