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Posted on 06/10/2006 11:20:03 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
N THE late afternoon sky over Iraq, two F-16 pilots were "in the orbit", as the US Air Force calls it, cruising through a routine patrol about to become anything but.
Their radios crackled. A "high-value target" - military-speak for a terrorist big shot - was in an isolated safe house in a date palm grove below. Here are the co-ordinates, they heard. Prepare to engage. As the pilots swung towards Baquba, the most wanted man in Iraq probably did not even notice the fighter jets, kept kilometres away, or realise he had been betrayed by an ally and trailed by US special forces.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - the face of the Iraqi insurgency, beheader of hostages and bomber of civilians, a man whose taste for violence made him stand out even in a violent land - never saw it coming.
The first 227-kilogram, guided bomb hit the safe house at 6.15pm on Wednesday, Baghdad time. The pilots doubled back and decided not to take any chances. They dropped a second satellite-guided bomb "to ensure the target set was serviced appropriately", an air force general said.
Zarqawi, his spiritual adviser, Sheik Abu Abdul-Rahman, and four others were dead - after a week-long investigation.
Through tips from a leader in Zarqawi's network, and other sources, the US was onto Abdul-Rahman, who inadvertently led coalition forces to the house.
Zarqawi's capture or death was a priority for US troops in Iraq. The Jordanian terrorist, in his late 30s, had risen almost to Osama bin Laden's stature, in terms of US attention.
Zarqawi and his aides had been hunted by an elite and secretive team of US special forces - Task Force 77. They nearly apprehended him several times, most recently in April during raids near Yusufiyah in the south.
Now US officials say his capture happened through some old-style investigations and breaks. There were varying reports of how Zarqawi was tracked down.
Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who announced on Thursday morning that Zarqawi had been "eliminated", credited tips from residents in Baquba, north-east of Baghdad. And Iraq's Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari, suggested Zarqawi had slipped up trying to gain publicity, saying officials "pinpointed" his location in a video released in late April.
And in a crucial breakthrough last month, Jordanian intelligence officers captured a mid-level Zarqawi operative near the Iraqi border.
The operative, Ziad Khalaf al-Kerbouly, used his position as an Iraqi customs clearance officer in Rutbah, along the main road from Amman to Baghdad, to help Zarqawi smuggle cash and materiel for the insurgency.
Kerbouly told Jordanian interrogators the identity and contacts for Zarqawi's spiritual adviser, who served as his liaison to Muslim clerics across Iraq, gathering recruits, funding and support for the insurgency.
Major-General Bill Caldwell, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, declined to comment about Jordanian help on Thursday. By his account, the capture or killing of al-Qaeda lieutenants in recent weeks, beginning with a cell leader in Yusufiyah on April 6, produced critical intelligence.
Task Force 77 located Abdul-Rahman and kept him under surveillance, partly by remote-controlled planes. When US forces knew the adviser would meet Zarqawi on Wednesday night, they decided to strike.
"We knew exactly who was there," General Caldwell said. "We knew it was Zarqawi, and that was who we went to get."
Shown from above in a military photograph, the house appeared to be a white, two-storey structure with a verdant courtyard, located beside ploughed fields and a paved road at the edge of a date palm forest. No other buildings were nearby.
US officials say his dead body was photographed as evidence within minutes of the strike.
Had to make sure that there was enough sauce on that taco! :)
ROFL!!!
Hey! Just let’s not waist good pig fat on a scumbag like this ‘szarkávé’ fellow.
It is a fine, down to earth peasant food, --properly prepared, with a pinch of love.
Spread it on bread (just like butter), with a sprinkle of salt and paprika, covered with sliced onions.
Simple food, for the simple taste. Enjoy!
And stay home for the night. (I mean it! It’s not a pick-up night.)
Inspection of destroyed house also finds magazines, militant propaganda
Thanks, a 'shape-shifter' huh. Well, no doubt he will arise again in the form of another radical muslim killer!
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Beautiful, you're the master of graphics!!
On the second link,,,,I bet the theme of Iraq being a training ground for terrorists going back to Europe will show up on one of the Sunday Talk shows.....
Love it, I see we have the Helicopters in there....
In the meantime, whoever does take Zarqawi's place is expected to make his debut with a series of terrorist "spectaculars" that will once again grab the world's attention. Given the horrendous standards set by his predecessor, Iraq has many grim days ahead.
I did not forget the helicopters
There is only just so much we can squeeze into one .gif
LOL, unless you have one land on Tony's head! You get a lot squeezed in!
Taskforce Ironhorse Conducts Raids, Nets Results
AL HADID, Iraq –In the afternoon of Nov. 4, Task Force Ironhorse soldiers conducted a raid at a location near Al Hadid, believed to be a safe house for people suspected of involvement in mortar attacks against forward operating base Warhorse, according to U.S. Central Command officials. The residence was searched and an important weapons cache was located and confiscated. The cache included: 33 blocks of dangerous explosives, 98ft. of detonation cord, 20 blasting caps, and abundant volatile munitions used in improvised explosive devices.
Additionally, soldiers discovered two rifles, eight fragmentation grenades, a machine gun, one rocket propelled grenade launcher, 300 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, and three rounds of 14.5mm anti-aircraft ammunition.
No one was detained as a result of the raid but a terrain model of forward operating bases Warhorse and Scunion, found in the building, indicated that the raided location had been used for planning attacks against coalition forces.
http://www.defendamerica.mil/iraq/update/nov2003/iu111303.html
bump for publicity
They should get the body wrapped in bacon.
They're all hiding in Baghdad thinking up new crap to write about.
Very smartly kept unaware and far away from this operation. Otherwise it would have been another near miss.
Awesome!
Thanks for posting this. Both strikes are in this video.
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