Mr. Zarkowi has assumed room temp.

[fargon]

Whilst listening to Coast to Coast AM, their was a news flash that we got Zarkowi. He was running the insurgency effort in Iraq.

We can only hope that all the bullshit in Iraq will end.

[Griff]

I hope its "Mission Accomplished" but I don't think that leadership in an insurgency is really that important. Maybe it will be a symbolic thing that'll get the Iraqis engaged in running their country? Either way we can declare victory and end it.

[Undertoad]

Top Iraqi blogger Iraq The Model talks about the town where they got him and points out that it was tips from locals that did it:

What is Hibhib?

Hibhib is a small town several kilometers to the northwest of Baquba and most of its people are from the Azzawi tribes.

This small town was traditionally nicknamed Um al-Arak as it was famous for producing some of the finest Arak in Iraq, an industry that flourished in the area for the abundance of date palms. It's even said that Hibhib's Arak can make the fox get drunk!

Of course that was before hte Salafi Zarqawi tide reached this once peaceful town.

It was quite visible lately that Hibhib became a place for intense terror activity, especially after the phenomenon of severed heads appeared. Severed heads of civilian Iraqis were found twice in fruit boxes in and around Hibhib; a terrible crime that shocked Iraqis. Also a few days ago 19 passengers, mostly students were murdered in cold blood just north of Hibhib which indicated that a seriously bloody terror cell was in this area.

There had been several reports about Zarqawi fleeing Anbar to Diyala after the tribes in Ramadi turned against al-Qaeda but obviously, Diyala and its suburbs and Iraqi tribes were not willing to endorse the head chopping criminal.

In the first official confirmation, PM al-Maliki said that Jordan has provided intelligence that was used in the raid on Zaraqwi's hiding place but he also stressed that tips from locals were the primary lead to Zarqawi's exact location and these were the information according to which the missiles were guided.

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.

[glatt]

NPR this morning interviewed a few "experts" who said that Zarqawi had been replaced as leader of the insurgency some time ago by an un-named person. Zarqawi's brutal tactics, like the beheadings of hostages, had gone too far, and angered many in the Arab world. They caused a backlash that hurt the cause of the insurgency. According to these NPR experts, he had been marginalized for quite some time, and his being turned in by the locals shows this.

I'm glad they got this SOB, and it gives me some hope that things may get better in Iraq. Getting him may be evidence of some positive changes in the thinking of Iraqis, but the only thing we know for sure is that it's a big symbolic victory.

I'm with Griff. Maybe we should claim this is THE victory, and pull out now while we can. Save some face.

[Maui Nick]

It's not mission accomplished, though. Al-Qaeda isn't designed for top-down leadership like an army, but rather as individual, self-sustaining cells.

The White House had confirmation on this at 9 p.m. EDT. The fact that it couldn't get the announcement out in time for the morning papers is an indictment of Bush's media handlers. Instead of something the Bushies can point to as a victory in the headlines, all it got was another day of Haditha. Ouch.

[Undertoad]

Think the long game, Maui. The Bush admin treats print media with contempt. If the morning papers don't have the biggest news in months, being reported on all media this morning except for the morning papers, it is most certainly not a victory for the morning papers.

[Griff]

I'm listening to Penn and Drudge talking about the net right now. I wonder if the papers will find a reason to exist?

[Griff]

addendum to that thought: The NYT headlines in my e-mail does not have the Zarqawi story...

[Maui Nick]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Think the long game, Maui. The Bush admin treats print media with contempt. If the morning papers don't have the biggest news in months, being reported on all media this morning except for the morning papers, it is most certainly not a victory for the morning papers.

You watch TV news on the subway? Probably not.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Think the long game, Maui. The Bush admin treats print media with contempt. If the morning papers don't have the biggest news in months, being reported on all media this morning except for the morning papers, it is most certainly not a victory for the morning papers.

Our morning paper had it and broke this news to me this Thursday, 06-08-06.

Tw is wrong on a couple of counts: no one knowledgeable actually thinks al-Zarqawi was "THE leader of the insurgency." (Tw likes to set up straw men, under the impression we don't see him doing it.) Al-Z. (born Achmad Khalaila) functioned as al-Quaeda and was intimate with OBL, and publicly declared himself an ally to OBL and the al-Q boss in Iraq. This is sufficient for me, if not for the Cellar's resident crazy, who, using a train of thought as crooked as a kangaroo's penis, will remain in denial of something reasonable men will find reasonable.

The "cut and run after declaring victory because we got a bigwig" idea is no good either. The "exit strategy" remains the simple thing it always was: win. A strong democracy in Iraq, strong enough to consume its slavemaker, totalitarian, socialist enemies and clawers after their previous condition of unique privilege in a cleansing fire, is that win. Seeking substitutes, any substitutes, for victory is myopic and unwise. It will mean that we'd have to fight a larger war in that region some years down the road. Better to sustain the momentum and get the job done this time, not some other time.

[xoxoxoBruce]

From Michael Yon's site;

Coalition forces acting on a tip reportedly from within his own organization leveled the safe house outside of Baquba where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was hiding yesterday, killing the terrorist.

By his own account, al-Zarqawi is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iraqis and many Coalition forces and contractors. An acolyte of Osama Bin Laden, al-Zarqawi was, to many, the face of terrorism in Iraq. This was partly the result of Bin Laden’s annointment of him as chief deputy there, but more so because of his sophisticated manipulation of the media and internet. His slick campaign videos, widely distributed and broadcast by media outlets around the world, depicted al-Zarqawi as a hands-on, stealthy military leader; but clearly, he was not a tactical genius. His greatest victories were public relation coups that catapulted him into the role of figurehead for terrorists. Our courageous friends in Jordan, who have also suffered at the hands of al-Zarqawi, are said to have aided in his destruction.

His death will not likely fracture the terror campaign in Iraq because of the disparity of the insurgency itself, comprised of many distinct and disjointed elements, not all of whom were following al-Zarqawi.

Nevertheless, this is an important victory in the GWOT showing that persistent effort can and will produce definitive results. But al-Zarqawi was largely a media-produced terror hero, now that he is gone, let us not produce another.

[Flint]

...so...the American news media will have to find a new figurehead :::yawn:::

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by Flint

...so...the American news media will have to find a new figurehead :::yawn:::

Can we all vote on who it should be?

[Flint]

Originally Posted by Brianna

Can we all vote on who it should be?

How about one of those intolerable AGers?

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by Flint

How about one of those intolerable AGers?

\

I was thinking more along the lines of a Nick Lachey-type character, but, ok.