Zarqawi 'Firing' May Be Ploy by Terrorist Insurgency

Al Jazeera reported on Sunday that Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the brutal Jordanian head of al Qaeda in Iraq, has been "sacked" by the "Iraqi resistance's high command" and replaced with an Iraqi national. Zarqawi is said to be relegated to a military role.

From the article:

Iraq's resistance has replaced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as political head of the rebels, the son of Osama bin Laden's mentor has said in Jordan.

Hudayf Azzam, 35, who claims close contacts with the fighters, said on Sunday: "The Iraqi resistance's high command asked Zarqawi to give up his political role and replaced him with an Iraqi, because of several mistakes he made.

"Zarqawi's role has been limited to military action. Zarqawi bowed to the orders two weeks ago and was replaced by Iraqi national Abdullah bin Rashed al-Baghdadi."

This is an indication that the Iraqi Terrorist Insurgency realizes that targeting civilians has cost them support. Perhaps they feel that they can tag Zarqawi with all the "bad" terrorist acts and regain some support. It's even possible they want to disavow Zarqawi in order eventually to pursue legitimate political goals, a là Sinn Fein.

However, the story's credibility is somewhat sketchy because both Hudayf Azzam and Abdullah bin Rashed al-Baghdadi were virtually unknown until Sunday.

Also posted at The Jawa Report.