 In Jordan police arrested al-Zarqawi's spiritual mentor Tuesday as he was being interviewed on Al-Jazeera television, his first public appearance since his release from prison last week.
| "We interrupt this program for breaking news! Tonight's special guest is being dragged off by angry policemen. Mahmoud, over to you!" |
Al-Jazeera said Isam al-Barqawi, also known as Sheik Abu-Mohammed al-Maqdisi, was detained during the interview with its correspondent in Jordan, but gave no details.
| "Folks, you might not want to watch this... Oooh! That hadda hurt!" |
Al-Barqawi is said to have taught al-Zarqawi radical Islamic ideology while they shared a cellblock for four years between 1995 and 1999. Both were freed in an amnesty, and al-Zarqawi later went to Afghanistan, then to Iraq, where his followers have waged a campaign of car bombings, attacks and kidnappings.
| Those amnesty things work well, don't they? |
Al-Barqawi was put on trial again last year among a group of militants accused of conspiring to commit terror attacks against U.S. targets in Jordan. He was acquitted but not released until last week. From his cell in Jordan al-Barqawi wrote to al-Zarqawi in a message posted on the Internet in October asking al-Zarqawi to "spare the blood of fighters and Muslim money" until the time was more appropriate to wage an all-out war. |