In the days before his al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) became dominant within the insurgency, Zarqawi led by fighting alongside, influencing, and supporting anyone who could create trouble for the government and the Coalition. In visits to small cells of insurgents throughout the city, Zarqawi would dress in black and wear running shoes, recite jihadist poetry, and sing songs with the fighters. This hands-on leadership—starkly different from the taped encouragements put out at a distance by al-Qaeda’s senior officers-in-hiding—helped him create a mystique among the fighters on the ground in the thick
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