June 10, 2006 7:37 AM

Uh...I'll have the roast duck with the mango salsa....

Al-Zarqawi Said to Survive Airstrike

U.S.: Al-Zarqawi struggled on stretcher, then died

Cell phone tracking helped find al-Zarqawi

A mortally wounded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was still alive and mumbling on a gurney when Iraqi police arrived at the site bombed by U.S. forces there, a top American military spokesman said Friday. Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell, briefing military reporters at the Pentagon from his post in Baghdad, said he learned that al-Zarqawi was alive after getting briefings on the military operation that netted al- Zarqawi and several others.

So, what’s a mortally wounded master terrorist to do when confronted by his sworn enemy? Why, of course- roll off his stretcher and slither off to freedom, there to die in a pool of his own blood. And who wouldn’t want to die with dignity like that?

I have a difficult time working up anything resembling sympathy for the man who (among other inhuman atrocities) beheaded Nicholas Berg. Personally, I think the way al-Zarqawi died bordered on the overly humane, given his penchant for senseless brutality against innocent civilians. A whole lot of Americans would probably rather have seen him filleted alive and douse in a tank full of salt water.

Nonetheless, no one should be assuming that Zarqawi’s death, while certainly a moral victory for US forces, will have a material impact on the senseless violence and carnage that is an everyday feature of Iraqi life. In the end, it’s much more likely than not that the murder and mayhem will continue apace in Zarqawi’s absence.

Caldwell said Friday that authorities made a visual identification of al-Zarqawi upon arriving at the site of the airstrike.

He said that when the terrorist “attempted to sort of turn away off the stretcher, everybody resecured him back onto the stretcher. … He died almost immediately thereafter from the wounds he’d received from this airstrike.”

“We did in fact see him alive,” Caldwell said. “There was some sort of movement he had on the stretcher and he did die a short time later. There was confirmation from the Iraqi police that he was found alive.”

Too bad, eh? It would have been nice to known that he at least suffered for an extended period of time.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on June 10, 2006 7:37 AM.

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