A Pakistani Muslim reads a newspaper splashed with headlines of the killing of al Qaeda militant Abu Musab al Zarqawi in Peshawar June 9, 2006. (Ali Imam/Reuters)
Posted on 06/09/2006 5:22:27 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Flush with intelligence, the U.S. military moved quickly Friday to take advantage of the power vacuum left by the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, carrying out nearly 40 raids in an effort to stop his terror network from regrouping.
A U.S. military search of the destroyed safehouse where the al-Qaida in Iraq leader was killed Wednesday yielded documents and information storage devices that are being assessed for potential use against his followers, a military officer said.
An M-16 rifle, grenades and AK-47 rifles also were found, according to the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because results from the search have not been announced. The U.S.-made M-16 was fitted with special optics.
They also found documents and unspecified "media," which the officer indicated normally means information storage devices such as computer hard drives and digital cameras or other data storage devices.
U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said 39 raids were conducted across Iraq late Thursday and early Friday, including some directly related to the information they obtained from the strike against al-Zarqawi. Those were in addition to 17 raids carried out immediately after the terror leader was killed.
Caldwell displayed digital photographs of recovered items that he said included a suicide belt, a flak vest, passports and identification cards, vehicle license plates, ammunition belts, rifles and other guns and a night-vision device. He said they were found under the floorboards of a building; he did not identify the location, except to say it was in and around Baghdad.
He said at least 24 people had been detained and one person killed in the raids.
In Ghalbiyah, near where al-Zarqawi was killed, five civilians were killed and three were wounded in a firefight. The circumstances of their deaths were unclear.
AP Television News video footage showed a destroyed house, while another house had bullet holes on the wall and burned furniture inside.
The military also revealed that al-Zarqawi was alive after two 500-pound bombs were dropped on his hideout, though he could barely speak.
"He mumbled something, but it was indistinguishable and it was very short," Caldwell said, adding that al-Zarqawi tried to get away after being placed on a stretcher by Iraqi police.
Caldwell said it was possible that al-Zarqawi was not inside the safehouse when it was attacked, a scenario which might explain why only he among six people killed in the raid initially survived the bombing.
Asked whether al-Zarqawi was shot after U.S. ground troops arrived at the scene, Caldwell said he could not give a definitive answer.
An official in the Iraqi prime minister's office confirmed that the Iraqi forces arrived first, followed by the Americans. "I think our announcement was very clear yesterday and we don't have anything to add," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani, a Shiite who was named to the key security post Thursday, said al-Zarqawi's death came after a painstaking effort to collect accurate data and investigate every clue.
"The killing of al-Zarqawi didn't occur by chance," al-Bolani told al-Arabiya TV. "His killing will raise the morale of the people as well the morale of the security services."
The death of Iraq's most feared terrorist was the subject of Friday's religious sermons in Iraq.
"The killing of the Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi does not mean the end of terrorism in Iraq," Shiite Sheik Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalai said in the southern city of Karbala. He called on the government to "kill all the symbols of terrorism and kill all of (al-Zarqawi's) associates to get rid of terrorism in our beloved country."
Many believe al-Zarqawi was among a minority of foreign fighters and that Iraqis make up the heart of the insurgency - Sunni Arab extremists and loyalists of former leader Saddam Hussein and his ousted Baath Party.
"Despite the crimes of al-Zarqawi, the source of terrorism is the Baathists who had supplied him with secure dens and safe havens," Imam Sadr al-Din al-Qupanchi said at a Shiite mosque in Najaf.
Biological samples from al-Zarqawi's body were delivered to an FBI crime laboratory in Virginia for DNA testing. The results were expected in three days.
At the news conference, the U.S. military also provided a revised death toll from the attack.
Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, had said four people, including a woman and a child, were killed with al-Zarqawi and the terrorist's spiritual consultant.
But Caldwell said three women and three men, including al-Zarqawi and spiritual adviser Sheik Abdul-Rahman were killed, but he cautioned that some facts were being sorted out.
The spiritual adviser was initially believed to be Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi, but analysts said al-Iraqi is a different man - the group's deputy leader who signed the al-Qaida statement announcing al-Zarqawi's death.
President Bush said al-Zarqawi's death "helps a lot" with security problems but won't bring an end to the war. He also said it was unclear when Iraqi security forces could take control and let U.S. troops go home.
In a bid to prevent reprisal attacks, Iraqi authorities imposed a driving ban in Baghdad and Diyala province to the north, where al-Zarqawi and the others were killed.
It was a relatively quiet day in Baghdad, a day after at least five car bombs killed nearly 40 people and wounded dozens.
But a roadside bomb hit a police patrol in the northern city of Mosul, killing one person and wounding two, and three oil refinery workers were shot to death near Tikrit. Eight bullet-riddled bodies were found floating near Kut, and a firefight west of Baqouba killed five civilians and wounded three.
Whether the bloodshed continues depends in part on who succeeds al-Zarqawi and the new leader will continue killing Shiite civilians with the intention of sparking a civil war that pits Sunnis against Shiites.
Caldwell said Egyptian-born Abu Ayyub al-Masri - who was named in a most-wanted list issued in February 2005 by the U.S. command and has a $50,000 bounty on his head - would likely take the reins of al-Qaida in Iraq.
He said al-Masri and al-Zarqawi met for the first time at an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan in 2001, and al-Masri came to Iraq first. Al-Masri is believed to be an expert at making roadside bombs, the leading cause of U.S. military casualties in Iraq.
Al-Masri also has had "communications" with Osama bin Laden's chief lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahri, Caldwell said.
Al-Zawahri praised al-Zarqawi in a videotape broadcast Friday but did not mention his death in a U.S. air strike, suggesting the tape was made earlier.
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Gamel reported from Baghdad while Burns reported from Washington. AP writers Patrick Quinn, Sinan Salaheddin and Qais al-Bashir in Baghdad also contributed to this report.
(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")
A Pakistani Muslim reads a newspaper splashed with headlines of the killing of al Qaeda militant Abu Musab al Zarqawi in Peshawar June 9, 2006. (Ali Imam/Reuters)
Exiled al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is seen in this April 1998 picture in Afghanistan.Tracking down Osama bin Laden has proven tougher than getting to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi because the top al-Qaida leader does almost nothing to call attention to himself and is protected by a ring of far more faithful followers, intelligence experts said Thursday June 8, 2006. The mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks avoids using satellite phones and the Internet. He is likely holed up along the Pakistani-Afghan border in rugged, remote terrain, protected by loyal tribesmen. (AP Photo)
This could be the Iraq War's equivalent of capturing the Nazi's Enigma machine.
But..but...killing Zarqawi meant nothing! It probably made the terrorists stronger!
/Pelosi logic
Well, this is pretty good. Saddam's in an American cell, Bin Ladin's in a mud cell somewhere, and Zarqawi's in hell.
They keep lining them up, we keep knocking them down. Just like bowling pins.
Anybody notice? The bounty on Zarq was $25 million. The bounty on Masri is, like, $50,000. Being head of Al Qaeda is losing its luster. The next guy after Masri is, like, twelve hundred bucks and a Starbucks card.
The taking out of Zarq and these subsequent raids are a huge step forward. It is hilarious that the MSM and the libs can be so foolish as to try to down play the importance of it. I hope it comes back to bite them in the butt.
In a way, it already is, when you realize we only read them to laugh at them.
Usaf was watching from the sky. Usaf was pleased and verily he sent two 500 pound virgins.
You wonder why they announced his death before they did these raids.
I guess this can best be summed up by...
FFFFFLLLLLUUUUUUUSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!
 |
* applause! *
The headline in the News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
"AL-ZARQARI KILLED, IRAQ BRACES FOR MORE VIOLENCE"
Don't these guysever want to be on the winning side?
I guess they prefer to be on the whinning side.
No, the NAZI's were organized and intelligent, with a command and control structure. This bunch of camel jockeys wages war with IMPROVISED explosive devices. They can't even seem to put together a purposefully designed explosive device.
U.S. Forces aiming to destroy al Qaeda in Iraq
******************************************
Following the airstrike that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi earlier this week, U.S. forces have launched numerous raids from intelligence gathered both before and after the airstrikes, and are lining up to deal al Qaeda a fatal blow in Iraq after months of taking out Zarqawi operatives and leadership that culiminated with the killing of the al Qaeda leader.
Earlier Friday, a senior U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said many items had been found in raids over the past two days based on intelligence gathered from Zarqawi's safehouse, which was flattened by two U.S. bombs on Wednesday. Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon by video-teleconference from his office in Baghdad, said that after 17 raids in the immediate aftermath of the airstrike, more were launched on Thursday.
On Friday, the U.S. military carried out 39 seperate raids in an effort to hunt down and destroy the al Qaeda network in Iraq. At last report, 25 suspected terrorists have been detained and one killed, while a wealth of intelligence has been gathered, including harddrives, memory sticks and other items.
Posted by C.S. Scott at June 9, 2006 04:33 PM
17 raids yesterday, 19 killed, 56 raids so far as of earlier today..
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