Abu Musab Al-zarqawi Killed In Iraq

[Annie]

Another Iraqi commentary:


http://iraqpundit.blogspot.com/2006/06/zarqawis-end.html

Thursday, June 08, 2006
Zarqawi's End

An American reporter recently asked a Baghdad man what he was still doing in Iraq. This Baghdadi came from a well-to-do family, and was vulnerable to many of the capital's multiplying threats: random terror, sectarian violence, and the targeted criminal kidnappings intended to elicit ransoms. Why not leave?

The Baghdadi's answer was straightforward and heartfelt. "I prefer to stay in my country," he said simply. "Eventually, it will improve. It has to."

It improved today. Zarqawi is dead, Iraqi women are ululating in the shy, face-covering manner of my country, and Iraqi men are boisterously firing celebratory shots in the air.

Zarqawi was killed by U.S. Special Forces with the help of Iraqis. I was especially interested in the role played by the Sunni tribes in Anbar, where Zarqawi had been holed up while directing his campaign of random slaughter of Shiite men, women, and children. Although certain Western poseurs have been announcing some imaginary surge in "grass-roots" support for Zarqawi among Iraqi Sunnis, the fact is that the Anbar tribes were disgusted by the murder of countless Iraqi civilians, and united against him.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told a press conference today that the American military had been following Zarqawi "very closely" in recent weeks. Zarqawi had been vulnerable ever since he had lost his refuge in Anbar, he said. "He had been forced out of Anbar" after Sunnis there "joined hands with their Iraqi brothers," Mr. Zebari said.


Iraq improved today for another reason as well: The new Maliki government finally filled its vacant cabinet posts. The new interior minister is Abdul Qader Obeidi, Jawad Bulani is the new interior minister and Shirwan Waili is the new national security minister. Obeidi had been a general in Saddam’s army but got into trouble for opposing the invasion of Kuwait. Bulani was in the air force. And Waili, a Dawa party member, is a former army officer.

Iraq improved today, though true peace is obviously still far off. There are already reports of more deaths at the hands of terrorists who are now killing only for the sake of murder. Zarqawi's death is another setback for a campaign that is only about death. The Zarqawi movement has failed to achieve any of its goals. Obviously, it has failed to stop the (often painful) development of Iraqi democratic institutions. Yes, there has been much sectarian violence, more than enough to satisfy those vultures who have been circling what they hope is Iraq's corpse. But that violence was far from what Zarqawi's band of killers sought to foment. Indeed, the last time we heard from Zarqawi, in an audiotape released this month, he had been reduced to pleading for an all-out civil war, ordering Iraq's Sunnis to kill Shiites. But it's Zarqawi who is dead. Iraq lives. As the Baghdadi man said from his heart, "It has to."

posted by IraqPundit at 7:40 AM

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Thanks, I didn't look..just Lazy...

You're talking to not only a member, but the President. You wouldn't believe how upset I was that I had to not only go to 2 but 3 sites just to find a video that wasn't surfblocked.

I almost gave up.

Perseverance, though, I tell ya. Perseverance.

 

[Bonnie]

Because they are going after a 'target' - NOT a 'person'.

Gotcha!! Makes sense

 

[Bonnie]

The same way he really did not mean it when he said our troops killed civilians in cold blood?

In his heart he knows he's full of shit. I wonder how people like him sleep at night?? He doesn't care if he paints the whole military with the same brush. I just don't think like they do so it's hard for me to grasp their motives being anything other than opportunisitc and evil.

 

[Annie]

In his heart he knows he's full of shit. I wonder how people like him sleep at night?? He doesn't care if he paints the whole military with the same brush. I just don't think like they do so it's hard for me to grasp their motives being anything other than opportunisitc and evil.

later, notice the spelling.

You have given out too much Reputation in the last 24 hours, try again later.

 

[no1tovote4]

I just watched the video. I love how the pilots drop one, circle around and debate whether one was enough, then drop another for good measure

"Do you think its blown to shit enough?"

"Fuck no! Drop another"

"W3rd."

I was surprised that after two 500 pound bombs there was a body to find rather than just "parts is parts"...

 

[red states rule]

In his heart he knows he's full of shit. I wonder how people like him sleep at night?? He doesn't care if he paints the whole military with the same brush. I just don't think like they do so it's hard for me to grasp their motives being anything other than opportunisitc and evil.

I wonder if Murtha has the guts to show his face today and give an apology.

I love our military.

Right now they are probably being mistaken for the wrath of God by the terrorists

 

[Annie]

I wonder if Murtha has the guts to show his face today and give an apology.

I love our military.

Right now they are probably being mistaken for the wrath of God by the terrorists

:coffee3:

You have given out too much Reputation in the last 24 hours, try again later.

 

[Bonnie]

Another Iraqi commentary:


http://iraqpundit.blogspot.com/2006/06/zarqawis-end.html

That little clip of the Iraqi president telling his parliament that Zarqawi was dead and the room erupting in cheers put a smile on my face.:teeth: If you really think about the implications of just that, it's very heartening.

 

[no1tovote4]

I wonder if Murtha has the guts to show his face today and give an apology.

I love our military.

Right now they are probably being mistaken for the wrath of God by the terrorists

Talk about a godsmack...

 

[Bonnie]

I wonder if Murtha has the guts to show his face today and give an apology.I love our military.

Right now they are probably being mistaken for the wrath of God by the terrorists

Don't hang waiting for that.. lol

 

[The ClayTaurus]

I was surprised that after two 500 pound bombs there was a body to find rather than just "parts is parts"...

I would have been fine dropping another two or three on, just for kicks. Besides, I've only seen the photo of the corpse from about the chest up. Who knows about the rest of him

 

[The ClayTaurus]

That little clip of the Iraqi president telling his parliament that Zarqawi was dead and the room erupting in cheers put a smile on my face.:teeth: If you really think about the implications of just that, it's very heartening.

Where where where I wanna see!

 

[Bonnie]

Where where where I wanna see!

I did see it twice on Fox, and once on MSNBC.

I have been looking for a link online, but nada yet.

 

[Bonnie]

I would have been fine dropping another two or three on, just for kicks. Besides, I've only seen the photo of the corpse from about the chest up. Who knows about the rest of him

Now this my mother told me, the military had to put his body parts back together to get a decent photo of him?

 

[sitarro]

I did see it twice on Fox, and once on MSNBC.

I have been looking for a link online, but nada yet.

I've heard it numerous times on the radio, definitely made my day!

 

[dilloduck]

I think that the explosion in the film clip looks like a cross.

 

[no1tovote4]

They identified him by sight, tattoes, and fingerprints. That sounds like a full body there.... Maybe it was only the chest and one arm...

 

[theHawk]

Oh here is the reaction from Nick Berg's father:

(CNN) -- The U.S.-led coalition's No. 1 wanted man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- who conducted a campaign of insurgency bombings, beheadings and killings of Americans and Iraqi civilians -- was killed in a U.S. airstrike.

A gruesome video was posted on Islamic Web sites in May, 2004, depicting a man believed to be al-Zarqawi beheading Nicholas Berg, an American businessman who was working in Iraq.

CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien talks to Nicholas Berg's father, Michael Berg, by phone from Wilmington, Delaware, for his reaction to the news.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Berg, thank you for talking with us again. It's nice to have an opportunity to talk to you. Of course, I'm curious to know your reaction, as it is now confirmed that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the man who is widely credited and blamed for killing your son, Nicholas, is dead.

MICHAEL BERG: Well, my reaction is I'm sorry whenever any human being dies. Zarqawi is a human being. He has a family who are reacting just as my family reacted when Nick was killed, and I feel bad for that. (Watch video of the two bombs falling on al-Zarqawi -- 2:00)

I feel doubly bad, though, because Zarqawi is also a political figure, and his death will re-ignite yet another wave of revenge, and revenge is something that I do not follow, that I do want ask for, that I do not wish for against anybody. And it can't end the cycle. As long as people use violence to combat violence, we will always have violence.

O'BRIEN: I have to say, sir, I'm surprised. I know how devastated you and your family were, frankly, when Nick was killed in such a horrible, and brutal and public way.

BERG: Well, you shouldn't be surprised, because I have never indicated anything but forgiveness and peace in any interview on the air.

O'BRIEN: No, no. And we have spoken before, and I'm well aware of that. But at some point, one would think, is there a moment when you say, 'I'm glad he's dead, the man who killed my son'?

BERG: No. How can a human being be glad that another human being is dead?

O'BRIEN: There have been family members who have weighed in, victims, who've said that they don't think he's a martyr in heaven, that they think, frankly, he went straight to hell ...

You know, you talked about the fact that he's become a political figure. Are you concerned that he becomes a martyr and a hero and, in fact, invigorates the insurgency in Iraq?

BERG: Of course. When Nick was killed, I felt that I had nothing left to lose. I'm a pacifist, so I wasn't going out murdering people. But I am -- was not a risk-taking person, and yet now I've done things that have endangered me tremendously.

I've been shot at. I've been showed horrible pictures. I've been called all kinds of names and threatened by all kinds of people, and yet I feel that I have nothing left to lose, so I do those things.

Now, take someone who in 1991, who maybe had their family killed by an American bomb, their support system whisked away from them, someone who, instead of being 59, as I was when Nick died, was 5-years-old or 10-years-old. And then if I were that person, might I not learn how to fly a plane into a building or strap a bag of bombs to my back?

That's what is happening every time we kill an Iraqi, every time we kill anyone, we are creating a large number of people who are going to want vengeance. And, you know, when are we ever going to learn that that doesn't work?

O'BRIEN: There's an alternate reading, which would say at some point, Iraqis will say the insurgency is not OK -- that they'll be inspired by the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the sense of he was turned in, for example, we believe by his own No. 2, No. 3 leadership in his ranks.

And, that's actually them saying we do not want this kind of violence in our country. Experts whom we've spoken to this morning have said this is a critical moment where Iraqis need to figure out which direction the country is going to go. That would be an alternate reading to the scenario you're pointing to. (Watch how Iraqi leaders cheered after learning about al-Zarqawi's death -- 4:31)

BERG: Yes, well, I don't believe that scenario, because every time news of new atrocities committed by Americans in Iraq becomes public, more and more of the everyday Iraqi people who tried to hold out, who tried to be peaceful people lose it and join -- what we call the insurgency, and what I call the resistance, against the occupation of one sovereign nation.

O'BRIEN: There's a theory that a struggle for democracy, you know...

BERG: Democracy? Come on, you can't really believe that that's a democracy there when the people who are running the elections are holding guns. That's not democracy.

O'BRIEN: There's a theory that as they try to form some kind of government, that it's going to be brutal, it's going to be bloody, there's going to be loss, and that's the history of many countries -- and that's just what a lot of people pay for what they believe will be better than what they had under Saddam Hussein.

BERG: Well, you know, I'm not saying Saddam Hussein was a good man, but he's no worse than George Bush. Saddam Hussein didn't pull the trigger, didn't commit the rapes. Neither did George Bush. But both men are responsible for them under their reigns of terror.

I don't buy that. Iraq did not have al Qaeda in it. Al Qaeda supposedly killed my son.

Under Saddam Hussein, no al Qaeda. Under George Bush, al Qaeda.

Under Saddam Hussein, relative stability. Under George Bush, instability.

Under Saddam Hussein, about 30,000 deaths a year. Under George Bush, about 60,000 deaths a year. I don't get it. Why is it better to have George Bush the king of Iraq rather than Saddam Hussein?

O'BRIEN: Michael Berg is the father of Nicholas Berg, the young man, the young businessman who was beheaded so brutally in Iraq back in May of 2004.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/08/berg.interview/index.html



I don't care who's father he is, he is a sack of shit in my book.

 

[Mr. P]

I was surprised that after two 500 pound bombs there was a body to find rather than just "parts is parts"...

Same here.