Posted on 06/09/2006 5:19:28 PM PDT by SandRat
WASHINGTON, June 9, 2006 – Terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi initially survived the June 7 air strike but died from his wounds while laying on a stretcher shortly thereafter, a senior U.S. military officer in Baghdad said today. Iraqi police were the first people on the scene following the air strike. After finding Zarqawi alive, the police placed him on a stretcher, Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell told Pentagon reporters via a satellite connection today.
U.S. forces arrived shortly after and began identification procedures by examining distinguishing marks on his body and by using visual facial-recognition techniques.
Zarqawi mumbled a few indistinguishable words before he expired, Caldwell added.
"According to the person on the ground, Zarqawi attempted to sort of turn away off the stretcher," Caldwell said. "They re-secured him back onto the stretcher, but he died almost immediately thereafter from the wounds he had received from the air strike."
Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was one of six individuals confirmed dead from the bombing. Two other men, including Zarqawi's so-called spiritual guide, Sheik Abd-al-Rahman, and three women were also among the dead. Reports that a child was also killed have not been confirmed, Caldwell said.
It is not yet clear how Zarqawi might have survived F-16 fighter jets dropping two 500-pound bombs on his safe house.
Caldwell noted that Zarqawi's death "is not going to stop the violence here in Iraq."
"It is an important step forward," he said, "but we still have some tough times ahead of us."
The general confirmed that Zarqawi's face was cleaned up for the now widely distributed photos of his dead body.
"His face was very, very bloodied and we made a conscious decision that if we were going to take photographs of him and make them available publicly that we were going to clean him up," Caldwell said. "Despite the fact that this person actually had no regard for human life, we were not going to treat him in the same manner."
The final determination for where the body will be sent is still being deliberated, the general said.
Seventeen ground raids occurred in conjunction with the air strike that killed Zarqawi. During the raids a large weapons cache was discovered under the floorboards of a house, Caldwell said. The cache included small arms, ammunition, passports, license plates, night-vision goggles, Iraqi Army uniforms, bombs and a suicide belt. In addition, 25 terrorist suspects were detained during the raids, he said.
The general pointed out that the air strike was the result of a painstaking process that occurred over several weeks. The bombing was not a case where an individual came to coalition forces and gave up Zarqawi's exact whereabouts, he said.
"(The air strike) was a result of tremendous work by coalition forces, intelligence agencies, partners in our global war on terrorism, that all came together feeding different parts and pieces that allowed us to build that puzzle," Caldwell said.
Bump
When the Z Pig entered hell, he found out that his 72 virgins were clones of Helen Thomas. They are having their way with him now.
Which al Qaeda Son of a pig wants to be the next Z Pig? We will find your "Safe House" and send you to hell to be with the original Z pig! Your 72 Helen Thomas Virgins are waiting for you.
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No Problem! Here comes your Bomb!
Z Pig replacements! Enjoy your eternity in hell with your special 72 virgins!
Gotta give credit where it's due. Our own FReeper humblegunner created that one.
Thanks to both of you. It is a fitting end for my pictorial montage of the Z Pig.
Allegra, are the good Iraqi people still celebrating the end of this serial killer of innocent Iraqis?
To bad, we didn't off $addam instead of taking him prisoner.
When the head serial killers get whacked, the innocent people get to live a better life.
You are quite welcome.
I had planned to put 72 Helens in there but she got old real quick! ;-)
Hope he was conscious enough to realize what happened and that he knew he was a goner at the hands of the Americans.
Overpressure bombing effects (or why Zarqawi still had a face after the bombing)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1645842/posts
"I had planned to put 72 Helens in there but she got old real quick! ;-)"
I wondered how your stomach felt after inserting all of those Helen Virgins into your montage.:)
US doctors begin Zarqawi autopsy
And
The Iraqi And Jordanian Blogospheres On The Death Of Zarqawi
Air Force Space Command delivered space combat effects for the precision strike that resulted in the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, head of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
-AFSC press release
They're still quite buoyant about it.
They're all focused on the World Cup today, however. LOL
Good. Maybe they can watch the World Cup and feel safer and be safer. God Bless them, and may the Death of the Iraqi serial killer, Z Pig, be the first of many to come.
Stay safe!
Mission of the Artillary: cause the enemies hair, teeth, and eyeballs rain down upon the battlefield.
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