One Big Smackdown In The War On Radical Islam

At 6:15 Baghdad time, two 500-pound American-made bombs killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi while he was located in an area 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in the province of Diyala, late Wednesday. Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki said "Al-Zarqawi was eliminated."

OBL named al-Zarqawi the "Prince of Terrorism." AZ was the number one terrorist in Iraq.

Why did the state of Jordan help? Remember the wedding party blown to bits in the country last year?

Already the negative comments and the spin has started.

Nicholas Berg's father Michael has already said that al-Zarqawi didn't deserve to die, in a CNN interview. This from the father of the man that al-Zarqawi killed in front of a video camera -- the same video that al Qaeda paraded in front of the world on the internet.

Asked what would give him satisfaction, Berg, an anti-war activist and candidate for U.S. Congress, said, "The end of the war and getting rid of George Bush."

Another massive clue? When the announcement occurred in front of the press, Iraqi journalists cheered. American journalists were completely silent.

President Bush has stayed the course in his "War On Terror." His war on terror is in truth a war only on Islamists or radical Islam -- but in any event, by staying this course the number two AQ terrorist has gone to meet his maker. One more snake on the AQ head has been eliminated. This is a victory for President Bush and for his WOT.

Very few people, despite their prior cries, will find this a positive thing; witness the ridiculously-Moonbat statement from Michael Berg.

And those on the Left whose mantra was "If you're so good, where is OBL? Where are his henchmen? You can't even get those guys!" will likely now be saying: "Doesn't matter anyway. So you got him. Big deal."

President Bush: damned if he didn't, damned if he did.

REALITY CHECK

What will be the impact? It will likely be split directly down the aisle. Who will be the first Democrat to congratulate the president and SecDef Rumsfeld? Don't hold your breath.

And the reality check is this: though I believe this is another turning point in Bush's war, it's not, of course, and End-All and Be-All to this war, which will continue. IEDs will still explode. Homicide bombers will still detonate.

But one more very important nail has been driven directly into the forehead of al Qaeda and its ring of supporters.

And that's a good thing.

President Bush: we do need to stay the course.

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Two additional pieces of good news today:

First, the price of oil has dropped on the news of AZ's death. "Oil prices dipped below $70 per barrel for the first time in two weeks Thursday following the announcement of the death of al-Qaida's leader in Iraq, terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi."

Second, the USS Cole, disabled from a terrorist's boat-bomb on October 12th in 2000 which killed 17 sailors while docked in Yemen's port of Aden, is back on assignment today and headed to the Middle East's Fifth Fleet, responsible for the Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and some of the Indian Ocean. Bravo and Godspeed, USS Cole!

God bless America!

BZ