Despite the fact that the MSM seems to think the daily roadside bomb report warrants top headlines (or stories about Bush's falling poll numbers or Plamegate), they've been relatively quiet about a soap opera going on around the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab Zarqawi. Suffice it say, he had a really bad week.
First, he sent out some of his close friends to bomb a few hotels in Jordan. Supposely the attack was going to show Jordan they should not cooperate in the WoT. One could hear the backfire all the way across the pond, as the hapless bombers only killed their fellow Muslim countrymen, some in the process of getting married. The female suicider on his almighty hit team had trouble pulling her rip cord, yet miraculously managed to miss her meeting with Allah and was subsequently captured. Forced to testify on Jordanian TV with her suicide belt, she proceeded to make the whole organization look like it was being run by Pee Wee Herman.
In the bloody aftermath we found out that Israeli and Jordanian spies were attending a meeting at one of the bombed hotels, but were unscathed in the blasts, which killed over 50 innocent people. Realizing what a disastrous move he'd made, Zarqawi issued one of the most ridiculous statements ever, suggesting to the world his brave mujahadeen actually meant to target the spies but instead only got some brothers and sisters. "No offense", he said. The result was 200,000 angry people marching in the streets of Amman yelling "burn in hell, Abu Musab Zarqawi".
It got worse. Realizing his rep was rapidly disappearing down the commode, he decided to fight back by threatening to behead King Adbullah, who had earlier called his followers "insane" (way to go, King). That prompted a statement from Z-man's own family, renouncing him for his role in, well, just about everything he's done lately.
Pay close attention to this line in the renouncement story:
The statement is a serious blow to al-Zarqawi, who no longer will enjoy the protection of his tribe and whose family members may seek to kill him.
Presto, not more than a day later we learn he may already be dead, killed in an explosion in Mosul. Boy those guys sure work fast.
Personally I'm not getting up hopes just yet. The Middle Eastern press seems to fact check less than the New York Times and has reported his death before- several times. Add to that the incredible growing leg story (he apparently lost a leg fighting in Afghanistan, but was seen with legs in the Berg beheading video) as well as several previous captures by the coalition and we need to wait awhile for confirmation. Like for the DNA lab report.
Perhaps he's moved to the same state of death as his partner in crime, former Ba'athist strongman Izzat al-Douri. Izzat's condition is not considered serious, since our forces continue to search for him. Wonder what the Butcher thinks of all this?
Strangely, it might not be the best thing if Z-man kicked the bucket, since he was rapidly becoming a PR drain for AQ. His bumbling was surely making Bin Laden and Zawahiri pull out more than the normal amount of beard hairs, and they probably wanted him out anyway. The replacement might be worse. Still, I think most would take that chance to see this guy in a box, or doing the perp walk somewhere.
MORE 11/20
Reports are now that eight high-ranking bodies have been found in Mosul, and the USA has DNA samples for testing. We'll know soon.
UPDATE 11/20
Didn't take long for the White House to throw some water on the hot coals.
By the way, my rather flippant style in writing this story deserves some explanation. Zarqawi is no doubt a ruthless killer and many families have been made to cry due to his barbarity. However, I wanted to point out that he's not immune from making errors in judgment, in this case some big ones. He is the enemy, and we should celebrate their misfortunes whenever possible. That will escape many on the port side who have confused the enemy for a prominent domestic figure.
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