Bin Laden vs al-Zarqawi

Media jubilation in the wake of the killing of Osama Bin Laden. And there should be.

But back in 2006, under a different President, the media reacted much differently when the US forces whacked another equally brutal and cold-blooded killer – Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He’s the butcher who taped the decapitation of Nicolas Berg (a video so chilling that I have refused to watch it). Abu Musab al-Zarqawi carried out numerous viscious acts of terrorism, beheadings and murder throughout Iraq.

You’d think the media would have rejoiced in the same way back then when al-Zarqawi was terminated?

Not a bit. Instead they sniffed and, openly accused our equally heroic US forces of brutality, cover-up and inhumane treatment – even depriving the poor butcher of his Miranda rights. Take for example the pathetic Democratic Underground website, which wrote:

U.S. troops arriving on the scene wrapped the man’s head in an Arab robe and began beating him, said the local man, who refused to give his name or show his face to the camera. His account could not be independently verified. The U.S. military made no mention of any physical contact between U.S. troops and al-Zarqawi other than an attempt to provide him with medical attention.
Here’s my theory: The US found Zarqawi still alive and he died/killed in custody. Then they called in the fighter jets to bomb his house after he was dead to cover up their deeds. In the process they killed 6(?) civilians including at least 1 child. If this is true then all 7 deaths should be considered murder.”

Or look at the equally pathetic CBS, who had no qualms about floating the allegations of excessive use of force by US forces – quoting some dubious witness named Mohammed:

‘When the Americans arrived they took him out of the ambulance, they beat him on his stomach and wrapped his head with his dishdasha, then they stomped on his stomach and his chest until he died and blood came out of his nose,’ Mohammed said, without saying how he knew the man was dead.”

Oh my God – such brutality. Even if it were true, I’d say good for them.

Brian Jenkins, a terrorism expert with RAND Corp.,  couldn’t find anything positive in the killing of al Zarqawi, and is quoted in USA Today as saying:

Americans ‘take a kind of ‘Wanted’ poster approach” to the fight against terrorism and ‘therefore believe that if another desperado bites the dust, the war is over and we can ride off into the sunset’. In fact, Jenkins said, the long-term effect of Zarqawi’s death is likely to be slight, because the main players in Iraq’s violence — Baathist hard-liners, Shiite militias and Iraqi organized crime elements — remain.”

The AP and MSNBC here  gave Al Qaeda a voice to spread encouragement among their followers, quoting an Al Qaeda website:

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.”

More about the media change of heart here at NewsBusters.

So can we trust the media? You be the judge.

8 responses to “Bin Laden vs al-Zarqawi”

  1. DirkH

    First i need to see the photoshop job to decide whether i believe they really killed OBL yesterday. I’ll only believe it if it’s well made.

  2. Ulrich Elkmann

    We are always, always against any and all killings (well, sometimes bad things are done to innocent people, even on a large scale, but that’s something completely different & does not belong into any discussion of Applied Ethics) – but especially against Only Presumed Terrorists, Heroic Anti-Imperialists, Che Guevara wannabees. Bin Laden, now – that’s something else: 1) He claimed that he wanted to be a martyr and that he was in love with death, 2) he had not had a big entry on the Hit Parade (think of the Talking Heads’ ‘Listening Wind’) for some time, and 3) he flying such a nuisance (as if vacations were not enough stress already). At least 3) deserved a stern reprimand.

    1. DirkH

      I guess you wanted to say “he made flying such a nuisance”… Right?
      Personally, i can’t confirm that… Had to fly to France last year and it was all very smooth. They swabbed my notebook and tested it in a spectrograph but it was all very quick. (They always look at the notebooks because the case is big enough to hide a meaningful amount of explosive)

  3. mindert eiting

    Two uncommon comments about Bin Laden. First, as a young man he was very good looking. Second, he was incredibly stupid. After the debacle of the Sovjet Union in Afghanistan, he and his comrades thought that they could defeat the USA as easily by just dealing to them one big blow. This became the cruel and coward attack on civilians at WTC. If you want world dominance, this adolescent behaviour is not very clever, isn’t it? Later in his life he tried a flirt with climate alarmism, probably thinking that he could destabilize the western world in this way. Finally, he became a sitting duck in Pakistan. Let’s concentrate not too much on cruelty alone. Keep an eye on those peaceful and decent guys who promise us a global Garden of Eden.

  4. Ed Caryl

    It may already be too much delay, but they need to release the original camera RAW or jpeg image with the camera data still attached. Anything else will cast doubt, just like the foolish manipulation of the birth certificate image. (Which was most likely done by the state of Hawaii when they attached the official Certification.)

  5. R. de Haan

    Achieving the impossible
    http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2011/05/achieving-impossible.html

    Also read an earlier article at this blog:
    Osama bin Laden killed, how very convenient

  6. R. de Haan
  7. Louis Carabini

    Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi was considered to be an important link between Iraq and the terrorist organization. A Jordanian of Palestinian ancestry Zarqawi was believed to have set up a terrorist cell in Baghdad and to be affiliated with Ansar al-Islam a small militant group in northern Iraq that has ties to Al Qaeda.

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