Extreme Special Ops Makeover - Al-Zarqawi Edition

We've been waiting for this news for a long time ...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq who waged a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and beheadings of hostages, has been killed in a precision airstrike, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday. It was a long-sought victory in the war in Iraq.

Al-Zarqawi and seven aides were killed Wednesday evening in a remote area 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in the volatile province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said.

Al-Zarqawi was a stain on humanity, a man responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians by bombs, kidnappings, torture, and beheadings.  He targeted civilian women and children as maliciously as he targeted civil authorities and US military personnel.

God will judge him now, but the world is a much safer place without him.

Naturally, the 'official' al-Qaeda announcement declared that al-Zarqawi's death "will only increase our persistence in continuing holy war so that the word of God will be supreme."  But the al-Qaeda communiques that we have intercepted during the past two years indicate that al-Qaeda is getting more desperate by the month, as our troops continue to wipe out their best operatives and destroy their command and communication networks.

Perhaps, in the wake of the recent allegations accusing Marines of deliberately killing civilians in the town of Haditha, someone at a major newspaper or television network could assemble only a partial list of the hundreds of terror attacks coordinated by al-Zarqawi and the thousands of innocents that he was responsible for killing.

But I'm not holding my breath.

Good roundups of reactions at WizBang, HughHewitt.com, and MichelleMalkin.com.  (You have to read the statement made by Nick Berg -- whose son was famously beheaded by al-Zarqawi -- just to believe it, but make sure you have your nausea medication handy.)

Comments

[Dan Trabue]

Mr. Berg said:
"Well, my reaction is I'm sorry whenever any human being dies. Zarqawi is a human being. He has a family who are reacting just as my family reacted when Nick was killed, and I feel bad for that."

What a wise and Christ-like response! You have a problem with forgiveness, rationality and peacemaking?

I thought this site was at least partially about Christianity?

[Mike]

Dan,

Nick Berg went on to say,

"I'm not saying Saddam Hussein's a good man, but he's no worse than George Bush. Under Saddam Hussein, no al-Qaeda in Iraq; under George Bush, al-Qaeda. Under Saddam Hussein, relative stability; under George Bush, instability. Under Saddam Hussein, 30,000 deaths a year; under George Bush, about 50,000 deaths."

Which is a regurgitation of the most idiotic fallacies spun by the Bush Derangement Syndrome crowd. I suppose one could also say that there was "relative stability" in Russia under Stalin, while 20,000,000 starved to death or died in the Gulag.

War truly is hell, and every death is a regrettable one. As a Christian, I desperately wish to see the end of warfare and killing. As the caretakers of God's earthly Kingdom, it is the duty of Christians to put an end to warfare and violence. However, the sad reality is that men like Zarqawi will stop killing only when they die.

Zarqawi was a terrorist who murdered innocent civilians. He was not a "freedom fighter" or "warrior" of any kind. To compare Zarqawi or a genocidal tyrant like Saddam to President Bush is simply absolute lunacy.

I have to pop the nausea pill when I read absolute bilge like that.

- Mike

[Douglas]

I'm thankful that Zarqawi's long train of evil deeds is over.