This is the teaser on the Fox News front page (
http://www.foxnews.com/):
Mission Accomplished?Death of terror mastermind Zarqawi ignites debate in Washington on timing of withdrawing troops
...and the accompanying article:
Zarqawi Death Reignites Troop Level Debate
Thursday, June 08, 2006
By Sharon Kehnemui Liss
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,198787,00.htmlIn praising the military mission, President Bush noted that the death of Zarqawi is a blow to Al Qaeda and a victory in the global War on Terror, but it does not mean the war is coming to an end. "Zarqawi is dead, but the difficult and necessary mission in Iraq continues. We can expect the terrorists and insurgents to carry on without him. We can expect the sectarian violence to continue," Bush said during a statement from the White House Rose Garden.
"This is the kind of thing that can reinforce those who want to go ahead and stand up against terrorists in their midst," said White House press secretary Tony Snow, confirming that Iraqis provided much of the intelligence on the terrorists' whereabouts.
That's just what opponents of the war want to hear. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said with the success of the mission to take out Zarqawi, along with the announcement Thursday that al-Maliki had appointed an interior and a defense minister to his Cabinet, the United States should be moving toward the Democrats' goal of a "significant transition" for the war in Iraq in 2006. "We, Democrats, have said that 2006 must be a year of significant transition in Iraq, where the Iraqis take responsibility for their government and their security. Hopefully, these appointments will take us closer to that time when our troops can come home," Pelosi, D-Calif., said.
In his own version of "mission accomplished," Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, also issued a statement calling for withdrawal on a short timetable. "With the end of al-Zarqawi and the confirmation of the final vital cabinet ministries in Iraq's new government, it's another sign that 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," he said.