case of attempted rape: Brisard, having reviewed Jordanian records on the matter, is most reliable on this event (Brisard, Zarqawi, 13–14).
knife in a fight: Ibid., 13.
strict Salafist bent: Zarqawi’s mother “enrolled him . . . at a mosque in Amman known for its Salafist stance.” Hala Jaber, “A Twisted Love,” Sunday Times, July 31, 2005.
worked as a correspondent: Stack, “Zarqawi Took Familiar Route.”
their heroic exploits: Gettleman, “Zarqawi’s Journey.”
for use against Israel: Brisard, Zarqawi, 37.
1994: Zarqawi was arrested and sent to Suwaqah in 1994, but his trial did not finish with sentencing until November 1996 (ibid., 43).
spent in Jordanian prisons: He was eventually moved to Al-Salt and then Jafar prisons (ibid., 49).
using hydrochloric acid: Ibid., 50.
keep people in line: “He would attack us with his fists,” attested fellow prisoner Yousef Rababa, quoted in Gettleman, “Zarqawi’s Journey.”
homemade weights: “Cellmates remember his barbells, made from pieces of bed frame and olive oil tins filled with rocks” (ibid.). This fact is also cited in Brisard, Zarqawi, 49.
respect of his followers: Brisard, Zarqawi, 48–49.
“just by moving his eyes”: Gettleman, “Zarqawi’s Journey.”
Released in March 1999: Brisard, Zarqawi, 58–59.
Jordanian wife in tow: Alissa J. Rubin, “Jordanian’s Mother Denies He Has Ties to Terrorism,” Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2003.
in Herat in 2000: Herat, near Iran, might also have produced or deepened Zarqawi’s bile toward Shiites; Saif al-Adl, quoted in Fouad Hussein’s biography of Zarqawi, indicates that the Shiites in Herat worked with the “opposition” to rout the jihadists once the American invasion began. Hussein, “Al Zarqawi, part 8.”
married a second wife: “Al-Jazeera TV Investigates Iraqi Militant Al-Zarqawi’s Al-Qa’idah Links,” BBC Monitoring International Reports, July 2, 2004.
informal relationship with bin Laden: Reportedly, Al Qaeda’s insistence on making war with the United States was a barrier to Zarqawi’s pledging his full allegiance to bin Laden when invited to do so in 2000. It is also possible that bin Laden’s forbidding Zarqawi from teaching Maqdisi’s texts was a nonstarter. Vahid Brown, Cracks in the Foundation: Leadership Schisms in al-Qa’ida 1989–2006 (Combating Terrorism Center, January 2, 2007), 19–20.
a set of broken ribs: Saif al-Adl in Hussein, “Al Zarqawi, part 8.”
was on Zarqawi’s mind: Ibid.
line to Zarqawi himself: Interviews with task force members implied that by being an Iraq-wide player in the insurgency, Abu Zar was more likely linked to AQI senior leadership.
shrine on the other side: Robert F. Worth, “950 Die in Stampede on Baghdad Bridge,” New York Times, September 1, 2005.
Some drowned: Dan Murphy, “Panic of Terror Sparks Human Tragedy in Iraq,” Christian Science Monitor (reprinted in USA Today), September 1, 2005.
that many were injured: Casualty figures are from “Iraqis Bury Victims of Baghdad Stampede,” New York Times, September 1, 2005.