Media reports are saying that the US aircraft have finally bombed the hideout of and killed Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, who became the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. I don't think it's more psy ops; I think they really did get him.

It's not going to end the bloodshed or the civil war that's raging, but at least one of the worst Sunni-affiliated elements, who was actively recruiting hundreds of young Sunni fanatics from Saudi Arabia and other countries, is now dead. Let's hope his close associates start to throw in the towel rather than see him as a martyr.

Now when will the US get the two people launched this war in the first place, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri? Those caves between Afghanistan and Pakistan can't be that impenetrable, can they?

[ June 08, 2006, 06:14 AM: Message edited by: fantomas ]

Enjoy your toasy corner of hell.

Just hang on, your 72 virgins will show up soon.

Well I think it's a good thing but I'm also amazed at the timing. I expect Bin Laden will be captured or killed in early October.

I really don't think timing had anything to do with it. We shouldn't make this partisan, because when it comes down to it, the death of this monster is a positive outcome about which everyone should be pleased.

Ding Dong the @#$%^& is dead...

I think this is a great development and many kudos need to go out to all the servicemen and women who accomplished this objective. But we should not get too far ahead of ourselves here. Intelligence reports in the past month or so indicated that Zarqawi was less important to the overall troubles in Iraq than he had been in the past. The "PR" video that was released of him looking well-fed and rested and (mis)firing his gun could have been (a) a reminder to others in his organization that he was still around, or it ( could have been an attempt by the new powers-that-be within the terror groups that Zarqawi was a fat loser who couldn't even fire a gun. (Perhaps his being pushed aside in the power structure finally made him more visible to us?)

Either way, I don't think we should get too excited about this. It is a good "get", absolutely, but it probably won't decrease the overall violence in Iraq and just means that there might be more violence and bloodshed as different factions consolidate power and fill whatever void Zarqawi left behind.

Is this points for the imaginary good God or points against the imaginary bad God? I've lost track.

I hope everyone can agree that with the death of this evil one, we have achieved a small measure of some victory. However, there will be someone to take his place eventually. Good news: We got Zarqawi. Bad news: He will be replaced.

Gee, and all this time you were insisting that "it's all Bush's fault." (Not a direct quote.)

Military operations are hardly the cakewalks many think they'd be for superior equipped forces like ours and most industrialized nations'. It's the General Braddock Syndrome moved forward 250 years. Native fighters always retain the advantage of knowing the lay of the land and natural formations like caves, crags and canyons can be much more impenetrable than they seem. Witness the Japanese hold-outs on Okinawa in the last days of WWII.

That said, good riddance if this demon has indeed finally met his demise. Now let's finish the job right and get the rest of 'em - wherever they may lurk! :mad:

the rest of them? you'll never get them all. Everytime one falls, another will replace him.
That's what makes them so strong. That's why even as we approach 11-09 5 years later, it's now a bigger threat than ever.

You think killing him has demoralized them? they are saying he's a martyr and is now in heaven with his virgins.. that's not demoralizing at all for them, that's his reward!

It's different thinking than westerners.. different beliefs, a different breed altogether.

i really don't believe in a heaven or hell anyways, but if i did, i seriously doubt that people going to hell would only be from one side in this terrible war.
frown

So, now it seems that Zarqawi was killed after an informant inside his group alerted US intelligence as to his movements and location. I hope I am wrong, but I wonder if this means that Zarqawi had already lived beyond his usefulness to the "al Qaeda in Iraq" group and that whoever tipped off the US knew that his successor was already in place.

I think your guess is a good one aquaman. But more likely he became careless and egocentric. Publishing your exploits on the internet is a sure-fire way to ensure you will eventually be tracked down.

Still, the war against terrorism will only be won by convincing individuals to not believe in bad ideas or ideals. Superstition, whether tyrannical Christianity, tyrannical Judaism or tyrannical Islam are the bad ideas. The bad ideals they have spawned were legion and TNTC IMO.

posted by aquaman That and/or the financial payoff from the reward finally seemed good enough. I am sure that, like with the Mafia, it is all too easy to find someone in Al Queda willing to turn on a leader like Zarqawi when the moment presents itself, particularly after he masterminded the wedding bombing in Jordan - it appears he lost a lot of "moderate" support then. I also don't for a minute believe that all of its members, particularly those above the suicide-bomber status, are really so religiously fanatic that they won't use violence to gain power, or at least that power becomes as important as religious fanaticism to the group's leadership.

I just want to know who thought we needed to see pictures of the corpse plastered all over the news. It strikes me like the old tradition in England, e.g., during the Wars of the Roses, of hanging the decapitated heads of traitors on London Bridge to rot in front of the people. Just disgusting, IMHO.

Of course, nearly 2 dozen people were killed by bombings in Iraq yesterday, so we know the violence will continue.

Another troubling milestone has been reached in this quagmire. The Pentagon now says that 2,500 US Troops have died, and the injured number more than 18,000. frown

And the Left celebrates another milestone. They can't wait till 3000 is reached.

We have established Iraq as a deathtrap for attracting, harboring and killing of people we consider terrorists. That is the latest in a string of reasons given for the invasion of that country. The others turned out to be discredited.

We have courageously accepted that hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians become casualties or suffer deprivation in this same deathtrap. And now we compliment ourselves on having killed one vainglorious braggart who was foolish enough to get caught, and will no doubt be replaced by someone wiser, and so on until we finally realize that our methods are the problem.

How many more civilians will die in our Iraqi killing field?

Why don't we see pictures like this one of a child and his brother who was accidentally killed by our soldiers. Or like this one of young Iraqi boys asked to hold a mocking sign reading "Lcpl Boudreaux killed my dad then he knocked up my sister!" when the soldiers knew they had no idea what the sign read?

When will we be asked to see enough of the corpses of innocents to stop this obscene war?

I really wish you'd stop with this. As someone who hears about kids his own age die every day and worries about his classmates over there, it's really upseting that you insinuate we enjoy this.

YOU personally may not, but many left-wing wackos do enjoy it. I personally know more than one, and it sickens me.

A direct quote from a left-winger I know: "The more Americans who die to prove Bush is an ass****, the better! The important thing is to make Bush look like the Hitler he is!"

He is not alone. Sadly, many lefties are so filled with hatred of Bush that it affects their mindset.

With Democrats like this, your party has no hope.

[ June 22, 2006, 04:12 PM: Message edited by: MIB ]

MIB anyone that says stupid shit like that is a complete idiot. It's time to get out of Iraq and its time for everyone to admit that big time mistakes were made in planning after the invasion. big time mistakes that have cost a lot of lives. Say a prayer for the 2 guys and their families that were killed and tortured god only knows how much.

Dude that is not cool.

You know one deranged guy who said that and you decide that is the lefts point of view. I'm gonna have to seriously consider your sources from now on. That is really disappointing. frown

MIB, please, do not bother speaking for the left wing or right wing wackos. They can speak for themselves. Stick to speaking for your wacko self and the world will be that much better off because of it. It is sick that you think any American looks forward to more soilders dying.