Iraqi bloggers have begun to react to the news of the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leading terrorist operating in Iraq, in an airstrike today.
The attack was first by the US forces with an air strike to a selected target where they cockroaches were hiding in. On the same time and in the ground were the Iraqi forces making an advance towards the target and securing the area before and afterward.
Zarqawi without doubts went into the bottom of the Hell with blood of many innocent children, women and men in his dirty hands.
There were celebrations going on now in the holly city of Najaf and Kerbala. On the other hands there are sadness and shock among his allies in the region and abroad like Al-Jazeera Qatari TV and other Arab pro-terrorists thugs.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has just announced the death of terror leader Abu Musa’ab al-Zarqawi in a joint press conference with Ambassador Khalil Zad.
Al-Maliki explained that Zarqawi (and 7 of his aides) was killed in an air raid in the little town of Hibhib 8 km north of Baquba after receiving tips from residents in the area.
General Casey says more details on the operation will be available in a briefing at 3 pm local time. General Casey mentioned that Zarqawi’s identity was confirmed through his fingerprints.
CONGRATULATIONS TO IRAQ, CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WHOLE WORLD ON THIS VICTORY.
How do I feel about that? Or more importantly, how does my Iraqi family feel about this?
Iraqis have been suffering for decades now, going from war to war to war to sanctions to war (Iraq-Iran War, Kuwaiti invasion, Gulf War ’91, sanctions, invasion). They are tired. They want to move on. They are not happy that their country has been invaded, and much less so that the situation has only deteriorated after this invasion in terms of security and peace.Zarqawi and his operatives added to this mess. Perhaps they meant to fight the occupation, but their fight did not discriminate between Iraqi and non-Iraqi, occupier and occupied. Their roadside bombs, car bombs, mortars, etc killed more Iraqis than they did Americans. Their kidnappings and public beheadings hurt the image of Islam in the West.
I can safely say that most Iraqis are happy, even ecstatic, with this news, but skeptical. Zarqawi was not a lone worker. He had a following, and they can continue their work without him. Iraqis will remain wary in their daily life, and aware that anything can happen. In fact, I would not be surprised if his followers decided to prove a point tomorrow and in the coming days, with some major bombings.
The first thing that occured to me at hearing the news was “A much needed victory, huh?”. It is indeed a much needed victory for a Prime Minister who’s status wasn’t as he would have liked it to be. Also a much more needed victory for the Coalition Forces that haven’t been achieving much since capturing Saddam Hussein which I believe was act IV, iv.
For some reason, I never believed he existed, I have seen a couple photographs and all of that, but in the other hand, nothing is easier for a government than to frame some people. And to all governments he’s been an ideal scapegoat when it comes to justifying failures. But the thing is, if he’s for real and has got followers, shouldn’t we be more afraid now? If he existed and had followers, they’re most likely to be outraged and planning to make everybody suffer for a payback. If he doesn’t exist, which is more like the truth to me, then his death won’t make any difference for real. Now the our government as well as “other governments” will start looking pretty bad when they can’t blame it all on terrorism and on “The Godfather of secterian killings and terror in Iraq” because they’ve announced him dead. Well it’s two-way thing, they’ve announced him dead to appear good, just not for long enough.
From what I am gathering from Iraqi news reports and western media sources, this was a joint Iraqi-US operation.
In Iraq, Information was received that Zarqawi and up to eight of his aides/disciples were in a house in a small village just north of Baquba, a total of about 60kms north of Baghdad.
A drone confirmed that Zarqawi was indeed at the location. Still no final confirmation if hellfire missiles were used, but US helicopter gunships were apparently heavily used.
Seven of Zarqawi’s aides are reported to have been killed. One is reported to have been captured.
Iraqi sources are saying that Zarqawi did not die in the bombing of the house but succumbed to his wounds later. More information will come out about this for sure.
Foreign terrorism in Iraq – or at least a part of it – can now be buried. I doubt other Arab infilitrators seeking to divide Shia and Sunni brothers will remain.
Hunted down and killed or will flee.
Prime Minister Announces the Death of Zarqawi!!!
999 left to go, at least its a begining, i have never been more happier than when they caught the Rat in the hole!
I’ll update this post as more reaction becomes available.
UPDATE
It still hasnt sunk in, this is probably one of the best days in Iraq’s history after the capture of Saddam Hussain.
He also has pictures of Iraqis celebrating.
Good riddance. Who’s their next leader in Iraq?
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.
Read the whole thing.
I was at the traffic light, in my car on the way to the furniture store….Lit a cigarette and was listening to radio Sawa, when the the first headline was “Zarqawi was killed in Iraq”…OMG… The cig magically slipped through my fingers onto the car’s floor…Shit Shit shit…the cab driver behind me started beeping, the lights have turned green and my head is down trying to find where the darn cig fell…..by the time i found it, a crescendo of beeping began and the lights turned red…hehe…This time, I got my mobile phone out and called my brother to see if the news I just heard was true…You never know these days, I dont trust news agencies no more…So I needed another person to tell me if my ears didnt mock me…And YES YES YES, that low life criminal is gone….gone from the face of the earth…Gone from Iraq….
For a few minutes I was really over the moon….but then a few seconds later….I realised this is just like Saddam…I thought by capturing him, things will get better, but then tens of thousands of other Saddams appeared…The same with this low life scum…Many others will come out…And believe it or not, some tv channels have already made him a martyr…..I just wanted to throw my shoes and break the darn tv but the whole family was sitting there, so instead I went to my room and began poisoning my lungs….
One good news, coming out from Iraq…Finally….Again for a few seconds my mind wandered…wandered to how my Iraqi colleagues are reacting to this news…wandered about how I myself would have reacted had I been there now…My whole family was jubilent…we even got a few phonecalls of congratulations…But is it too early to start having hopes again…I dunno…shouldnt let pessimism conquer my thoughts…
The whole day I was with TV team covering the news of the death of Zarqawi, by asking people’s opinions.
The orders came from above that the opinions must be “pro-occupation†(speaking about the freedom of speech).
We just asked pedestrians on the streets, from 30 opinions of different fraction of the Lebanese society only three opinions were pro-occupation†and the rest were something like this:
“They are the Americans who create Zarqawi, and now they don’t need this myth anymoreâ€.
“As long as the occupation exists then there will be many other Zarqawisâ€.
Best opinion I heard today was:
“The Americans announce the death of Zarqawi because they wanted to show support for Iraq’s new government, but Zarqawism is not dead they left the option open to use another name or names“.
Today is a great day in Iraq. The most brutal criminal and terrorist in Iraq is killed. It’s been a long time since we haven’t heard good news. But today’s news along with the PM’s success in completing the formation of his government made me so happy and made most Iraqis unbelievably happy.
I will talk about how I felt when I received the news in the coming post as I have to finish working on the news I reported.
Congratulations to all the Iraqi people and to all those who suffered from the Zarqawi terrorism…
He followed up with an absolutely fabulous post that you should read in full.
Cross-posted to Dean’s World.
Good, good. Finally—we’ve won!
Fascinating stuff, Dave. Thanks for posting this.
Thanks, Tom. BTW, although I didn’t draw attention to it in the post (I wanted to let the Iraqi bloggers take center stage) these bloggers represent quite a range of opinion—from rather stridently anti-Coalition to quite definitely pro-.
Yes, I gathered that, and appreciate the perspective all the more for it.