About TRAC’s Core Articles
Commissioned, proprietary analysis of key components of terrorist activities and groups, such as “Recruiting Female Suicide Bombers”, written by experts worldwide.
“Even if our bodies are far apart, the distance between our hearts is close.” --Abu Musa’b al-Zarqawi, opening line of a 2004 letter to Osama Bin Laden ZarqawiWhen Abu Musa’b al-Zarqawi, the then leader of Al Qaeda Organization in the Land of the Two Rivers (AQI), wrote these words to Osama bin Laden, he was still relatively unknown outside of jihadist circles. Growing up in the small town of Zarqa in Jordan, Zarqawi spent his teenage years in sin and vice. He reportedly engaged in criminal activities, drank alcohol, and consumed drugs. After being exposed to radical Salafi preachers in Zarqa’s lawless Palestinian refugee camp, Zarqawi’s life changed forever. He found Islam, washed away his sins, and became particularly attracted to radical ideas. Had Zarqawi kept on the path of delinquency, the present-day Middle East would be a very different place.For More on Zarqawi 2006…
