no dummy. someone snitched on him and got the $25mill. i dont think abu zaquwai is dumb enough to rat on himself.
According to this excerpt from the article The spiritual adviser and deputy to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi didn’t know it, but he led U.S. and Iraqi intelligence officials directly to the terror leader’s door during a visit he paid him at a safehouse. My guess is that the CIA got an Iraqi operative to buddy up to al-Z's spiritual advisor. The advisor probably let it slip that he was meeting al-Z to his new "buddy" and the next thing he knows a missile's headed his way. I doubt anyone actually snitched for the $25 mill.
Brah, our brave troops just killed the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. I think we can do a bit of celebrating.
I'm pretty busy today with work so this is the first chance I've had to get this thread so pardon me for bringing stuff up that's already been discussed. This is obviously great news and and hopefully a step on the way to bringing peace to Iraq. One thing I heard is that a lot of the violence now is sectarian and not being fought by foreigners. Al Zarqawi was certainly an impetus to the sectarian violence so now that he's gone there might be a possibility of things quieting down. It is still very possible that the sectarian violence may still continue but the Al Qaeda in Iraq organization in Iraq might not be able to survive in Iraq. In either of those cases this might be the opportunity to start drawing down our forces since either peace comes to Iraq or else the conflict in Iraq is a primarily internal problem for the Iraqis to sort out. Even if Al Qaeda in Iraq isn't totally gone if we can determine that a hard enough blow has been dealt to them we could consider withdrawing since without us there there is no reason for a foreign contingent of Al Qaeda to remain to fight us and its likely that the Iraqis themselves will kick them out. It will take a while to figure out how the death of Zarqawi plays out but there certainly is potential for good from this.
Shady, Money makes the world go round. Iraq premier: $25M to be paid on al-Zarqawi By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Iraqi Prime Minister Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday that the $25 million bounty on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's head will be honored. "We will meet our promise," al-Maliki told al-Arabiya television without elaborating. The United States had put forth the $25 million bounty for information leading to the death or capture of al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. Al-Zarqawi, a 39-year-old Jordanian-born terrorist, was killed in a U.S. airstrike Wednesday. Also killed in the airstrike was al-Zarqawi's deputy and spiritual adviser Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi, who had been key to pinpointing his boss' location, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said. Intelligence officials identified al-Iraqi with the help of an insider in al-Zarqawi's network and began tracking his movements, watching when he would meet with his boss. The U.S. also has a $25 million bounty for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Al-Zarqawi swore allegiance to bin Laden in 2004.
Hey, whatever works......and once the people see that someone actually got PAID for ratting him out, watch how quickly the rest of the people with bounties follow. DD
Some of the back story of the kill -- Raw uncovers the 'real heroes' of Musab al-Zarqawi's fall Larisa Alexandrovna Published: Thursday June 8, 2006 Print This | Email This The Wednesday death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may have been brought about by a mixture of his own hubris, his ebbing credibility in the al-Qaeda network and the valiant efforts of a special operations unit knows as Task Force 145, RAW STORY has learned. Although most reports cite Jordanian intelligence as having played a large role in identifying the location of a safe House in Baqubah where Zarqawi was killed on Wednesday, US and foreign intelligence sources tell Raw that in actuality, Jordanian intelligence involvement – if any – was minimal. According to sources, five of Zarqawi's men were picked up in early May as part of an already ongoing effort by an elite US special ops force, known to some as Gray Fox and by others as Task Force 145, which had been scouring Iraq for Zarqawi since the insurgency began. During a raid in May of this year in the city of Yusufiyah, task force 145 not only captured Zarqawi's five associates, but also found the now infamous April 25th tape in which Zarqawi is shown to be posing Rambo-style dressed in all black, sporting western-style white sneakers and brandishing what appears to be a Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). Task Force 145, sources say, continued the series of raids into early June, capturing operatives that would provide information, eventually culminating in the killing of Zarqawi, 7-9 of his lieutenants and other associates in a safe house compound. Task Force 145 is led by Army Lt. Gen. Stan McChrystal and made up of some of the most well-trained special operations troops (or "elite" forces,) including Delta Forces, SEAL Team 6, and Task Force Black, a British special air "saber" squadron. Some sources say that the reason Zarqawi made the tape was to impress his higher-ups in the al-Qaeda terrorist network, most notably Ayman al-Zawahiri, head of Islamic Jihad in Egypt and the closest associate of Osama bin Laden. Experts say that when Zarqawi saw his influence waning, he decided to make the video in an effort to bolster support and ignite his followers. Some believe that the making of the tape, ironically, is what may have led Task Force 145 to the city of Yusufiyah to begin with. Sources also say that US dissemination of the tape--showing a fattened up Zarqawi wearing western style clothing--helped weaken his credibility, and allowed Task Force 145 easier access to information. http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/The_real_heroes_of_Zarqawis_fall_0608.html
Creepy has a point. I don't see any point getting all excited about this news. Our troops definately did a good job in the worthwhile effort to get this dude. He was bad news all around. But by no means is anybody in Iraq letting their guard down. Nobody's quality of life has suddenly increased. Our military is not relaxing one bit with this news. Therefore, nothing changes as of yet. It is even possible, albeit unlikely, his death is a BAD thing. A more ruthless person could take his place. Or different factions split off and more violence errupts. So, i'm indifferent about AZ's death ...for now. As Steven Colbert would say, it FEELS good to kill him so in all Truthiness it must be a good thing that he is dead. Only time will tell but at least we finally have something to be optimistic about and lets really hope this is a turning point in getting our troops home.
depends. . .. folx who rat out mobsters .. . sleep with the fishes if this guy gets killed and his whole family . .. maybe no so much Why don't we rat out more criminals here? Rocket River
Good news, but way overblown. This will help the ordinary Iraqis who he was killing. It probably will have virtually no impact on our troops that are killed by the Iraqi resistance. I see US officials are already trying to trot out the name of a new boogie man to be the fiendish replacmentn mastermind. Soon stories about almost capuring him are likely to appear every few weeks. I wonder if his reward will be $25 million. Probably not initially till pr has built him up some more. A thousand of those rewards is $25 billion. We spend more than $6 billion per month on the War on Iraq, and I don't believe this even begins to count the additional weapon systems that the War on Terror has now replaced the War on Communism as an excuse for. At what we are spending on the so called war on terror, with a couple of thousand Al Qaeda membersl we could probably pay $25 milliion per Al Qaeda member and come out ahead. Maybe we could make a deal that any Al Qaeda member with proof of membership will be paid $10 million if they resign. There will undoubtedly be some hard core types that will still have to hunted down, but we could come out ahead.
I saw the breaking news very late last night, too late to make a comment. (I saw it while I was writing the Coulter thing, I think) Just wanted to say that it was great news. The man was a psychopathic killer, and a delusional religious fanatic, who twisted a good religion to his own evil purposes. I find the fact that his "spiritual advisor," this al-Iraqi fellow, was reported killed with him to be more than a little ironic, and gratifying as well. Sishir, with all due respect, I think you may be on the verge of irrational exuberance. (I always thought that was a pithy comment by Greenspan!) If this guy's death, as well as the reported deaths of some of his top lieutenants (more good news), leads to what you postulated (the removal of our troops), it would be an amazing thing. I'm not nearly as optimistic. What I hope comes from it is a sense among the Iraqi people of confidence in the future, that the suicide bombings, a monstrous thing which must have millions living on the edge of panic, and something, thank goodness, that we haven't had to deal with, except for one huge exception... that they will be reduced, and some feeling of normality might be possible. (have the Israelis ever gotten "used," to suicide bombings? I think not!) You know, that you can go to the market with a little less fear, or apply for a government position with a bit less trepidation. If that happens, it'll be a lot. I don't see it leading to a draw-down of our troops. In my opinion, if that happens it'll be like Vietnam, where it's done for political purposes, not because of a serious expectation that anything has been "won." I just don't see a "win," in the cards for us in Iraq. It looks more like Vietnam day by day, to me. We have had victories, and we had one yesterday, a very satisfying victory, but I see little impact on the greater problem of Iraq's future, and our future in it. I certainly hope I'm wrong. And we may be saying essentially the same thing, anyway. Keep D&D Civil.
Just finished watching a documentary about Saudi Arabia on PBS Frontline . I think everyone should watch it, and you'll see why things are what they are today. When Saudi Arabia first introduced Television, they had radicals who tried to burn down the TV Station because it was against Islam. Everything you see in Iraq is because of Saudi Arabia.
who cares? if we get him today or tommorow. the point is we need to get him. its just symbolism. I dont care what president is in office, the people who catch these guys are US Military, they deserve the credit.
