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Al Zaqawi arrested - Drudge

Jocko said:
48 hour rule in effect, natch.

Kurd radio has apparently reported Al Zarqawi's arrest. If this turns out to be true, I'd be very interested in knowing whose forces nabbed him.
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If true that would be a great morale boost prior to the elections. Yet I await verification cuz when Liza married David Guest even the American media lied and said he wasn't gay. ;)
 
This would be the best news possible for the Iraqi people in advance of the elections. With the boogie-man behind bars maybe folks there would be less afraid to go to the polls.

This is the best news possible,...short of capturing UBL that is! I just hope it's true...I guess we'll see.

-z
 
rikzilla said:
With the boogie-man behind bars maybe folks there would be less afraid to go to the polls.
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You have evidence that people are afariad to go to the poll because of Al Zarqawi? You don't think it might have more to do with the local insergent group in their area?
 
geni said:
You have evidence that people are afariad to go to the poll because of Al Zarqawi? You don't think it might have more to do with the local insergent group in their area?
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If it's true, it's both a symbolic boost for the populus and a symbolic defeat for the insugents. Don't dismiss the psychological impact too lightly.
 
Jocko said:
If it's true, it's both a symbolic boost for the populus and a symbolic defeat for the insugents. Don't dismiss the psychological impact too lightly.
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when someone is threatening your friends and faily and you know they can make good on thier threats I feel that the psychological impact is going to be somewhat limited. Combien that with the number of nuts who really do support the insergency and if this is true then I feel it is likely to have about the same effect as the arrest of sadam did.
 
Considering that al-Zarqawi and the insurgents are on the same side in the war and that al-Zarqawi is the highest profile person on that side I'd say his capture would have a psychological effect on everyone in the war, a negative effect for those on al-Zarqawi's side and a positive effect on those against him. That's not to say all the insurgents would quit fighting but it'd obviously be a defeat for their side.
 
rikzilla said:
This would be the best news possible for the Iraqi people in advance of the elections. With the boogie-man behind bars maybe folks there would be less afraid to go to the polls.

This is the best news possible,...short of capturing UBL that is! I just hope it's true...I guess we'll see.

-z
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It's not bogeymen scaring the Iraqi people, it's real, actual bombs, blowing people's limbs apart from their bodies, courtesy of Rummy's unguarded weapons depots.

If the bombing magically stops with the arrest of this particular individual, then Iraqis will feel better about being out in public and voting.
 
It's not bogeymen scaring the Iraqi people, it's real, actual bombs, blowing people's limbs apart from their bodies, courtesy of Rummy's unguarded weapons depots.

If the bombing magically stops with the arrest of this particular individual, then Iraqis will feel better about being out in public and voting.
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[cynic] But that's not the primary concern of the Bush administration anyway... the primary concern is to make Americans think the invasion is justified and forthright. Boogeymen go a long way in this respect, even if it is a phantom, and even if it doesn't have tremendous actual impact. [/cynic]

- That being said, I hope this story IS true.
 
Number Six said:
Considering that al-Zarqawi and the insurgents are on the same side in the war and that al-Zarqawi is the highest profile person on that side I'd say his capture would have a psychological effect on everyone in the war, a negative effect for those on al-Zarqawi's side and a positive effect on those against him.
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They said the same about Sadam. The germans probably thought the same when they manged to remove major resistance figures.


That's not to say all the insurgents would quit fighting but it'd obviously be a defeat for their side.
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They've had a few defeats already one more will not matter. you are thinking on the wrong timescale.
 
They were right about Saddam. Are you saying catching Saddam wasn't a victory? The guy terrorized his country (his region even) for 30 years and was untouchable. Even his sons were considered so untouchable that when they were killed some people there said the bodies weren't really them. Catching Saddam was a BIG victory. It didn't mean everything would be flowers and happiness from then on. But just because everything didn't instantly become perfect doesn't mean it wasn't a victory. Plenty of people over there thought that Saddam could never be defeated much less captured.
 
Killing really bad guys is always a good thing but will it have a short or long term affect? You tell me, if it was the U.S. and the president was killed, would his supporters fold the tents and go home?
 
geni said:
They said the same about Sadam. The germans probably thought the same when they manged to remove major resistance figures.
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Well, I think you're "probably" wrong. The US anticipated stepped-up attacks after the capture and dealt with them. There were no surprises.



They've had a few defeats already one more will not matter. you are thinking on the wrong timescale.
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Er, the only timescale that matters at the moment is the one ending on January 30th. If the report is true, it s bound to improve the average Iraqi's outlook on the future. If you prefer to wallow in a morass of pessimism, fine, but I think it's unwarranted.

That's not to say attacks will cease and rainbows will bloom from every mosque, but there's a reason they call it the war for the "hearts and minds" of the people there... it's emotional, not logistical, victories like these that accomplish that.
 
DavidJames said:
Killing really bad guys is always a good thing but will it have a short or long term affect? You tell me, if it was the U.S. and the president was killed, would his supporters fold the tents and go home?
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If he was considered a near-diety of a religious figurehead instead of a political leader, then yeah, I'd say a lot of wind would be out of a lot of sails. I think the comparison is shaky at best.

Besides, the insurgents (Iraqi-born, anyway) are only a tiny percentatge of the population by pretty much everyone's assessments. A better comparison might be how well Nader's political movement would survive his death.
 
there's news and then there's "sources"

It makes you wonder when you see a story if it's independently verified or if it is ten media sources all citing one initial source.
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Until I see it on DebkaFiles, it ain't a valid report in my book!
http://www.debka.com
 
Jocko said:
If he was considered a near-diety of a religious figurehead instead of a political leader, then yeah, I'd say a lot of wind would be out of a lot of sails. I think the comparison is shaky at best.

Besides, the insurgents (Iraqi-born, anyway) are only a tiny percentatge of the population by pretty much everyone's assessments. A better comparison might be how well Nader's political movement would survive his death.
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sorry, I think the comparison is on the money and the Nader analogy is not even close. Without Nader there is no "Nader political movement" duh. Are you suggesting without Al Zarqawi there would have been no insurgents?

by the way rule 1 of my sig addresses this quote
The US anticipated stepped-up attacks after the capture and dealt with them. There were no surprises.
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