The ILLIBERALS of the blogosphere have turned Zarqawi's death into a parade of criticism for President Bush.
For the vast majority of Americans — and Westerners in general — news of Zarqawi's death is cause for celebration. But in the darkest corners of the blogosphere, where the illiberals lurk, the death of Zarqawi takes on a different meaning, altogether:…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - Victor Plenty
If Zarqawi was turned in by his comrades, it says nothing about whether Iraq is in a state of civil war or not. It could be his pals plainly and simply got tired of his psychosis and decided he was more of a liability than an asset to them. People who cut off the heads of innocent civilians for laughs are probably not the nicest people to hang out with, and probably really really good at transforming their friends into enemies.
Is Iraq in a civil war? I don't pretend to know, but I can tell this incident won't give us the answer to that question.
27 - troll
so what's in a name - ?
troll
28 - tommyd
What a pathetic blog entry. Another neocon sermom about "supporting the troops" from the 101st Keyboard Commando Division Generals.
Zarqawi's death means nothing. The war on Iraq was and still is a huge disaster to begin with. Until the US gets out, the slaughter will continue.
In Orwell's 1984, Big Brother was always sending messages to it's subject's the "victory was right around the corner" in their perpetual war. Sounds mighty familiar in 2006.
29 - Deano
It is unsurprising that it would take a long time to track and nail an elusive target like Zarqaqi or Bin Ladin. It is very very easy to sit comfortably at a keyboard and say "woulda, coulda, shoulda", it is much harder to take often mediocre and questionable intelligence and sift it for a current location, and then move assets to that location to hit a target. The hunt for Pablo Escobar offers a good example - it may be easy to find a general location, town or area - but narrowing it down and closing that "last 300 yards" can be extremely hard.
In short, they did an exceptional job getting rid of Zarqwari.
Whether that success can be built upon in reducing the Iraqi insurgency remains to be seen.
30 - Dave Nalle
Shark, in a civil war different factions within a country fight against each other, correct?
Well, Zarqawi isn't from Iraq, so turning him in has nothing to do with civil war and everything to do with purging a dangerous foreign troublemaker. It's an act of Iraqi patriotism and good sense, not an act of civil war.
Dave
31 - Clavos
Until the US gets out, the slaughter will continue.
...and after the US gets out, the slaughter will continue.
You think Al Qa'eda will just pack up and ride off into the sunset in our abandoned humvees just because the Great Satan left town? Hah!
32 - shArk
Clavos points out:
"Until the US gets out, the slaughter will continue.
...and after the US gets out, the slaughter will continue."
~THANKS, GEORGE!
=============
Davey Nalle's rhetorical "quiz":
"Shark, in a civil war different factions within a country fight against each other, correct?"
You are correct, sir!
Iraqi Sunni vs Iraqi Shiite = CIVIL WAR
~NEXT!
33 - DazeyMai
#15...I was around during World War II. Comparing that war with the Iraq mess makes no sense. Your posts are very sophmoric.
34 - shArk
Dr. Policito: "...Sadly, I think the ultra-illiberals would prefer news of Americans dying."
So where's the OUTRAGE?
Any Conservatives out there with a fucking shred of personal integrity?
sound of ~crickets chirping~
...
...
...
...
I thought so.
35 - Clavos
Clavos points out:
"Until the US gets out, the slaughter will continue.
...and after the US gets out, the slaughter will continue."
~THANKS, GEORGE!
Wow! Powerful, cogent response there, shArk, you really blew my point totally away; I'm overwhelmed.
36 - Futuregeek
The right got so worked up over political correctness... yet in this post you are attacking people simply for having a different opinion?
Sorry for being guilty of crimethink.
37 - JR
RJ Elliott: Do you guys have any problem with Clinton repeatedly turning down offers to have Osama sent to the US for prosecution?
Yes.
Just not as much problem as with refusing to hit terrorists after 9/11, and after asserting a policy of preemption.
38 - MCH
"Do you guys have any problem with Clinton repeatedly turning down offers to have Osama sent to the US for prosecution?"
- RJ Elliott
Umm, it's a little more involved than just "having Osama sent to the US..." The best way to get him here would be to join-up and go over and get him...
39 - Dave Nalle
Nice selective use of my comment, Shark. I notice you chose to ignore the part about Zarqawi which was the main point of it all - how convenient for you.
Dave
40 - shArk
Hey Davey, below -- check out the "GOOD NEWS" from Iraq.
...I don't know what you call it; I call it a "CIVIL WAR" -- but you might prefer "Extreme Anarchy" or maybe "The insurgency is in its last throes..."
Mission Accomplished!
(PS: THANKS, GEORGE!)
==============
JUNE 8, 2006
NEAR BAQUBA - U.S. warplanes killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al Qaeda leader in Iraq blamed for bombings, beheadings and assassinations, in a strike near the city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad.
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed 13 people and wounded 28 others in a crowded Baghdad market, police sources said. The explosion occurred in the eastern New Baghdad district.
BAGHDAD - A car bomb exploded in a Baghdad street, killing seven people and wounding 17 others, police said. The blast hit the northwestern Shi'ite district of Kadhimiya.
BAGHDAD - Another car bomb in Baghdad killed six people and wounded 13 others in the east of the capital, police said.
BAGHDAD - A third car bomb hit Baghdad's northern Shaab district, killing four people and wounding eight, said police sources
=====================
JUNE 9, 2006
BAGHDAD - Authorities enforced a traffic ban in an apparent effort to prevent al Qaeda reprisals after the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The Interior Ministry said the ban in Baghdad and in the volatile town of Baquba, near where U.S. warplanes killed al Qaeda's leader in Iraq on Wednesday, would be in effect from 11 a.m. (0700 GMT) until 3 p.m., when most Iraqis go to mosques for Friday prayers.
At least 22 people, including 10 policemen, were killed across Iraq in a series of rebel attacks, security officials said. Four policemen and a civilian were killed when gunmen opened fire on a police vehicle in Baghdad's upscale Mansur district, an interior ministry official said. A police major and a colonel were killed in the capital when a roadside bomb went off against their vehicle. Two other policemen were also wounded.
In the northern city of Mosul, three college students waiting at a bus stop were shot dead by gunmen driving in a car, police said.
Also in Mosul, a policeman was shot dead in front of his house, while two other civilians were killed separately in drive-by shootings.
In the centre of Tikrit city, two policemen were shot dead when gunmen opened fire on their car.
A police captain was killed and eight others, including five civilians, were wounded in a roadside bombing targeting a police patrol south of the oil hub of Kirkuk.
In a similar bombing an Iraqi soldier was killed and two others wounded in Bohruz, just south of the restive city of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad.
A civilian was killed when a mortar round struck a house in Baghdad's eastern Al-Baladiyat neighbourhood. Two others were wounded.
A parked car bomb struck a outdoor market in a predominantly Shiite neighbourhood in Baghdad yesterday, killing at least two people and wounding 12, police said.
The explosion occurred at a popular market in the northwestern neighbourhood of Shula, police Lt. Mohammed Kheyoun said. The neighbourhood also was hit on April 13 by a car bomb that killed 15 people. In the town of Hawija, a Sunni imam known for his sermons sympathetic to insurgents was dragged from his house in the early hours of the morning and found dead two hours later.
A civilian was killed and four others wounded in a car bomb attack next to an ice-cream shop in Baghdad's Karada district. Three civilians were wounded in a car bomb attack in front of a court in the centre of Tikrit, police said.
Police also found bodies of three men and two women across Baghdad yesterday. All of them had been shot.
The body of a former Baath party member from Diwaniyah province was also found in the capital, police said, adding that he had been shot.
MOSUL - Gunmen shot dead Zuhair Muhammad Kashmola, brother of the governor of Mosul province, in the city of Mosul 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police sources said.
RAMADI - Gunmen attacked two civilian trucks carrying construction materials for the U.S. base in Ramadi and abducted the drivers, said police lieutenant Rahman Al-Dulaimi in the town 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad. The trucks were destroyed in the attack, he added.
FALLUJA - Gunmen shot dead one civilian in central Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad
=============
BTW: It's apparent to SHARK that Conservatives who support Bush and this "war" in Iraq HATE AMERICA.
41 - shArk
"Until the US gets out, the slaughter will continue.
...and after the US gets out, the slaughter will continue."
~THANKS, GEORGE!
re: Clavos: "...Powerful, cogent response there, shArk, you really blew my point totally away; I'm overwhelmed."
Clavos, if I want any shit from you, I'll squeeze yer head, 'kay?
And do I have to spell it out for you with a fucking crayon?
==================
pre-2003 Iraq = stable nation under brutal SECULAR dictator
Bush invades Iraq based on search for WMDs
June, 2006: total # of WMDs found = ZERO
June 2006: Iraq = civil war/total anarchy = breeding ground/training facility for future URBAN JIHADIST TERRORISTS
= We stay = we lose.
= We leave = we lose.
= THANKS GEORGE!
42 - Matthew T. Sussman
Call me crazy, but I don't think Shark is much of a fan of the war.
43 - Clavos
OK, shArk, when I wanna give you a ration, I'll let you know so you can come over and squeeze, but you've got to wash your hands first.
44 - Bliffle
Now GWB must face the consequence of erecting a boogeyman: when the boogeyman is gone he doesn't have anything to scare the children with.
45 - troll
not to worry...there'll be another along directly
troll
46 - gonzo marx
Suss...yer crazy...
glad ta help
Excelsior?
47 - Dan
I'm not sure what pleases me most, the increasingly obvious signs of success in Iraq, or the increasingly obvious failure of liberal loons to prevent it. Their angry shrieks of denial provide a good baromoter to gauge with.
Just like with the economy.
48 - Dr Politico
Dan,
Nice one.
Actually, the
liberalilliberal loons have found a new strategy for success. Ann Coulter has become their new platform for the midterm elections. Rather than resort to debating the issues, they'll be using her book to demonstrate the hatemongering ways of the republican party.I'll post that story tomorrow, and me thinks you'll like it.
Fortunately,
liberalsilliberals refuse to embrace success and their constant whining is losing them elections. GOP will maintain their majority :)49 - Dan
I'll look forward to the post Dr.
Lib's are always goading conservatives with how we're frightened by "strong" women. Then all they give us are angry shrews with modest familiarity with reason, sniveling about "social justice".
When confronted with a genuinely "strong" woman, in Ann Coulter, they suddenly seize up in exaggerated fits of haughtiness, often accompanied by projectile vomiting and explosive diarreah.
50 - IgnatiusReilly
Dan, there is no success until our troops come home. It's great that Zarqawi is dead, and hopefully we got some useful intelligence, but we still have a long road ahead, so save the circlejerk. Your like a baseball fan who gets excited because his team is doing well in May.
51 - Dan
IgnatiusReilly, your caution is well advised, and well taken, but I can still enjoy the win in May.
52 - Dave Nalle
Ignatz, while it may be too early to get excited over the situation in Iraq, aside from the specific Zarqawi issue, I think it's reasonable to get some jollies from watching the leftists running around like chickens with their heads cut off, spewing accusations and demented spin and sounding more and more like Shark. He's always been crazy, but now the rest of them are starting to sound like he always has.
Dave
53 - IgnatiusReilly
Dan, feel free to enjoy it, but for every claim of gloom and doom on the left there is an equal claim of victory close at hand on the right to cancel it out, and I grow weary of both. Celebrations in May sometimes lead to greater disappoinments in October.
Dave, if Al Queda can ever be rooted out of Iraq, I will raise a class and toast our brave men and women, but I feel that AQ are no longer as great a threat in Iraq as the people themselves. If The Shark's unsourced reporting is accurate, then I don't see an end anytime soon. He certainly is rambunctious, but through the nonsense his frustration is understandable.
Luckily, this country has enough money and resources to handle the mistakes and bad decisions, but even when the time comes that Iraq is free, I don't know if we'll deserve a passing grade and it won't be because of some bogeyman on the left even if we find Osama with a copy of fahrenheit 911 or a Dixie Chicks CD.
And can we please stop mentioning Coulter. I just saw a clip on TV and her arms are extremely unpleasant to view. Karen Carpenter thinks she needs to eat something. Whew! I might need to crack another cab open to block the image from my mind.
54 - RJ Elliott
"June, 2006: total # of WMDs found = ZERO"
That, of course, isn't true...
Small amounts of WMDs and banned weapons WERE found, but the leftist media choose not to, you know, actually point this fact out.
So moonbats like guPpy get a free pass when they parrot lies...
55 - RJ Elliott
"And can we please stop mentioning Coulter. I just saw a clip on TV and her arms are extremely unpleasant to view. Karen Carpenter thinks she needs to eat something. Whew! I might need to crack another cab open to block the image from my mind."
LOL! :)
56 - RJ Elliott
"Umm, it's a little more involved than just "having Osama sent to the US..." The best way to get him here would be to join-up and go over and get him..."
Aww...I'd missed you and your OCD commentary, MCH!
Actually, Clinton didn't need me, or anyone else, to go to Sudan to pick Osama up. Sudan offered his head on a silver platter. But BJ Clinton was occupied with other, you know, priorities around this time, so he declined to have the world's number one terrorist sent to the US for prosecution...
Oh, and BUC$H IZ HITLUR!!!
57 - Joey
All,
It just a matter of when, not if... and all this grumbling will be moot. But until that inevitable day comes... until then
Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my charriot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Til we have secured our peace from fear
in this great an glorius land
-- Blake at el.
We can't give up, it's not in our blood to give up. If you gave up, or are giving up, you are living in fear. Do not fear. We have everything under control. Your babies will be safe.
58 - Joey
RJ
I stopped eating crabs the day I saw one come out of the mouth of a floater (dead person who has been recovered from the water). They're scavangers, they are made to clean up dead stuff. You really should reconsider dining on "vulture" meat. yeeechh.
59 - Joey
Doc, Writing an article like this, resembles chumming. You brought them all out and they're in a feeding frenzy! Now blast away.
60 - Joey
"BTW: It's apparent to SHARK that Conservatives who support Bush and this "war" in Iraq HATE AMERICA." -- ShacK
Perhaps not. Howeverm, when conservatives look around and see what once was a country speaking with one voice... and now has duality of body, mind, and soul. It is disheartening. Conservatives enjoy singularity of purpose. Conservatives enjoy respect for God and country.
Conservatives are a "women and children" first group of people.
Conservatives are prone to protect and preserve.
When conservatives speak, liberals think they're talking in tongues.
Conservatives will never get liberal respect, because liberal's respect little.
Conservatives enjoy freedom.
Conservatives can't understand why freedom isn't enjoyed by liberals.
Conservatives remember life as something to be cherished, not as something to diminish.
Conservatives know that history is truth and learn from it.
Conservatives realize that people with no defense are despised (Machiavellian philosophy).
Conservatives understand Peace through superior firepower.
Conservatives understand Tzu and endeavor to persevere.
Conservatives don't really care what other's think.
Conservative relish security.
Any positive thoughts?
61 - Arch Conservative
tommd says"
"In Orwell's 1984, Big Brother was always sending messages to it's subject's the "victory was right around the corner" in their perpetual war. Sounds mighty familiar in 2006."
Yes and in world war 2 there were many times as if it looked liked the germans would win. You probably would have been calling for the Allies throw in the towel if you had been alive then huh tommy
1984 is a book. World War 2 actually happened. That's the difference between ultra lefties and everyone else.....everyone else deals in reality not fiction and theory.
62 - Christopher Rose
Archie, are you aware that the USA almost sided with the Germans in the Second World War? Many people there thought that Germany would win the war and the smart thing to do would be to side with the winners.
Or that the USA actually only joined the Allies so long as they paid all the costs of war, making the USA little more than mercenaries really?
Sure, I'm glad they did the right thing in the end but the reality is that the American commitment to freedom and liberty isn't quite what any of us think it is...
63 - Ray Ellis
Just a point of clarification here-- it wasn't the armed forces on the ground that got Zarqawi--it was two 500 pound bombs dropped from a single F-16. All the posturing on both sides of this thread have little basis in reality--nor are they constructive, by and large. It's more of the same "I'm a patriot and you're a heathen commie/fascist (depending on your affiliations).
Nodody can deny that killing Zarqawi was a good thing--I'm especially heartened by the fact he had a little time (not enough) to get a glimpse of hell before he died.
Does it signal a victory in Iraq? Of course not. Does it herald repercussions that mean a defeat? Equally ridiculous.
64 - MCH
"1984 is a book. World War 2 actually happened. That's the difference between ultra lefties and everyone else.....everyone else deals in reality not fiction and theory."
- Archie
Oh great, another military lecture from one of BC's resident keyboard generals...
65 - Dave Nalle
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Til we have secured our peace from fear
in this great an glorius land
Joey, these are not the correct words to the final verse of Jerusalem. It should read:
"I shall not cease from mental strife,
Nor will my sword rest in my hand,
Til we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land."
Where does your version come from?
You know they took the hymn out of the US episcopal hymnal because they didn't like the reference to "dark satanic mills".
Presumably someone decided to secularize your version.
Dave
66 - Dave Nalle
Or that the USA actually only joined the Allies so long as they paid all the costs of war, making the USA little more than mercenaries really?
Christopher, are you aware that after WW1 the European countries repudiated their legitimate non-war debt to US banks and our government, precipitating the depression and making it impossible to deal with them on anything but a cash and carry or essentially rental basis. And we're not just talking about unpaid German reparations here, but France and other countries debts for purchases of military hardware.
And cash and carry and lend-lease were both suspended in 1941, and future support of Europe was done at our expense. The debts from the early part of the war were eventually largely absolved. In addition, under the Marshall and Truman plans we spent tens of billions of dollars on European reconstruction with no repayment expected, and underwrote even more in loans.
So your 'mercenaries' argument is complete bullshit.
Dave
67 - Tony G
Comment 62, by Christopher Rose
You don't have a clue in what you are talking about.
When Hitler started to push around the smaller countries around him (kinda like Saddam did) the U.S. and the League of Nations did infact try to appease him (kinda like the liberals wanted to do with Saddam) but we didn't take his side, Rose.
Good to hear we got Zarqawi. And it is also good that we took car of little Hitler wannabee Saddam before we had another Pearl Harbor with our dicks in our hands. Bush is really taking care of business.
68 - Ray Ellis
Sorry, Tony, but you need a refresher course in history, also. The Japaneses bombed Pearl Harbor, not the Germans. Neville Chamberlain tried to deal with Hitler diplomatically-- the US did not try to appease Hitler. And I'd daresay Hitler did a bit more than "push the smaller countries around him."
69 - Arch Conservative
MCH says
"Oh great, another military lecture from one of BC's resident keyboard generals..."
Question for you MCH... why is it only people who disagree with the leftist view of the war called Keyboard generals" when they comment on the war?
why don't you call tommyd and his pals "keyboard generals" when they tell us in no uncertain temrs that the only sensible ting for us to do is perform a complete withdrawal?
70 - Arch Conservative
When did Tony G claim that the germans bombed pearl harbor Ray?
71 - Ray Ellis
The "Hitler wannabes" line "before we have another Pearl Harbor". Hirohito's motives were different, even though they paralleled Hitler's in Europe
72 - Dave Nalle
Ray misread Tony's comment. Tony never even suggested that the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.
And Ray, the plural of Japanese is Japanese, not 'japaneses'.
Dave
73 - Tony G
Ray, you are an uniformed idiot.
Hitlet did not just wake up one morning and decide to start a world war. He started seazing little provinces from countries like Czechloslovia
and when the Czechs complained to the League of Nations and the U.S. we sided with Hitler hoping that he would stop there, but he didn't did he? That is what I call appeasing.
It is too bad that we didn't have Bush around in the 1930's.
What happened in the 1930's with Hitler was something that the liberals wanted us to repeat with Saddam and Osama.
And please show me where I said the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.
74 - Ray Ellis
typo, Dave.
Tony, thanks for keeping this on a gentlemanly level. WWII began September 1939 when the Germans bombed Poland. That began the European War.
75 - Tony G
We gave up gentlemen tactics during the Revolutionary War.
Like I said, Hitler did not wake up in 1939 and decided he wanted to bomb Poland. He annexed Austria and Czechloslovakia first.