Abu Musab al-Zarqawi killed in air raid

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 8:01am

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi killed in air raid

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 8:28am

The song is ended but the melody lingers on... From MSNBC:

===

But any hopes the Jordanian-born terror leader's death would help stem the violence in Iraq were dimmed hours later when a car bomb exploded in a Baghdad market, killing 19 and wounding 65.
Al-Qaida in Iraq's al-Zarqawi 'terminated': Terror group confirms death, vows to continue ‘holy war’

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 8:56am

anyone who expected or propogated the idea that zarqawi's death would have an immediate impact on the violence is either ignorant of the situation or completely disingenuous.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 9:09am

If only this solved the complexity of this hellish war. Watch the "fghting them over there so we don't have to fight 'em here" rhetoric find new life. And of course, no new terrorists will be created in this vacuum, and existing terrorists will all become bakers and teachers and till the land, now. More critically, no one is discussing the fact that this particular hornet set up his nest only after we'd made it hospitable to hornets.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 9:32am

when this happens two things usually happen......things get worse before they get better (if they get better), and Israel is usually in some way shape or form attacked.

expect more Americans, and possibly Euros to be kidnapped, and perhaps even an attack in a Euro capital.........

this is going to get ugly

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 9:33am

"going to get"?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 9:34am

Death in any fundamentalist society, whether Muslim or Christian, is just a way of creating a "martyr" who is even more of an inspiration. Snippet from Reuters;

"In the bleak Jordanian city where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi grew up, shocked relatives mourned the al Qaeda leader's death as a loss to Islam and prayed for 1,000 "Zarqawis" to fight the Americans in his place."
In his hometown, relatives pray for 1,000 Zarqawis

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 9:38am

one thing about marytrs, they're all dead.

[Andrew Lowe Watson]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 9:44am

Does anyone know why we are in this 'hellish war""?

(Don't worry PJ , THAT is off topic. I've done my bit for freedom, now I am just Mr ordinary guy.)

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 9:51am

as opposed to all of those "heavenly wars"?

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 9:53am

"one thing about marytrs, they're all dead."

Except my mother.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 10:13am

oh my Rath, hehe

[KelRel]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 10:24am

Rath, we have the same mother?

Elphie I agree with you, things are going to get worse before they get better. I am praying that it doesn't get much worse though.

[peggyandvelma]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 10:34am

I agree with Papa on this one. If anyone seriously thinks that killing Zarqawi makes all the other terrorists disappear, then they are sadly mistaken. I wish it were true, though. However, we may start to see severe changes in the near future because of it. Whether those changes are good or bad depend on a higher power (in my eyes) but I guess it's just time to wait and see.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 12:31pm

Darn that Karl Rove!! Just as we are getting ready to go to the voting booths, he produces a dead terrorist. I bet bin Laden is dead and Karl is just waiting for October to reveal it.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 12:34pm

All of Rove's old tricks will backfire from now on.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 12:45pm

"All of Rove's old tricks will backfire from now on."

Did you hear that from the fortune teller at Coney Island?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 12:51pm

Bush could have killed Zarqawi 4 years ago. But Bush and Rumsfeld decided to let him go.

Bush and Rumsfeld have f*cked up in Iraq and Afghanistan at every step along the road. Why?

Look at this NBC news story from March 2004.

===

Avoiding attacking suspected terrorist mastermind
Abu Musab Zarqawi blamed for more than 700 killings in Iraq

By Jim Miklaszewski
Pentagon Correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 7:14 p.m. ET March 2, 2004

With Tuesday’s attacks, Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant with ties to al-Qaida, is now blamed for more than 700 terrorist killings in Iraq.

But NBC News has learned that long before the war the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself — but never pulled the trigger.

In June 2002, U.S. officials say intelligence had revealed that Zarqawi and members of al-Qaida had set up a weapons lab at Kirma, in northern Iraq, producing deadly ricin and cyanide.

The Pentagon quickly drafted plans to attack the camp with cruise missiles and airstrikes and sent it to the White House, where, according to U.S. government sources, the plan was debated to death in the National Security Council.

‘People were more obsessed with developing the coalition to overthrow Saddam than to execute the president’s policy of pre-emption against terrorists.’

— Roger Cressey
Terrorism expert
“Here we had targets, we had opportunities, we had a country willing to support casualties, or risk casualties after 9/11 and we still didn’t do it,” said Michael O’Hanlon, military analyst with the Brookings Institution.

Four months later, intelligence showed Zarqawi was planning to use ricin in terrorist attacks in Europe.

The Pentagon drew up a second strike plan, and the White House again killed it. By then the administration had set its course for war with Iraq.


Avoiding attacking suspected terrorist mastermind

[Luscious]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 2:08pm

Funny how it's not about one person, until that one person is caught or killed. Then that's all you hear about, and everyone in the Bush administration is all over it and ready to take credit for it. If Bush is so anxious to take credit for every terrorist apprehended in Iraq, he should also be willing to take credit for every innocent life that's lost, both American and Iraqi.

Updated On: 6/8/06 at 02:08 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 6:33pm

What is interesting is that it appears he was betrayed by one of his own people

Sadly, someone will take his place if it has not already been done.

Well he is getting his just rewards now & it ain't 72 virgins

[Elphaba]

Posted: 6/8/06 at 6:36pm

what truly is silly is that I picture two cavemen, one hits one with a club, the other hits back...and so on

this is our Afganistan War, and like the Russians, well slink away when the American public has had enough, and all it will have done is kill thousands of Iraqis, Americans and other foreign nationals......

[Luscious]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 9:28am

NICK BERG'S FATHER WEIGHS IN... and pretty much says it all.

Berg: No good in al-Zarqawi's death

"I think al-Zarqawi's death is a double tragedy," Michael Berg told The Associated Press after learning a U.S. airstrike had killed the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. "His death will incite a new wave of revenge. George Bush and al-Zarqawi are two men who believe in revenge."

Al-Zarqawi is believed to have beheaded two American civilians in 2004: Nicholas Berg, a 26-year-old businessman from West Chester, Pa., and Eugene Armstrong, a 52-year-old contractor from Hillsdale, Mich. Jack Hensley, a 48-year-old engineer from Marietta, Ga., was abducted at the same time as Armstrong and also killed.

Michael Berg, a pacifist who is running for Delaware's lone House seat on the Green Party ticket, said al-Zarqawi's death is likely to foster anti-American resentment among al-Qaida members who feel they have nothing left to lose.

Berg said the blame for most deaths in Iraq should be placed on President Bush, who he said is "more of a terrorist than Zarqawi."

"Zarqawi felt my son's breath on his hand as he held the knife against his throat. Zarqawi had to look in his eyes when he did it," Berg added, pausing to collect himself. "George Bush sits there glassy-eyed in his office with pieces of paper and condemns people to death. That to me is a real terrorist."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Al_Zarqawi_Berg.html

CNN INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL BERG:

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?

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

Updated On: 6/10/06 at 09:28 AM

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 9:43am

says it all? yeah, that's what he does.

[Luscious]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 9:53am

Thank you, papa, for that thoughtful analysis.

When are people going to get that al-Qaida is NOT a group? IT'S AN IDEOLOGY!

Updated On: 6/10/06 at 09:53 AM

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 10:05am

an ideology that will not respond to reason or logic. unfortunately what they respect is force. it would be wonderful if our walking away from the region would do anything to help combat that ideology, but the reality is that to do so would merely reinforce the idea that the west is weak and provide them with the ability to recruit in numbers heretofore unimagined. these people cannot be reasoned with. imagine all your worst fantasies about the worst of the right wing fanatics in america and multiply them by a thousand.

the only way to combat this ideology is to help establish governments in the region that allow their people to have a voice. democracies. to do so requires killing those who use murder, beheading and violence as a means of control. you don't reason with a rabid dog that's charging you, you shoot it.