Across the U.S., Zarqawi's Death Hailed as Victory

By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 8, 2006 6:00 PM

When President Bush was first informed at 4:35 p.m. yesterday that a U.S. airstrike may have killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, he reacted more with relief than jubilation at the demise of a man who had come to symbolize terrorist violence in Iraq.

"That would be a good thing," a reserved Bush told national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley after receiving the news, according to White House spokesman Tony Snow. Snow said Bush "was pleased by the news" but was more concerned with ascertaining the facts and getting details of the operation that resulted in the death of Zarqawi in a safe house north of Baghdad.

Confirmation that the Jordanian leader of the group al-Qaeda in Iraq had been killed in the airstrike was delivered to Bush at about 9:20 p.m. Eastern time last night after the U.S. military in Iraq determined that fingerprints, tattoos and scars on the body of a man found in the rubble of the bombed safe house matched those of Zarqawi, Snow said. But Bush decided to hold off making an announcement, preferring to let Iraq's new prime minister break the news on Iraqi soil, he said.

Around Washington and across the nation, Zarqawi's death was widely hailed as an important victory for U.S. forces battling Iraqi insurgents and radical Muslim foreign fighters in Iraq. But administration officials and lawmakers cautioned that the violence is far from over, and it was unclear whether the death would have an effect on the U.S. public's mounting opposition to the war or on Bush's own low job-approval ratings.

In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the development "very good news because a blow to al-Qaeda in Iraq is a blow against al-Qaeda everywhere."

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters in Brussels that the killing of Zarqawi eliminated "the leading terrorist in Iraq and one of the three senior al-Qaeda leaders worldwide."

In a news conference after a NATO meeting, he said: "I think arguably over the last several years no single person on this planet has had the blood of more innocent men, women and children on his hands than Zarqawi. He personified the dark, sadistic and medieval vision of the future of beheadings and suicide bombings and indiscriminate killings, a behavior pattern that has been rejected by the overwhelming majority of the Iraqi people . . . and certainly by the overwhelming majority of Muslims worldwide."

Rumsfeld said it was "appropriate" that Zarqawi was killed on the same day that Iraq's new prime minister selected a new defense minister, interior minister and top national security official, completing the long process of forming a new government after elections in December. Rumsfeld said Zarqawi had repeatedly tried and failed to stop a succession of votes and the formation of a new government.

At the United Nations, Secretary General Kofi Annan said Iraqis "will all be relieved that he is gone," although "we cannot pretend that that will mean the end of the violence." He told reporters it was "a relief that such a heinous and dangerous man who has caused so much harm to the Iraqis is no longer around to continue his work." Zarqawi's group was believed responsible for the August 2003 truck bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, an attack that killed 22 U.N. employees including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the U.N. special representative to Iraq.

On an al-Qaeda-affiliated Internet forum, however, a writer identified as an ideologist for the terrorist network posted a "eulogy" for Zarqawi, asking Allah to accept him as a "martyr" and to "compensate" Muslims for his loss, according to a translation by the Washington-based SITE Institute.

The ideologist, who calls himself Lewis Attiya Allah, said the death of Zarqawi was a "victory" for the doctrine of Tawhid, or monotheism, and condemned those he described as enemies of Allah, including the "malicious Crusaders," the "cursed Jews" and the "straying Shiites."

Addressing them, Attiya Allah wrote: "You are losers and failures and Allah left you with what will hurt you." He concluded: "We are all al-Zarqawi."

In Marietta, Ga., the pastor of Jack Hensley, an American engineer who was abducted and beheaded by Zarqawi's group in 2004, said, "Justice has finally been served," the Associated Press reported.

"We don't know whether Zarqawi himself actually performed the execution, but he was the mind behind it, the instigator of it," said the Rev. Jerry Gladson of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Marietta. "So I'm relieved that this person who was one of the most dangerous people on earth has finally come to justice."

In Dover, Del., the father of Nicholas Berg, another U.S. victim of Zarqawi, had a different reaction. "I see more death coming out of al-Zarqawi's death," Michael Berg, a pacifist, told AP. "His death will incite a new wave of revenge. George Bush and al-Zarqawi are two men who believe in revenge."

Nicholas Berg, 26, was beheaded by a masked man believed to be Zarqawi, and a video of the killing was posted on the Internet.

Overseas, victims of Zarqawi's attacks cursed him as a murderer, while Arab supporters and relatives of the Jordanian praised him as a holy warrior, news agencies reported.

"As far as I'm concerned, he can rot in hell because that's where he is," said Paul Bigley, brother of British engineer Kenneth Bigley, who was beheaded in Iraq in 2004, AP reported.

Ashraf al-Akhras, a Jordanian whose wedding party in an Amman hotel was bombed last year, killing 27 people, said the death of Zarqawi came as "heavenly justice," Reuters news agency reported. Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing and two others in the Jordanian capital the same night. At least 60 people were killed in the Nov. 9 attacks.

In Zarqawi's home town of Zarqa about 15 miles northeast of the Jordanian capital, relatives of the man born Ahmed Fadhil al-Khalayleh mourned his death while hailing him as a martyr.

"God willing, there will be 1,000 Zarqawis to fight the Americans," one relative told Reuters.

"We expected that he would be martyred," an older brother, Sayel al-Khalayleh, told AP. "We hope that he will join other martyrs in heaven."

In Washington, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said the "success in eliminating the thuggish terrorist" shows that U.S. forces "are on the way to accomplishing" the goal of eradicating the terrorist network in Iraq. "Although major challenges remain, I am more optimistic then ever that a free and stable Iraq can be achieved," Frist said in a statement.

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) called the death of Zarqawi "a major victory for U.S. troops, the war on terror and the American families we all seek to protect."

House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who led a congressional delegation to Iraq last week, said the death represents "a clear win against the forces of radical Islam in the Middle East." He added: "A violent thug who beheaded Americans and showed the photos to the world, Zarqawi was one of the world's most dangerous terrorists, and now he can never threaten Americans or our allies again. While this is not the silver bullet to create peace and stability in Iraq, it is a victory over al-Qaeda and the murderous ideology of terrorism."

Senate Democratic leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said: "This is a good day for the Iraqi people, the U.S military and our intelligence community. Zarqawi was a cold-blooded killer who got what he deserved."

Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, hailed U.S. troops for tracking down Zarqawi and expressed hope that they could be brought home.

"Democrats have long said that 2006 must be a year of significant transition in Iraq, where the Iraqis take responsibility for their security," Pelosi said in a statement. "The death of Zarqawi and the naming of the Iraqi defense and interior minister should bring us closer to that goal, and hasten the day when American troops can come home."

Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) called Zarqawi a "brutal terrorist" whose death "strikes a blow to al-Qaeda in Iraq." He added: "This ruthless thug who abused the true meaning of Islam was an intruder on Iraqi soil, and it's good news that he's dead. Our troops did an incredible job hunting him down and destroying him."

Now, Kerry said, "it's time for Iraqis to stand up for Iraq, bring the factions together, end the insurgency, and run their own country. Our troops have done their job in Iraq, and they've done it valiantly. It's time to work with the new Iraqi government to bring our combat troops home by the end of this year."

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told Fox News Channel that "this is not just a victory of the Iraqi people" but "a victory of the forces of good versus evil." The development also comes as "a bit of a rebuke against those who are advocating that we cut and run out of Iraq," he said.

"We're going to have setbacks," McCain said. "There's going to be more sectarian violence. There's going to be more bad things that happen. But this is a day I think we could be happy."

Pressed on Bush's reaction, Snow said at a White House news briefing: "It was like more a sense of sort of relief, but also, 'Let's figure out if this is right, what are the facts, what's going on there.' The president in situations like this tends to be very practical. He's not going to run around the room giving high-fives. Instead, it's what do we know, who's there, tell me about the operation. And the follow-on conversation was more of that tone than jubilation."

Ironically, Bush was meeting yesterday in the White House with a large bipartisan group of lawmakers, members of five congressional delegations that recently traveled to Iraq, when Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) "offered the helpful suggestion that things would be better if somebody would get Zarqawi," Snow said with a trace of sarcasm. "There was a little snickering in the room at the time," he added.

At about the same time, word began coming in, first from U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, that an airstrike had been carried out near Baqubah that was believed to have killed Zarqawi.

This morning, Snow said, Bush informed Blair of the successful strike and had a 25-minute telephone conversation with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Bush congratulated Maliki on completing his cabinet, Snow said. "You're going to have our help," he quoted Bush as telling the Iraqi leader. "You've got my confidence because you've shown you can lead."