By now, you’ve heard the good news: Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed by U.S. forces. (Here is the video of the F-16 strikes that knocked him off. And here is footage from the aftermath.) Below are a few links, to provide a little context:
* Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, said that “tips and intelligence… from Iraqi senior leaders from [Zarqawi’s] network led forces” to him. (The printed version of Casey’s statement reads a little differently.)
* John Robb looks at Zarqawi’s tenure as a “violence capitalist.” (Here is a list of the big attacks claimed by his followers.)
* The Counterterrorism Blog highlights the role of Task Force 145, the combination of SEAL and Delta Force units, in Zarqawi’s take-down. (William Arkin has a bit more.)
* Juan Cole looks at the split between Zarqawi and “the main arm of the guerrilla resistance.“
* Chris Allbritton, striking an uncharacteristically hopeful tone, says, Zarqawi’s elimination “indicates that bringing the Sunnis into the government seems to [have] worked.” (More here.)
* CNN wonders if Zarqawi’s recent video helped nail him.
* Dexter Filkins says “it could possibly set off a bloody struggle within the organization to succeed [Zarqawi], [although] the insurgency and sectarian war he helped ignite in Iraq will carry on without him.“
* Smash asks if Abu Abdulrahman al-Iraqi is taking Zarqawi’s place. (Thanks to Smash for the pic, too.)
* Foreign Policy offers up its “profile of a killer.“
* Winds: Is Zarqawi Iraq’s “Jeb Stuart”?
* Barnett: “Zarqawi’s elevation to ‘master terrorist’ was useful to our purposes.“
* Blogging Baghdad: “Maliki’s big chance.“
* Stratfor: “Al-Zarqawi was attacked by two F-16s, each of which dropped a 500-pound bomb, not by a Hellfire missile launched from a Predator drone. Predators are dual intelligence gathering/assassination tools. Pairs of F-16s are more likely to be used when there is pre-existing intelligence that results in a tasking. U.S. forces selected their weapon very carefully to be low on fragmentation or fire to maximize the chances of the quick recovery of an easily identifiable corpse. Al-Zarqawi was not found, he was sold out. A political deal was made, and the Sunnis have delivered on their end.“
* Kaplan: “If there’s any legitimacy to the new Iraqi government, now’s the time it might take traction.“
* Ackerman: “Zarqawi’s death may in fact be a bad thing.“
* Zarqawi’s brother-in-law arrested live, on TV.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
There’s also this article from about a year ago that suggests Zarqawi’s not nearly important enough to merit all the fuss:
http://www.exile.ru/2005-June-03/war_nerd.html
Never rely on Juan Cole. He got the facts about 1920 Revolution wrong and was blasted hard by an English speaking Iraqi for errors of Juan Cole’s claim on 1920 Revolution of Iraq. Why trust a guy that doesn’t even have the right facts of history of Iraq?
Washington Post, April 10, 2006
[quote]One internal briefing, produced by the U.S. military headquarters in Iraq, said that Kimmitt had concluded that, “The Zarqawi PSYOP program is the most successful information campaign to date.”[/quote]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/09/AR2006040900890_pf.html
His “death” is a PsyOps operation just as his “life” as one-legged or two-legged bogeyman was.
It will change nothing on the ground.
Why trust a guy that doesn’t even have the right facts of history of Iraq?
Good question…one that applies to a lot of people besides Juan Cole. Ken Adelman, for instance.
“Gary Brecher” is an amusing read at best, a disgrace to the real War Nerds at the worst. I hold his opinions on war roughly equal with Dr. Thorpe’s “Your Band Sucks” postings over at SomethingAwful- neither one should be taken seriously.
I suppose I could go on but, frankly, it would be clubbing baby seals.
As for Cole I agree that he’s useful, but not trustworthy.
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