Press conference:
Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell: Iraqis helped eliminate Zarqawi. Iraqis can rejoice today. They've earned it with their blood, sweat and tears. But tomorrow we must continue to march forward toward an Iraq that is free and exemplifies unity and prosperty.
video of airstrike
Airstrike video is awesome!
? from Washington Post: How did he die and how many air strikes.
Caldwell: Technical crew is bringing up the video of the airstrike that occurred last night at 6:15 and it's being shown now. 2 F-16's from the US Air Force have id'd target and the aircraft will drop a 500 lb bomb on the target.
Caldwell: Assessment if target was fully engaged. Decision by pilot to do a re-attack and the second 500 lb bomb will drop shortly. (showing video)
Caldwell: Following strike Iraqi police responded to the location; they were first on the scene followed by elements of troopers from 4th infantry division. Moved to location, swept through the site and identified 6 persons having been killed.
Zarkawi's body moved and brought to secure location and id'd by examination and scars and tatoos identified him. Fingerprint id came back at zero three thirty.
Newsweek: Who were other people killed in the group.
Caldwell: Two of six id'd. 20 hours since strike occurred and trying to id other 4 at this time. There was a woman in the group and a child. We have no idea who they were.
? in Arabic.
Caldwell: Coalition forces fortunate that a lot of nations actively involved so Iraqis are free. Other countries are providing information and assisting in our fight in the WOT. It would be inappropriate to discuss relationships but Jordan is extremely important friend to the US and Iraq as we fight the WOT.
? about documents, anything about documents?
Caldwell: We did. We did find some information. What everyone needs to understand that the strike didn't occur in a 24 hour period. It was a long exploitation of signals and human intelligence, many weeks led us to that target. Last night we conducted 17 simultaneous raids in Baghdad proper and outskirts and those 17 raids a tremendous am ount of intelligence was collected and is being utlized for further use. IT WAS A TREASURE TROVE!
We've id'd other targets we hadn't gone after previously and now that we have him we can go after other targets we've been using to establish his movements and habits.
? Can you classify the treasure trove that you found. Phone books, computers? Were the 17 targets in Baghdad.
Caldwell: We had no doubt that Zarqawi was in the house. We knew exactly who was there. The information we gathered over the last 24 hours is being used and exploited and will be used in future operations so I won't talk about that.
?: Zarqawi has been declared many times and when we we know from DNA it's really him.
Caldwell: We hope in some hours (48?) to have the DNA evidence back. We did a fingerprint 100% match.
? Can you tell us about Irtacman and how long you've been following him and what his relationshp to Zarqawi was?
Caldwell: He was special advisor to Zarqawi. For operational reasons I can't specify when someone brought that information to us.
? You said that the last tip you listened to pushed you to take this step. What he did in the last 3 years, did you have to wait 3 years to do it?
Caldwell: Last night was the first time we've had definitive information where he was located without taking collateral damage to other civilians in the area.
? You said killing of Zarqawi won't stop violence in Iraq. Will you take measures to stop these attacks.
Caldwell: Prime Minister has developed the Baghdad security plan that he's talked about in the press and is planning to execute.
Okay, questions are getting dumb now so I'll stop. LOL