[StJacques]

This article gives excellent details on the mission itself. Before I read it I was unaware that a ground action had begun before the jets were called in to strike the house, a decision which was made to make certain Zarqawi did not escape again.

There's some really good information here.

[rageaholic]

Its funny. The "spiritual advisor" was being watched over by a friend in the sky, but it wasn't Allah, it was Usaf.

When the spiritual advisor led Usaf to Zwachari, Usaf was pleased and sent them two 500 pound virgins.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

Unless some or all of it is DIS information.

[don-o]

Got a fact wrong, though. He was alive when the troops / police found him.

[Aquinasfan]

"We have managed to infiltrate this organization," said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser.

Wouldn't "no comment" be a better answer?

[FlingWingFlyer]

Iraqi officials confirmed that Mr. Zarqawi had indeed been sold out by one of his own.

To me, this is a big deal. Each "freedom fighter" now has to start watching his own back. Muhammed might not be as be as loyal as you think he is.

[Dracian]

The neighbor says the house was usually unoccupied. Yet with the group was a woman and child. Obviously they didn't live there. Therefore their most likely use was for appearances when traveling -- just another family driving around.

[paul51]

Whoever was in the third SUV is going to get labeled the snitch. If they aren't dead already, they better go deep. Probably in coalition custody by now.

[Dracian]

Also, if there was a brief firefight before the bombs hit, then the Zark-o-man really did know he was in a fix before he got it.

[ZGuy]

Gotta wonder if the NYT saying "Muhammad Ismael, a 40-year-old Iraqi taxi driver, was standing outside his home in the tiny village of Hibhib" will be enough to get Mr. Ismael killed by people who don't think he should be noticing things like that and telling it to the American press. Not that the NYT cares.

[burzum]

As the American commandos took up positions, Mr. Ismael said, someone from inside the house in the date grove began shooting. The Americans returned fire, Mr. Ismael said, but the firefight did not last long.

One of the F-16's, now in position over Hibhib, released a laser-guided 500-pound bomb.

Bam! The terrorists thought they were in the gunfight of their lives. Unfortunately for them, they brought guns to a bombfight.

[TET1968]

Times has it wrong.
According to today's press conference, no children, and I believe three woman and three men.

[Don Carlos]

Mr. Zarqawi this, Mr. Zarqawi that! What a bunch of post-mortem arse kissers!

Too bad they will never treat President Bush with anything approaching the same respect. A pox on all of them!

[Bender2]

Re NYT: According to a Pentagon official, the Americans finally got one. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the raid are classified, said that an Iraqi informant inside Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia provided the critical piece of intelligence about Mr. Rahman's meeting with Mr. Zarqawi. The source's identity was not clear — nor was it clear how that source was able to pinpoint Mr. Zarqawi's location without getting killed himself.

"We have a guy on the inside who led us directly to Zarqawi," the official said.

My first thought was here goes the NYT again leaking classified material and getting away with it again...

Then I thought...

Even if this is NYT's horsehockey to dim credit to our Special Forces, it will make everyone in Al Qaeda wonder if the raghead next to them is on the level or not...

But my rathers would be the New York Times editors/reporters spending severl months with their Al Qaeda buds down in Gitmo... All in the same cage!

[Beagle8U]

"There's some really good information here."

Yes, lots of information. I'm sure that the NYT just sealed that poor taxi drivers death warrant by listing his name like they did.

When they could have just as well used "witness's reported" or their favorite "unnamed sources".

If it don't protect terrorists or RATS they can't leave out a single thing.

[goldstategop]

They probably planned to capture him but in the end they decided it wasn't worth the risk to American lives. Amazing what a pair of 500 pound bombs can do. These may well have changed the course of history.

(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")