There have been a ton of contradictory reports about Zaraqwi coming out of the media recently. Some report him wounded seriously, others say he’s not. Some report he’s already dead. Some place him in Iraq; others place him in Jordan or even Iran.

The stories about Zaraqwi are so contradictory that Abu Aardvark only half-jokingly wonders if there is a collision between parallel universes at play here. There are string theorists who believe that in parallel worlds, the human results of decisions not taken here play out.

In addition, an Italian paper who has been following this story ran two different pictures of Zaraqwi in which he looks different in each one. Could he, like Saddam, have doubles to hide his identity? Is that what is causing the confusion?

There are several possible theories about Zaraqwi’s status:

    1. He is dead.
    2. He is badly wounded.
    3. He is not wounded; he has a double who was.
    4. He is using this as a cover to escape to another country.
    5. He does not exist.
    6. We are living in some twilight zone where parallel worlds collide.

Zaraqwi is dead.

That would be the best news out of Iraq since Saddam’s capture. That would create problems within his group. He was a highly charismatic leader whose successor would have some tall shoes to fill. The group would have trouble maintaining the unity that it had under Zaraqwi that had allowed it to coordinate its activities so well.

But how well the US would be able to take advantage of it would be anybody’s guess. The fundamentals that have plagued the US from the beginning still plague them and Zaraqwi’s death will not change that, just like Saddam’s capture did not change it.

And how does the video of Zaraqwi where he declares he’s only lightly wounded fit into the equation? And why would the insurgents stage their biggest attacks of the war when their leader is supposedly dying? A response could be that he is, but that he does not have as big a role in the insurgency as the Americans (habitual liars) have assigned him.

Also, none of the mainstream media sources have picked it up as of 7:00 Eastern. Normally, when only a few foreign papers report something and the MSM does not pick it up, it should be treated with a grain of salt.

Antiwar.com raises another problem with his death. They write that Al-Qaeda has to have good succession plans because of the large numbers of leaders who were killed in the Afghan War. Therefore, they have never tried to hide the fact that a particular leader was killed because the loss of a single leader would not cripple the group.

Zaraqwi is badly wounded.

It is easy to call into question the report of his death. The evidence provided was anecdotal and not confirmed by any pictures. Most news reporters along with the official sources agree that he is wounded, however.

There have been plenty of reports that Zaraqwi was wounded; some sources claim to have seen him entering a hospital for treatment; he escaped before American soldiers could capture him.

But there are problems with that theory as well. Jordanian intelligence sources argue in the article I link to that given the recent surge in insurgent attacks, they might be giving him a smokescreen to leave Iraq.

Zaraqwi is not wounded or only lightly wounded; he has a double who is wounded.

In this entry, I link to two different articles with two pictures of Zaraqwi, both of which look different. In one, he looks older without a mustache. The other shows him looking younger with a mustache and a headscarf. This could indicate that he has a double. Or, if you choose to believe he is fake, the US planted the photos.

Back in the Middle Ages, kings had doubles who would fight in different parts of the battlefield. The object was to inspire their own troops while protecting them from the attempts to kill them. Saddam was known for having doubles to prevent assassination. Zaraqwi may be doing the same thing, which could account for the contradictory reports about his status.

But again, the problem is the structure of Al-Qaeda. This organization is not built around a single individual like the old monarchies or Saddam’s regime. It is built, according to Antiwar.com, around the Afghan model, which allows others to step right in to leadership roles if one person is killed.

Zaraqwi is faking his death to escape to another country.

The increase in militant attacks recently supports this theory. Yet, where would he go? Iran is ideologically opposed to Al-Qaeda and Syria has tortured “terror” suspects, suggesting that they are close with Bush under the table. Also, why would the leader get up and walk away from the middle of a battle?

He does not exist.

Many people, both here and elsewhere argue that Zaraqwi does not exist. They argue that he is simply a boogeyman used by the US to justify their horrendous war. Under this theory, the CIA, or Negroponte would have planted the evidence so that people would come to think that there was a dangerous enemy who would have to be killed in order. When he was killed, they could create another boogeyman. That is what many Iraqis believe.

But he could be using an alias; which means he could be walking around the streets of Iraq and people would not know who he was. And that theory does not explain why so many videos, pictures, and hostage-takings are out there. How do we explain the videos of the hostages being beheaded if he does not exist?

Twilight zone

Maybe we are living in some kind of weird twilight zone in which all parallel universes collide.

Thoughts?