Abu Wabu

Allah continues to work his divine will through George W. Bush and American Special Forces.

The news reports of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi's death are already out there, so let's move to details and commentary. I'm just hearing someone on Fox (a Catholic priest, as it turns out) saying this is no time to gloat over the death of another human being. I understand and respect the point coming from a man of the cloth, but I have a different opinion: Zarqawi gave up his status as a human being when he took up slaughtering everyone and everything in his path in the cause of an Islamic fascist hell on Earth. To hell with him, then, and to all others who follow in his path. As a bonus, the bombs got Zarqawi's spiritual advisor Abd-Al-Rahman, another monster who needed to die for my freedom, along with six or seven others. Bad news for their command structure, as a Belmont Club commenter points out.

Say "Cheese!"

Abu al Masri is next. The intelligence-gathering success that killed Zarqawi should not be misunderestimated. The Coalition is probably moving on other targets at this very moment, and I expect a number of significant wins against the anti-democracy vermin in Iraq in the next few days or weeks (UPDATE: I see this is already happening.).

Captain's Quarters is updating throughout the day. Note to the good Captain: no-one gives a hoot what Richard Clarke thinks.

Glenn Reynolds has been following the MSM's reaction and notes with more than a hint of sadness:

Funny that when something bad happens, the press doesn't hedge it with qualifiers and contrary views the way they do when something good does. And it's too bad that I have to spend so much of a post on a Zarqawi's death talking about the misconduct of the American press.

Speaking of which, Tim Blair reminds readers of the iconic Robert Fisk.

Mary Katherine Ham has the moonbat quote of the day. So far, that is.

UPDATE: Upon reflection, I have to say that using the word "moonbat" is unfair in this case, even insulting. Nick Berg's father is in great pain and is targeting his grief onto the President, but Nick Berg was by all accounts a good man who went to Iraq with good intentions, and as a father I hope he can someday draw succor from the quality of his son's character rather than the disappointment he is blaming on a man who had nothing to do with Nick's decisions nor his murder. The insult comes from referring to him as a moonbat when that label should be reserved for the people on the left who are tending to Mr. Berg's grief as they have Cindy She-hen's, in the hope it will help legitimize their opposition to the war.

And yet I'm torn, because my belief in personal responsibility dictates that I also agree with Ace:

Does this asshole really think it's an enlightened human response to feel as bad for the death of your son's butcher as for your son's?

I think it makes him less than human, personally.

When he dies (which he will, of course, as we all will; no death threat intended), I hope his son slaps this stupid fuck right in the face.

Pajamas Media has an interview with Omar of Iraq The Model. Omar is very happy.

Bill Roggio has the comprehensive backgrounder on Task Force 145's arduous hunt forZarqawi. Bill Roggio=Red Meat Journalism.

Power Line Of The Day: The Meeting Ended Early. They have video of the airstrike. Paul Mirengoff makes excellent points:

There's something seriously wrong with any non-terrorist anywhere in the world who isn't celebrating Zarqawi's death. The world has become a better place, and Americans are a bit safer too -- as we would have been safer if the Clinton administration had taken advantage of one of its opportunities to kill or nab a certain other master terrorist during the late 1990s.

On the other hand, I don't think Zarqawi's demise is going to change things in Iraq. It's unlikely to have any effect on the strife between Sunni and Shiite, and in all likelihood al Qaeda has other leaders in Iraq who can replace Zarqawi. A power struggle may break out among them, but a power struggle may already have broken out (and possibility contributed to Zarqawi's end).

There may have been a time when Zarqawi played something like an indispensable role in Iraq, but if so that time probably has passed. Progress in Iraq is going to be gradual, and I think it's overly optimistic to be talking about this being a "tipping point."

Attacks against Iraqis today that have claimed dozens of lives support that last point, but the fact remains that the most vicious piece of garbage in Iraq, perhaps in the entire Middle East, is dead meat. No longer a factor.

Also at Power Line:
Zarqawi Dead; Liberals In Denial

How are our friends on the left reacting to the great news about Zarqawi? They aren't happy about it, if postings on Democratic Underground are any guide. Here are some typical entries:

Very curious. I wonder how this plays into neocon plans to attack Iran?

How sad - you know my reaction?? I laughed out loud and said the same thing you did, "AGAIN???" How sad that we cannot trust our government to be honest with us in matters of war and death. The boy who cried wolf is not believed in my house.

Z has only one leg and has already died or escaped so many times...Nah. I don't believe the story.

I don't buy it either...Wonder if they had to cut off the leg of the "Zarqawi" for authenticity purposes? Convenient too that this would happen now....guess we should just all forget about that Haditha mess, the fact that we are approaching 2,500 dead and the fact that our economy is in big trouble.

It's almost an "open joke" among the military and civilians who know how PsyOps operate, and the History, that Zarqowi is merely a "Pentagon creation." And oh, don't we need some good news now? It's so predictable I could write the OP Orders. It's all bullshit LIES paraded around for PR exploitation.

There are many, many more, but you get the drift. These people are lost souls, and it would be easy either to laugh at them or to feel sorry for them, but for their enormous influence within the Democratic Party.

Austin Bay notes that Al Jazeera is playing the "assault-rifle" video the NYT complained made Zarqawi look foolish.


The eeeevil Michelle Malkin on White House Press Corpse sourpusses.
Michelle's roundup is here.


Dr. Sanity is going to lose it if she keeps up looking at more idiotic bile. One of the idiots' favorite snarks seems to be that Bush could have gotten Zarqawi before the invasion, but chose not to. Reminds me of Bill Clinton's decision not to take delivery of Osama Bin Laden on a silver platter before 9/11.

Jeff Goldstein:

FOXNews asks, "Is it unethical to celebrate Zarqawi's death?"

A: No, Shep, it's not.

Now, if there's nothing else, I'd like to finish putting up the bunting and getting the 6' sub ready for the party. Which, I decided to go with ham. Because I so enjoy the irony.

Put me down for a piece o' that baby. Ham, ham, ham, we got ham.

Expose The Left:

I don't know how they do it, but they seem to find a way to hate America and Bush in every situation.

Stuck on stupid, you mean.

TigerHawk:

The humiliation of al Qaeda and its putative allies on the battlefield and in the streets of the West is necessary to destroy the credibility of its ideology. We will win only when the ideology is no longer credible. Al Qaeda bet that victory over the United States in Iraq would bolster its credibility in the Arab and Muslim world. It is losing that bet.

And so the harsh work continues. Congratulations to the good Iraqi people, and to the good men and women responsible for delivering this prototypical Islamofascist bastard to his fate. To those who cry for Zarqawi and attack democracy in Iraq, you're next, Inshallah.

Last word goes to Andy McCarthy:

Hopefully, Zarqawi's demise is a clarifying event in the United States, for the administration, the Congress, and, hope against hope,the media. This was the real American military in action, in all its effectiveness, doing what the American people sent it to do despite often impossibly difficult circumstances: namely, eliminate nondescript terrorists who strike in stealth then weave themselves back into the civilian population.

It is a mission our brave men and women—again, the real American military—perform brilliantly, day in and day out, despite lethal danger to themselves and immense pressure to perform flawlessly. Yet, what we hear about back home is Abu Ghraib. What we hear about is Haditha—as to which the anti-war champion of the current fifteen minutes, Congressman Jack Murtha, is poised to accord our Marines a lot less due process than he and other members are extending to their radioactive colleague, Rep. William Jefferson.

What we might want to remember from time to time is that ever since we unleashed our forces, no American city has had to bury thousands of its dead or gaze upon barren craters where skyscrapers once stood.

Let’s further pray that the administration heeds what is sure to be the very strong public approval of Zarqawi’s killing, apparently along with other terrorists, notwithstanding that it came in an air strike—i.e., an attack of the kind which always carries the risk of collateral casualties.

No one wants to see innocents harmed. But we are at war—something often noted but never quite remembered. Innocents are in peril, both here and in Iraq (and elsewhere) as long as jihadists thrive.
...

We began the war on terror with the clear-eyed understanding that Islamic militants cannot be reasoned with; they have to be eradicated. Winning the war on terror will require the resolve to let our forces do their job, despite occasional vilification from fair-weather allies who bask in the protection of American power while shouldering none of its burdens.