He's Gone?

Abu Musab al Zarqawi will not be down for breakfast.  I'm going to miss his blogging over at Iowahawk.  I suspect he'll be resurrected for at least one last post that ends with both a bang and a whimper, though.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most-wanted terrorist in Iraq who waged a bloody campaign of beheadings and suicide bombings, was killed when U.S. warplanes dropped 500-pound bombs on his isolated safehouse, officials said Thursday. His death was a long-sought victory in the war in Iraq.

Al-Zarqawi and several aides, including spiritual adviser Sheik Abdul Rahman, were killed Wednesday evening in a remote area 30 miles from Baghdad in the volatile province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba, officials said.

Now tell me this isn't evidence of unfathomably bizarre thought patterns.

Al-Qaida in Iraq confirmed al-Zarqawi's death and vowed to continue its "holy war," according to a statement posted on a Web site.

"We want to give you the joyous news of the martyrdom of the mujahed sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

"The death of our leaders is life for us. It will only increase our persistence in continuing holy war so that the word of God will be supreme."

Let's hope the Coalition and Iraqi troops can bring a little more joy into their mundane existence.  One of my thoughts upon hearing the news was, "I wonder what Nicholas Berg's father will have to say about this?"  I need wonder no longer.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Michael Berg, whose son Nick was beheaded in Iraq in 2004, said on Thursday he felt no sense of relief at the killing of the al Qaeda leader in Iraq and blamed President Bush for his son's death.

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."

The United States said its aircraft killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the insurgent leader who masterminded the death of hundreds in suicide bombings and was blamed for the videotaped beheading of Nick Berg, a U.S. contractor, and other captives.

"I don't think that Zarqawi is himself responsible for the killings of hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq," Berg said in a combative television interview with the U.S. Fox News network. "I think George Bush is.

"George Bush is the one that invaded this country, George Bush is the one that destabilized it so that Zarqawi could get in, so that Zarqawi had a need to get in, to defend his region of the country from American invaders."

There should be a special place in hell for someone who's hatred of President Bush runs so deep that he cannot even find a tiny bit of solace in the death of a man who sawed off his son's head.  It's very sad, very sad indeed.

6/8/06 1045: Paul at Wizbang unearths information that, perhaps, Nicholas Berg was offered US assistance out of Iraq and refused it.  If so, was it really George Bush's fault?

Michelle Malkin has the usual huge roundup, but a more pithy version is over at Wizbang via Lorie Byrd and Kim Priestap.

6/9/06 1420: Hah, I was right!

Tariq says, "did you just hear th..."

Now, back in the madrassa when we studied the afterlife, I always wondered what would be the last thing to go through my head. I'm pretty sure now it was one of Mahmoud's anklebones. And if you're wondering if it was painless? Imagine a full-frontal 800 degree root canal while listening to a Neil Young record. But hey, I figure no big whoop, just the admission price to heaven's eternal ho sammich.

So Zarkman walks toward the light.

And so he did.  72 virgins?  I think not.

Be sure to check out Jeff Goldstein's interview with the late al-Zarqawi, who was somewhat less ... garrulous, shall we say?

6/10/06 1900: Expose The Left has more from Mr. Berg.  Ick.