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Intelligence breakthrough to zarqawi airstrike Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-06-11-zarqawi-intelligence_x.htmhttp://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-06-11-zarqawi-intelligence_x.htm
Intelligence breakthrough to Zarqawi airstrike
Updated 6/11/2006 10:05 PM ET
By César G. Soriano, USA TODAY
BAGHDAD — The airstrike that killed al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was made possible by a breakthrough in penetrating his secretive group, Iraq's national security adviser said Sunday. A shakedown of the organization continues, he said.
"I can confirm that Zarqawi was killed because we got ahold of high-quality, reliable, actionable intelligence," Mouwafak al-Rubaie said. "We have managed to infiltrate al-Qaeda in Iraq. We had been monitoring his movements for a few weeks."
Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born terrorist responsible for some of the deadliest attacks on Iraqi civilians, was killed in an airstrike Wednesday after a three-year manhunt. He was found after a tip from a source inside al-Qaeda in Iraq led to Sheik Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi, Zarqawi's spiritual adviser. Rahman, in turn, led U.S. and Iraqi forces to the house in the village of Hibhib where Zarqawi was hiding.
A search of the site of the airstrike yielded vital intelligence, al-Rubaie said Sunday, including computers and diaries. In the days since Zarqawi's death, Iraqi and coalition forces have conducted at least 56 raids nationwide, he said.
In those raids, troops captured at least 25 suspects and confiscated suicide belts, a flak vest, passports, identification cards and Iraqi army uniforms, Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman, said Friday.
"The death of Zarqawi will be seen as a paradigm shift in the work of al-Qaeda in Iraq," al-Rubaie said. He said credit for the operation goes to Iraq's intelligence service and information-sharing between U.S. and Iraqi forces.
On Sunday, al-Qaeda in Iraq vowed to continue attacks despite the death of its leader. The group, which has targeted Iraq's Shiite majority in an apparent effort to foment civil war between Shiites and Sunni Arabs, also renewed its allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. An Internet statement attributed to the group said bin Laden "will see things that will bring joy to his heart."
Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said al-Qaeda in Iraq's response was not surprising. "They're hurt badly," Casey told Fox News Sunday. The threat "is expected, but I think we'll be prepared. ... Then again, you can't stop terrorist attacks completely."
Iraq's new defense minister, Abdul-Qader Mohammed Jassim al-Mifarji, said a security plan will be put in place around Baghdad to deal with a possible surge in attacks.
Sudden opportunity
After hunting Zarqawi, 39, for years, coalition forces saw everything fall into place Wednesday when he was tracked to the house in Hibhib, about 30 miles north of Baghdad.
President Bush credited special operations forces with confirming Zarqawi's location based on intelligence from Iraqis. They "delivered justice to the most-wanted terrorist in Iraq," he said.
The plan to kill Zarqawi apparently came together so quickly that only one F-16 jet of a two-jet team was able to launch a strike because the second was refueling from a midair tanker, Caldwell said Friday. At 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, the F-16 dropped two 500-pound bombs on the isolated concrete house, said Air Force Lt. Gen. Gary North, commander of the airstrike.
Iraqi police from a nearby station were first to arrive on the scene. Caldwell said Friday that Zarqawi was alive when he was found and tried to get away when he was placed on a stretcher. He died shortly after. In addition to Zarqawi and al-Iraqi, an unidentified man, two women and a girl about 5 years old died, Caldwell said.
During a trip to the blast site with reporters Saturday, Lt. Col. Thomas Fisher, commander of the 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, said his men arrived within minutes of the airstrike.
Maj. Jay Bullock, a U.S. military liaison to the Iraqi police and army, said he got a call at about 7 p.m. Wednesday to respond to the strike. Bullock rolled out about five minutes later with 20 Iraqi police, 30 Iraqi army soldiers and 15 U.S. soldiers. All are based at Camp Khalis near Baqouba.
"As we approached the site, it was starting to get dark," Bullock said. "Because it was such a large explosion and the danger of unexploded ordnance, Iraqi police determined it was unsafe. ... So we secured the area and searched the site at first light" Thursday, he said.
A 6:30 a.m., combat engineers began excavating the site, though they hadn't yet learned who the target of the attack was. Spc. Aaron Wells, 21, of Kahlotus, Wash., operated a bulldozer. He carefully lifted the wreckage, one 6-inch layer at a time, while his fellow soldiers searched through the debris.
Electronics and Qurans
"We found electronic stuff like a couple of MP3 audio recorders, a laptop computer, a lot of notebooks, a bag full of floppy disks, a couple of cassette tapes and old Qurans," Spc. Eric Walker, 25, of Marion, N.Y., said. The computer was "pretty heavily damaged," but the digital recorders were intact. MP3 players can be used to store computer data in addition to music and other audio.
They also found two AK-47 assault rifles, 30-45 rounds of ammunition, magazine clips and a vest containing six fragmentation grenades, Walker said.
As the digging continued, the soldiers discovered the body of a young girl. "We didn't know exactly who we were after, so to find a young girl was not something we look forward to," Walker said. "Based on their injuries, they probably did go quick, if not instantly," said Cpl. Jason Foster, 22, a medic.
At about 11 a.m. Thursday, the team found out the identity of its target. "Col. Fisher called and told me that it was all over the news that the strike had killed Zarqawi," Bullock said. "My men were still working on the site with the Iraqi police and army. ... There was just a great deal of joy."
Sgt. Melvin Goff, 23, of Florence, S.C., said his Iraqi counterparts erupted in celebration at the news.
On Sunday, two U.S. military forensic specialists finished an autopsy on Zarqawi, U.S. Maj. William Willhoite said. Caldwell is scheduled to discuss the results Monday.
Contributing: Wire reports
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