09 June 2006

Spectacular News

It was spectacular news. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the vicious Jordanian creep and figurehead of the al Qaida franchise operation in Iraq, was killed in an air-strike just around dawn, local time.

The words were not quite as dramatic as Ambassador Bremer's "We got him," when they bagged Saddam. But there was some thing new. They were in Arabic, and spoken by new Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He announced that the thug was killed along with seven of his entourage in Diyala Province, east of the city of Baqooba. Zarqawi's identity was confirmed by fingerprint information, and a close look at his face.

The Prime Minister was on the stage with General Casey and Ambassador Khalilzad. I have a pal from the old days who is in the middle of all this. He says all of them are working 14-18 hours, seven days a week.

They needed some good news, and this certainly meets the criteria.

Baquoba has been a hot spot lately, which makes life uncomfortable for those that live there full time.

The violence may have contributed to the willingness of local residents to finger the safe-house to the authorities. They, in turn, got the information to the fusion intelligence cell, who jumped on the secure phone and talked to the Joint Air Operations Center, who keyed the mike on the radio and passed the geo-coordinates to the pilot of an orbiting fighter, who selected "Master Arm" on the control stick and launched a laser-designated Mark-82 Glide Bomb Unit. He then flew it successfully into the target.

Trust by the locals in the security forces is an indication of the real sentiment among the citizenry, and if it was the locals, this is a signal event.

It was the locals that tipped off the CIA and Bolivian authorities as to the whereabouts of charismatic communist Che Guevara. You can only swim in the sea of the people if the people do not think you are toxic.

At some point, a $25 million dollar bounty on your head, the wrath of an effective regional security service, angry locals and orbiting F-16's with laser-guided bombs, life can simply become unsupportable.

They say that another and another will step up to replace Zarqawi, but that is OK. Each one will be less experienced, less confident, more fearful. The seven that died with him may be more significant, since they would have been among the first to carry on the fight.

This is neither the great victory some claim, nor a mere symbol as others dismiss it.

It is good that a serpent has been killed. It is even better that his companion snakes died, too.

But if it was local Sunnis that turned him in, then that means something has changed in the mood of the people. And that is a very positive thing indeed.

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