Major General William Caldwell Remarks on the Killing of Al-Zarqawi

SPEAKER: MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM CALDWELL (USA),

SPOKESMAN, MULTINATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ

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CALDWELL: ... the Iraqi people have the greatest role to play in shaping the future of Iraq.

To echo the prime minister's thoughts, it is too late to say maintaining security is only the responsibility of the government. As he said, it is also the responsibility of those who elected the government.

Iraqis helped eliminate Zarqawi, and now they must help eliminate the violence associated with threats like Zarqawi.

Iraqis can rejoice today. They have earned it with their blood, their sweat, their tears.

But tomorrow -- tomorrow we must continue to march forward, march forward toward an Iraq that is free, that is for all, that exemplifies unity, prosperity and security. The days of Zarqawi are over, and now Iraqis from their neighborhoods to the halls of their government can rejoice and take great pride in what has been accomplished by both them and the coalition forces in eliminating that threat.

With that, I'll take any question y'all have.

QUESTION: Can you run down more detail about how exactly he died, how many airstrikes there were, and if Zarqawi died instantly or if he died later? Just a little bit more detail on the operation itself.

CALDWELL: Sure.

If you would, technical crew, would you assist me in bringing up the video?

I'd like to show you a video of the airstrike on the building that occurred last night at 6:15.

As you observe the target here -- there was a flight of two F-16s from the United States Air Force.

CALDWELL: They have now been told where the target is. They've identified it. The lead aircraft is going to engage it here momentarily with a 500-pound bomb on the target.

At this point, they're making assessment as to whether or not the target had been fully engaged and whether they need to re-engage it one more time.

The decision has been made now by the commander, the pilot in charge up there, that they are going to do a re-attack. And you'll see the second 500-pound bomb go in shortly.

OK. Thank you.

Following this strike, Iraqi security forces, and specifically Iraqi police, responded to that location. They were the first ones to arrive on the scene. That was followed very shortly thereafter by elements of the Multinational Force-North, specifically troopers from the 4th Infantry Division, which were a part of the 101st Airborne Air Assault Division up there.

They then moved to the location, swept through the site, and identified six persons that had been killed in that strike at that time.

Site exploitation occurred. Zarqawi's body was then removed, brought back to a secure location. By visual identification it was established that that probably was him. But they went ahead and brought him back, did further examination of his body, found more scars and tattoos consistent with what had been reported and what we knew about him. They then did a fingerprint identification, and that came back at about 0330 this morning as positively identified as Zarqawi having been killed.

QUESTION: But there was no firefight? Just it was just two airstrikes?

CALDWELL: It was an Air Force strike that eliminated that target. And there was no further direct-fire engagement at that point.

QUESTION: Who were the other victims? Can you tell us anything about them and their identities?

CALDWELL: At this point, we have positively identified two of the six which I can talk about; the other four we are still trying to make identification on.

It's been about 20 hours since the strike occurred, and they are trying to do the identification on the other four at this time.

QUESTION: Are they all adult males or...

CALDWELL: No. There's a woman in the group, and a younger person, a child.

QUESTION: How old is (inaudible)?

CALDWELL: We have absolutely no idea.

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

CALDWELL: I tell you, the coalition forces are very fortunate in this country in that we have a lot of nations that are very actively involved in supporting the effort here to establish a free and prosperous Iraq.

There is no question that other countries are providing information and are assisting in our fight on the global war on terrorism. And it would be inappropriate for me to discuss the very specifics of those relationships, but Jordan is an extremely important friend and partner and a good friend of Iraq's as they fight this global war on terror.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Have you found any documents or intelligence information? Did you find anything that can help you to eliminate terrorism?

CALDWELL: We did. We, in fact, were very fortunate. We did find some information.

I think what everybody needs to understand is the strike last night did not occur in a 24-hour period. It truly was a very long, painstaking, deliberate exploitation of intelligence, information- gathering, human sources, electronic, signal intelligence that was done over a period of time -- many, many weeks -- that led us last night to that target.

Last night, as a result of striking that target and having confirmation early in the evening that we had, in fact, killed Zarqawi, we then conducted 17 simultaneous raids within Baghdad proper and just on the outskirts, utilizing both Iraqi security forces and coalition forces.

And in those 17 raids last night, a tremendous amount of information and intelligence was collected and is presently being exploited and utilized for further use. I mean, it was a treasure trove; no question.

And we had identified other targets we had previously not gone after to allow us to continue staying focused on getting Zarqawi. But now that we have got him, it allows us now to go after all these other targets we had been using in order to establish his movements, his patterns, his habits, and where we could find him like we did last night.

But it was about 17 targets that we immediately launched and executed literally within hours after our initial identification of him.

QUESTION: Can you classify in any way the information? Could you classify in any way the treasure trove that you found? Did you find phone books, computers?

And these 17 targets, were they all in Baghdad?

And did you have any doubt at all that this was Zarqawi?

CALDWELL: We had absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Zarqawi was in the house. It was 100 percent confirmation.

QUESTION: Were you going for Zarqawi? We've heard that you may have been going for some other people and there was luck involved. Or did you know, "We're going for Zarqawi, he's going to be there"? And then if you could classify what they found?

CALDWELL: We knew exactly who was there. We knew it was Zarqawi. And that was the deliberate target that we went to get. We also knew from having watched the movements of Al-Rahman that he was there too in that house.

The information that we were able to gather over the last 24 hours is currently being used and exploited, and will influence future operations. So it would be, kind of, inappropriate at this point to talk about future ops for operational reasons.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): (inaudible) to prove that this is Zarqawi, especially since he has been declared killed many times before? Is there going to be a DNA testing? And when will this be done?

CALDWELL: That's a great question. And we, in fact, are doing a DNA analysis. And we would hope within 48 hours to have that information back to us from now.

The question was -- DNA analysis is obviously the most reliable means to establish the identity of a person. Although we did do a fingerprint 100 percent identification match, we are also doing an DNA analysis. And we should have that in about 48 hours from now -- is the goal to have that back here to us.

QUESTION: Can you tell us a little bit more about Al-Rahman and how long you've been following him and, you know, exactly what his relationship to Zarqawi was?

CALDWELL: He was the spiritual adviser to Zarqawi. He was brought to our attention by somebody from within the network of Zarqawi's. For operational reasons, I probably can't specify exactly when.

But we had cleared up evidence about a month and a half ago that allowed us to start necking down to the point where we're able to prosecute the action last night against that safe house.

QUESTION: Is he Iraqi?

CALDWELL: Pardon?

QUESTION: Is Al-Rahman Iraqi?

CALDWELL: I'd have to get his nationality. He is not, though. But I need to confirm for you his nationality.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): You said in the summary that the last tape that you listened to really pushed you to take this step. What he did, what Zarqawi did in the past three years, was that not enough encouragement and incentive to do what you have done? Or did you need to wait three or four years to do it?

CALDWELL: If I can make sure I have your question correct, you're asking why did we not take out Zarqawi before now?

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): You said in the summary that by listening to the last tape that Zarqawi published, this is the incentive you had to take this action. Didn't everything that he did in the past three years -- wasn't it enough incentive for you to take such a step?

CALDWELL: Last night was the first time that we have had definitive, unquestionable information as to exactly where he was located, knowing that we could strike that target without causing collateral damage to other Iraqi civilians and personnel in the area.

And so, therefore, the decision was made to strike last night.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): You have mentioned in your briefing that the killing of Zarqawi will not stop the violence in Iraq. And he has many bases of operation in Iraq. Will you take any specific measures? Is there any coordination to fight these attacks?

CALDWELL: There is. In fact, the prime minister himself has developed a plan, which he calls the Baghdad security plan, that I know that he's been talking about in the press and he's planing to execute.

He's asked coalition forces to work in support of his efforts. We're going to be tightly working with the Iraqi security forces within Baghdad as the prime minister moves forward with that.

Obviously, today, now that he has designated and had verified by the Council of Representatives a minister for national security, a minister for defense and a minister for interior -- I mean, the coalition forces are just so excited for the government of Iraq and what can happen here in the future by having that leadership in place, firmly established and able to make those kind of decisions about exactly what they want to do.

QUESTION: I was wondering if you can tell me a little bit more about the unit that was actually doing the tracking of Rahman, and, then eventually, Zarqawi.

QUESTION: There's all kinds of descriptions that there were thrown out that they were a special operations forces unit. Is there anything else you can say about who exactly was involved with that process?

CALDWELL: What I can tell you is this: We have a policy we don't talk about when special operating forces are involved in an operation.

But this was truly a coalition effort along with the Iraqi forces. This was not one particular unit. If you just stop to think about it, it was an Air Force element that dropped that bomb -- or bombs -- on the house. It was Iraqi police that responded first time on the scene. It was Multinational Division-North that had the quick reaction force that came in to that location in case there was anybody still alive or was going to continue to fight or anything else at that location.

To get to that point took tremendous amounts of intelligence- gathering and collection and analysis that was done not only by coalition forces, but with the Iraqi elements and a lot of our nations that are helping us fight this global war on terror.

QUESTION: The president said in his speech that it was special operations forces that tracked these targets to the location that was bombed. Is that the case?

CALDWELL: If the president of the United States said it was, then I'm sure it was.

(LAUGHTER)

CALDWELL: Obviously, there are special operating forces, as the president stated, that were involved in this operation.

QUESTION: Working on the assumption that most of the insurgency has nothing to do with Al Qaida, is this going to substantially change the U.S. coalition force's strategy, counterinsurgency strategy? Are we going to see a change in the coming weeks, or is this not really going to affect matters?

CALDWELL: What this will affect is -- Zarqawi indiscriminately would kill Iraqi civilians. He had no compunction at all about taking the life of innocent people on the streets. His whole intent was to incite violence between the Shiites and Sunnis.

In his most recent volumes that he just published here in the last few weeks, he specifically told them, "Sunnis, rise up against the Shiites before you even go after the coalition forces."

So to us in the coalition force, we realized Zarqawi was somebody that had to be dealt with because he was killing innocent Iraqi civilians. He wasn't interested in going after coalition forces by what he said himself. He was just interested in killing people.

And so to us, yes, it was very critical that we eliminated Zarqawi.

There is no question the entire idea of the Iraqis being able to take a much greater lead is going to occur as we continue forth from here.

The prime minister continually talks about the need for unity, for national reconciliation. I mean, he has said it time and time again over the last few weeks.

He now has a minister of defense, a minister of interior and a minister of national security that can, in fact, lead those efforts for him now to help him achieve the vision he has for the people of Iraq.

CALDWELL: He's not had that up till now. He now has a fully emplaced cabinet.

I mean, the prime minister now has a very unique opportunity to see a lot of his ideas put into action. And those of us here in the coalition force are ready and want to support him and his ministers as they move forward with their ideas and vision for the people of Iraq.

STAFF: We have time for one more question.

QUESTION: There's been this background that we've heard about splits within the militants and between the Iraqis and foreign fighters. And I'm wondering if any of that led to the intelligence you got today.

Because you've referred a few times to intelligence from Zarqawi's network and I'm wondering on that, were those people who were under interrogation, in custody, or people who came forward from Zarqawi's network to describe him?

CALDWELL: It would be inappropriate for me to talk about where the information actually came from and who provided it to the intelligence sources.

QUESTION: How about the overall -- whether it was affected by these splits between militant groups?

CALDWELL: I actually haven't talked to any of the personnel that have come forward with the information, so I wouldn't really know what the motivation was or what may have driven some of that to have been made available to us.

Let me just take one more here then.

QUESTION: I've been told that Arab talk shows and TV networks are discussing a lot of conspiracy theories that somehow this was timed to coincide with the naming of the ministers and that the Americans knew where to find him earlier and they didn't do so and so forth.

Can you say something to dispel these theories a little bit more about the development and the timing and how this came about?

CALDWELL: I would only wish we were that good to have timed everything between what the government of Iraq was doing and what coalition forces were doing and what Iraqi security forces were doing. That's quite a compliment that we would have that capability this early in the stage of a new government forming like this, which clearly has some challenges ahead of it but also some great opportunities.

No, there was absolutely nothing at all that was in collusion with the idea that we would wait until the announcement of the ministers till that we would go after Zarqawi.

Zarqawi has been a primary target that we have continually looked for. Obviously, we've always gone after the mid-level, kind of, grade leadership in the Al Qaida network because we realize if we can eliminate it there, that that's going to cause the higher-level structure to tumble.

And Zarqawi's whereabouts and his movements and things came about through, obviously, Sheik Al-Rahman through various means of other intelligence over the last couple of weeks that allowed us to take that step.

But, no, there was nothing at all in terms of timing between those two events.

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

CALDWELL: Well, first of all, let me say that obviously when coalition forces, in coordination with Iraqi security forces, made the decision last night to go after that target, we had long before that begun to think through, "OK, if there is no Zarqawi, who would be next?"

CALDWELL: Because we would, obviously, want to start trying to identify where that person is that would try to rise up and move into the power position there that Zarqawi was occupying.

Probably Abu al-Masari (ph), if you had to pick somebody, would be the person that is going to try to occupy the position that Zarqawi had. He's the most logical one out there, as you look at that structure and how they operate that will probably try to move into there.

And that's something that the coalition forces, along with the Iraqi government, have been already talking about and anticipating could possibly occur.

As far as the body itself in terms of the explosion of the bomb, I mean, the pictures we provided to you were, obviously -- we had wiped off a lot of the blood and other debris because there was not a need to portray it in any kind of -- dehumanizing his body. The intent was to show you that he, in fact, had died in that explosion.

But there are far worse graphic pictures -- that are very inappropriate, we felt, to share with anybody -- that were the result of the immediate strike.

QUESTION: General, just two questions.

One, could you talk a little bit about Abu al-Masari (ph) and his background?

And also, I just want to be clear: When the Iraqi security forces arrived right after the bomb went off, Zarqawi was dead when they got there, is that correct?

CALDWELL: That is correct. He was dead when we arrived there.

Al-Masari (ph) -- Egyptian Arab. He's not an Iraqi; born and raised in Egypt. He was trained in Afghanistan -- went through his training there.

We know he has been involved with IEDs -- making here in Iraq. Probably came here around 2002 and to Iraq. Probably actually helped to establish maybe the first Al Qaida cell that existed in the Baghdad area.

And there's obviously a lot more, because we've been looking at him fairly closely for a while about him.

But key thing that we realize is he's not an Iraqi. You know, he's from a different country. He's come into Iraq, and he's been out killing innocent Iraqi civilians. He's not the kind of person that the government of Iraq, the Iraqi people themselves nor the coalition forces care to have existing in this country.

All right. Well, listen, I want to thank everybody very much. We are extremely excited about the fact that the government in Iraq has announced and has had today confirmed the ministry's of the last three, both in Defense, Interior and National Security, which gives them that opportunity to truly take a step forward. And then it was complemented by the fact that a terrorist that was out there killing Iraqi civilians today no longer exists.

Thank you very much.

END

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