Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “Musab Zarqawi Dead”

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June 8, 2006

Musab Zarqawi Dead

Hatched by Dafydd

According to Associated Press, Reuters, and the New York Times, confirmed by Iraqi officials and by the United States military by fingerprints and a direct look at his dead face, the erstwhile leader of al-Qaeda In Mesopotamia has officially attained room temperature.

Exit Musab Zarqawi

I thought that would be a nice day-brightener for breakfast. Go, team!

From the Times:

Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in an American airstrike on an isolated safe house north of Baghdad at 6.15 p.m. local time on Wednesday, top U.S. and Iraqi officials said on Thursday.

At a joint news conference with Iraq's prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the top American military commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., said Zarqawi's body had been positively identified by fingerprints, "facial recognition" and other indicators. He said seven of Zarqawi's associates had also been killed in the strike.

Reuters explains why it matters that we finally "terminated" Zarqawi (Prime Minister al-Maliki's word):

"Zarqawi didn't have a number two. I can't think of any single person who would succeed Zarqawi.... In terms of effectiveness, there was no single leader in Iraq who could match his ruthlessness and his determination," said Rohan Gumaratna from the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore.

Oh and here's an extra bit of good news (She Who Must Be Obeyed is sleeping now, the more fool she, or she would have gotten to make this announcement): we haven't heard much about this, but the Iraq government has finally filled the two critical ministries that they'd been dithering about for weeks now, Interior (police) and Defense. Still Reuters:

Iraq's parliament approved on Thursday Maliki's candidates for new defense and interior ministers.

By a clear majority, it approved Jawad al-Bolani, a Shi'ite, as interior minister and General Abdel Qader Jassim, a Sunni and until now Iraqi ground forces commander, as defense minister.

Out of 198 deputies present in the 275-seat assembly, 182 voted for Bolani while 142 supported Jassim, the speaker said.

The two key security jobs were left temporarily vacant when Maliki's government of national unity took office on May 20 because of intense wrangling among his coalition partners.

Over at Iraq the Model, Omar has one other piece of information that is interesting:

Al-Maliki said that among the 7 killed with Zarqawi were two women who were responsible for collecting intelligence for the al-Qaeda HQ cell.

I guess even militant Islamist jihadis are forced to make affirmative-action hires...!

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, June 8, 2006, at the time of 4:10 AM

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» Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - killed in bombing raid! from Sister Toldjah
Yes! Via FoxNews: BAGHDAD, Iraq — Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Al Qaeda in Iraq leader who led a brutal insurgency that included homicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings, was killed in an airstrike on a building north of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi ... [Read More]

Tracked on June 8, 2006 5:45 AM

» Al Qaeda In Iraq Leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Killed from RightWinged.com
As you most probably know, I'm staying with some family until I move back to my home state of Vermont next week, and am not posting much until I've settled in to my own place after my move. But while... [Read More]

Tracked on June 8, 2006 3:29 PM

Comments

The following hissed in response by: Harold C. Hutchison

Yob tvoyu maht, Zarqawi. I hope you like your new neighborhood. I hear it's very warm.

The above hissed in response by: Harold C. Hutchison at June 8, 2006 6:58 AM

The following hissed in response by: MTF

The anti-globalization forces have an empathy for terrorists, as this
an unintentionally humorous look at todays news reveals. Zarqawi a "mythical" figure? Hard to kill a myth.

The above hissed in response by: MTF at June 8, 2006 8:51 AM

The following hissed in response by: Papa Ray

DEBKA is reporting that that a quarrel which flared recently between Arbili and Zarqawi led to Osama bin Laden naming a new worldwide operations chief with authority over both.

I guess that Zarqawi didn't like it and raised such a fuss that Osama put out the hit on him.
Zarqawi was fingered by one of his own men.

Or so they are saying.

Papa Ray
West Texas
USA

The above hissed in response by: Papa Ray at June 8, 2006 9:24 AM

The following hissed in response by: cdquarles

A Big Thumbs Up for the good guys :).

Meanwhile, in Hades.....
Zarqawi, meet Satan. Satan, meet Zarqawi. Can't wait for the South Park spoof.

The above hissed in response by: cdquarles at June 8, 2006 12:46 PM

The following hissed in response by: MTF

Zarqawi shuffling permanently south is great news, but as I read through the news i think there's potentially even better news today from Iraq.

The government seems to have been filled out, and to do that the news talking heads are suggesting the government may have made some kind of a deal with the Batthists, and the "insurgency" might start winding down. Can it be true? Any people out there with helpful info on this?

Maybe we can turn our attention to Iran now!

The above hissed in response by: MTF at June 8, 2006 1:08 PM

The following hissed in response by: Bill Faith

Linked from Abu Musab al Zarqawi Is Still Dead.

The above hissed in response by: Bill Faith at June 8, 2006 3:35 PM

The following hissed in response by: MTF

In response to the loss of Zarqawi et al., the remainder of al Qaeda in Meso is threatening to keep our soldiers awake in protest, all night if necessary.

The above hissed in response by: MTF at June 11, 2006 6:59 AM