Troops applaud al-Zarqawi’s death, but question its impact

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?article=37826§ion=104

While there were largely shared feelings of satisfaction Friday about the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, many in the Pacific doubted the impact that killing the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq would have on the country and combating terrorism.

“This makes a great news story, but what we’ve been doing previously is more important, which is taking out middle management. He’s the big picture, but it’s the guys below him that are really setting the bombs and doing damage,” Marine Capt. Peter Colby, who recently spent six months in Iraq doing antiterrorism and force protection work, said from Camp Foster. “But, hey, I love the fact that we got him.”

Al-Zarqawi was killed by an American airstrike Wednesday after U.S. forces got a tip from inside his terrorist network that led to the location of the safe house where he was staying near Baqouba. The strike was led in part by the commander of the Combined Forces Air Component, Lt. Gen. Gary North, who commanded the 18th Wing on Kadena Air Base from 2000 to 2002 and held previous commands at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea and Misawa Air Base in northern Japan.

Colby and others said killing such a widely known terrorist figurehead would be a morale booster for the troops.

However, Capt. Christopher Shamblin at Misawa Air Base cautioned against spending too much time celebrating the death of a highly prized target like al-Zarqawi.

:spank:
After your commander-in-chump paid our bloodstained tax money to Arab journalists to make up stories about what a "big fish" terrorist Zarqawi was, but Al-Qaeda wanted so little to do with him that they're the probably the ones who turned him in? FOR SHAME!

:evilgrin:
rocknation