The Jordanian double agent that blew himself and 8 others up in Khost, eastern Afghanistan was, according to news reports, from Zarqa, Jordan. So was Zarqawi (Zarqa - Zarqawi, get it?) the notorious terrorist assassin active in Iraq, that was finally tracked down and eliminated for his misdeeds.

The connection between the two Islamic radicals apparently is no coincidence. The news articles did not make reference to Zarqawi, but you can be sure that the intelligence community is not at all surprised about it. It does appear, however that the CIA may have not given sufficient significance to it. The asset we thought we had turned did another 180 on us, and became a triple. It makes one dizzy to just think of it.

I know of Zarqa. When I was living in Damascus, Syria 1974-79, one of my jobs was to watch over the various engineering design works on a large gravity dam on the Zarqa river, which formed the border between Syria and Jordan. The river drained into Israel, and if I recall correctly, eventually into the Sea of Galilee. Zarqa is the town there that took its' name from the river.

The area is known as the Zarqa Triangle, where the Israel, Jordan and Syria borders come together.

The dam may never have been built. At the time we were having problems getting the Syrians, Jordanians and Israelis to agree on water rights, and other things. No surprise there.

During my time in the area, which predated this current Islamic craze by about 20 years, there were no indications of any problems. The world was a somewhat different (better) place then, it seems.

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