Who Supplied Zarqawi?

Saddam's Baathists, of course. From the AP:

"Despite the crimes of al-Zarqawi, the source of terrorism is the Baathists who had supplied him with secure dens and safe havens," Imam Sadr al-Din al-Qupanchi said at a Shiite mosque in Najaf.

Also, note:

[General] Caldwell said Egyptian-born Abu Ayyub al-Masri — who was named in a most-wanted list issued in February 2005 by the U.S. command and has a $50,000 bounty on his head — would likely take the reins of al-Qaida in Iraq.

He said al-Masri and al-Zarqawi met for the first time at an al-Qaida training camp in
Afghanistan in 2001, and al-Masri came to Iraq first. Al-Masri is believed to be an expert at making roadside bombs, the leading cause of U.S. military casualties in Iraq.

Al-Masri also has had "communications" with Osama bin Laden's chief lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahri, Caldwell said.

That is, Zarqawi was in Iraq (Baghdad, to be precise, and despite what many want to believe) as early as May 2002. Al-Masri was there before him.

Which raises interesting questions: When did al-Masri enter Iraq? What is known about his ties to Saddam's regime?

I wonder if any in our press will bother asking...