Leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq Killed in Airstrike
Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Baghdad Bureau Chief
Friday, June 9, 2006
11:30 AM
Washington Post Baghdad bureau chief Ellen Knickmeyer was online Friday, June 9, at 11:30 a.m. ET to discuss the airstrike that killed insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , how Iraqis are reacting to his death and what this could mean for the ongoing violence.
After Zarqawi, No Clear Path In Weary Iraq , ( Post, June 9, 2006 )
The transcript follows.
____________________
Tallahassee, Fla.: How can Zarqawi be hit with two 500 lbs bombs and still be intact? Is this some sort of new non-explosive "shock" bomb we've never heard of? Was Zarqawi killed on the ground, photographed, and then the bombs were released to clean up the mess? How can this be and why hasn't anyone in the media mention it?
Ellen Knickmeyer: There are some questions being asked about it, and a slightly different account is coming out today from the military about Zarqawi's last moments.
As far as the appearance of Zarqawi's head, which was all that was shown in the photos, the U.S. military said it had cleaned up a lot of blood to take the photos, and that it had other photos of him that were far more gory.
The military is saying today that Zarqawi actually lived after the bombing, but died of his wounds from the bombing shortly after American forces arrived. Our reporter on the ground at Hib Hib yesterday was told that Zarqawi had survived the bombing, and died after he was taken into U.S. custody.
_______________________
Wheaton, Md.: Why does The Washington Post keep referring to Zarqawi as an "insurgent leader?" Are you afraid to use the word "terrorist?" If Zarqawi wasn't a terrorist, who is?
Ellen Knickmeyer: We try to avoid terms that imply judgment, and 'terrorist'' is one of them. Our job is to present the facts, and when the facts about Zarqawi are that he targeted civilians specifically and liked to behead hostages personally, the facts do speak for themselves.
_______________________
Bethesda, Md.: Was any consideration given to capturing him and his group rather than bombing them?
Ellen Knickmeyer: One of the Post's Pentagon reporters, Josh White, talked to Sens. Warner and Levin on that point yesterday, and they refused comment. That may be an interesting point to follow in coming days.
_______________________
Richmond, Va.: While everyone is predicting that Zarqawi's death will have little effect on the violence in Iraq, don't you think one effect it will have is to put the fear of death on all other group leaders? The psychological terror of "you can run but cannot hide" is incredibly powerful -- and happily the truth of this power was proved yesterday.
Ellen Knickmeyer: Many Iraqi Sunni Arab insurgents already had taken a number of steps to at least explore the possibility of joining the political process _ such as swearing off attacks for last December's elections and reported secret negotiations with Americans and others re ending the insurgency. The increased threat that they would be killed if they keep fighting might help that, but on the other end the United States and others are saying that the Shiite Muslim-led government also has to be willing to truly share power with the Sunni minority. The Americans, others say the insurgency will be resolved through political and military ends. Hard-liners within the Shiite government say the solution should be military.
_______________________
Silver Spring, Md.: Following Zarqawi's spiritual advisor was key in locating the whereabouts of Zarqawi. Was this person also killed?
Ellen Knickmeyer: The U.S. military says Rahman, the spiritual adviser, was killed in the same U.S. bombing raid.
_______________________
Seattle, Wash,: Ellen, any chance U.S. news coverage will point out, as the Beeb and other countries have, that Zarqawi at best represented five percent of the resistance in Iraq, and that even his death is unlikely to do more than short term setback to part of that five percent?
Or will the media filters stay up in the U.S. so we can't see the real pictures as are shown by the CBC, BBC, and French and Italian news?
Ellen Knickmeyer: It's true that his group may have been behind a small part of the attacks.
But his group was behind some of the most extreme attacks, that prompted the most extreme responses by the Shiite-led government. So they had an impact beyond their size.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.: Ms. Knickmeyer, The Post, among others, are now reporting eyewitness accounts that Zarqawi was alive after the strike, contradicting official military reports that he died instantly. I have two questions. Do you think the intelligence benefits of having Zarqawi as prisoner would outweigh the benefit of having him dead? And do you think the media, in typical fashion, will seize and focus on this discrepancy to manufacture conspiracy theories instead of focusing on what his death means for Iraq and how Iraq and the US can capitalize on the momentum his death creates? Personally, I don't care if he was shot in the head by a marine after the fact. Even that would be too good a fate for Zarqawi
Ellen Knickmeyer: If you could read the other questions I'm getting on this online chat, you would see the conspiracy theories tend to come from the ground up.
The fact is, we and the rest of the public learned of the bombing yesterday. We're getting plenty of reports from every party involved, but they have to be sorted out and checked.
And the military's own official account of what happened changed slightly today, presumably because spokesmen learned more.
Absent more facts, I'm not the person to speculate now on what the benefits may have been of getting Zarqawi a: dead or b: alive.
_______________________
Dunn Loring, Va.: How much judgment is involved in declaring that someone who cuts off the head of a conscious human being is a "terrorist"?
Ellen Knickmeyer: Why is it necessary for a reporter to make that judgment? Do you as a reader need to be told what judgment to reach?
_______________________
Tallahassee, Fla.: Just a thought....but perhaps they had captured Zarqawi and did indeed gain information from him (it would seem stupid not to) and the result were the 17 raids this week?
Ellen Knickmeyer: The implication from the military was that the 17 raids had been planned before the strike on Zarqawi, but that the military didn't want to tip anyone off by doing the raids piecemeal.
_______________________
Grand Rapids, Mich.: What is the thinking behind how the military/administration is handling the PR regarding the al-Zarqawi termination? Yes, he is a bad guy whom we are all happy to see taken out. However, after such sensitivity to showing flag-draped caskets and taking so long to provide info on events like Haditha, this AZ information campaign is breath-taking. And why the sudden fixation with grisly detail? Are we not the intended audience for this info?
Ellen Knickmeyer: I think that as with the capture of Saddam, the military believed it had to show evidence that Zarqawi was killed.
_______________________
Falls Church, Va.: How will the elimination of Zarqawi impact the return of infrastructure construction including oil pipelines and electric power plants that are currently operating on an intermittent basis?
Ellen Knickmeyer: There are lots of indications that those attacks come from Sunni Arab tribes in the area of the pipelines. I think a good percentage of those attacks would continue even if foreign fighters aiming to keep Iraq unstable were removed from the picture.
_______________________
washingtonpost.com: Thank you all for joining us today.
_______________________
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.
View all comments that have been posted about this article.