Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi is Dead

This figurehead of Al Qaeda and the insurgency at large in Iraq was killed via a US airstrike on an isolated safehouse he was occupying on June 7, at 6:15 p.m. The safehouse was located 8km from Baquba. He's apparently been verified by face, fingerprints and scars and the insurgency seems to be supporting it so no conspiracies.

This is pretty big news and so is all over the media at this time. While I don't rush to celebrate anyone's death with a negative tone I think his death is a good thing given his extensive murdering work and support of that. I also think it has significant political impact particularly pro Bush/republican at home and pro the New Iraq government. It's probably one of the few big morale boosters the military and Iraq have had in some time. However it is not something that will win the war alone and doesn't signal the end of the occupation or terrorism.

Some things which seem interesting are;
1) One of his lieutenants, spiritual adviser Sheikh Abdel Rahman was also killed in the blast. This is also significant. These advisors are the religious spindoctors which basically give the religiously motivated of the insurgency god's blessing to go around murdering people.
2) It appears 2x500lb precision bombs fired via F16 did the trick.
3) 6 others including a women and a child were killed. This is not so wonderful and one wonders how many innocent (not that all 6 were innocent) people were killed in such bombings over the years.
4) There are suggestions Al-Zarqawi's rather violent nature, denouncement of Iran and murder of civilian innocents was isolating him from support. It may be that he was sold out and certainly it seems he was pushed out of his turf making him vulnerable.
5) While the US certainly did the bomb work it appears that they may have had significant support from Iraqis on the ground. Given the nature of insurgencies and their rather strong need for groundroots support this is an interesting factor and might mean a weakening of the insurgency or at least that part of it. It would also make it a success/work for the Iraqi people as much as the US.
6) There seems to be some effort into capitalising on this for the Iraqi government. Iraqi police were there before the US military. It was announced with the Iraqi PM and soon after the overargued positions of Defence etc in the Iraqi government were filled.
7) The conservative/military is of course overjoyed many going overboard calling it a turning point etc but I think we all remember how the symbolic pulling down the saddam statue in Iraq was and how little it fit the reality.
8) The antiwar liberals are mostly downplaying it some of them coming up with tiresome conspiracy theories.
9) A small number of Iraqis interviewed on the streets showed they are happy he's dead too.
10) In an irony the pro-Al-Zarqawi ppl also think it's time to celebrate but of course it's because he's been labelled a martyr and is presumably celebrating in heaven by cutting off American heads. No doubt many think he’s really in Hell suffering unspeakable torments like eating McDonalds and getting supersized…. actually, he’s just a dead man.