Now that Al Zarqawi is getting fucked in the ass by his cellmates Pol Pot and Beria, I think we should celebrate the heroes who dropped the two 500 lb. JDAMs that killed him. Their victory is as historic at the one that occurred on April 17, 1943, also heralded as great news:
[A]s the mountains of Bougainville came into view [it was] 0934 when sharp-eyed Doug Canning called out "Bogeys, eleven o'clock. High." Mitchell couldn't believe it; there they were, right on schedule, exactly as planned. The Japanese planes appeared bright and new-looking to the pilots of the 339th. They jettisoned their drop tanks and bored in for the attack. Holmes and Hine had trouble with their tanks, only Barber and Lanphier of the killer group went after the Japanese bombers. All the other P-38s followed their instructions to fly cover.
. . . The Lightnings had waded into the Japanese flight, pouring forth their deadly streams of lead. In the manner of all aerial combat, the fight was brief, high-speed, and confused. . . .
. . . Both Lanphier and Barber claimed one bomber shot down over the jungles of Bougainville. Frank Holmes claimed another shot down over the water a few minutes later. From Japanese records and survivors, among them Admiral Ugaki, the following facts are certain. Only two Betty bombers were involved; Yamamoto's was shot down over Bougainville with no survivors; the second went into the ocean and Ugaki lived to tell about it. Shortly after the attack, a Japanese search party located the wreckage, including the Admiral's body, which they ceremonially cremated.
. . .
The pilots uneventfully flew back to Guadalcanal, where upon landing, the ground personnel greeted them gleefully, like a winning football team. While Lanphier and Barber briefly disagreed about the air battle, all was subsumed in the generally celebratory atmosphere. Lanphier later recalled enjoying his best meal of the war that night.
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Here's some interesting analysis from Hewitt on Al Zarqawi's death:
"Here's the key analysis you won't hear on MSM today: Had we not invaded Iraq, Zarqawi would not be dead today, but rather ensconced in some Baghdad safe house or larger encampment plotting more savagery. Had we not invaded Iraq, Saddam's decision menu today would be how much or little assistance to give Zarqawi, followed by the allocation of bribes to his various U.N. oil-for-food stooges, followed by succession planning with his mad-as-hatter sons."
It's a great day every time one of these people goes to meet their virgins.
Posted by: Blu at June 08, 2006 07:56 AM (RZ8UN)
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I'm not sure, but it sounded like they made two passes each on Fox News. That would be four, not two JDAMS.
My guess is that they were sitting down to dinner, based on the time and dishes shown on all the clips.
Too bad; it would have been better to show them on the prayer rugs.
I hope he enjoys the 72 Janet Reno clones.
Posted by: shelly at June 08, 2006 08:38 AM (BJYNn)
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It's bigger than just the death of Z being wiped from the face of the earth. Gen Caldwell briefed that we simultaneously hit 17 other sites. That means that we've developed this intel for a long time, and when we struck, it was at a moment of our choosing, and we rolled up his whole network at one time. That's incredible!
The missing story here is the story of how the intel was developed over time. These are the guys who put the firepower and the trigger puller in that piece of air at the right time for Yamamoto and Zarqawi to meet their maker. I wish that I could buy them a drunk tonight!
Posted by: Casca at June 08, 2006 08:42 AM (rEC2k)
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We joke about the 72 ugly virgins, but in all seriousness, there are no virgins. He went straight to hell.
Posted by: annika at June 08, 2006 09:25 AM (zAOEU)
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I bet you are the only blogger in the world with the smarts to link Yamamoto with Zarqawi. The death of Yamamoto was a tremendous blow to the Japanese.
Maybe the crazy man in Iran will have second thoughts about his quest to rule the world.
Posted by: Jake at June 08, 2006 09:28 AM (sDM7g)
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I dunno... I see something wrong with the way Z-man died last night: It wasn't slow and painful enough... f***'er deserved a painful handful of last moments as payback for what he's done to his Iraqi victims, not just a bright flash and whoop, it's over.
But, you take what you get. Good riddance. I don't normally have anything positive to say about the fact that someone died -- normally, that's a tragedy -- but frankly, this was less a human dying and more a tumor getting excised. Good f***in riddance.
Posted by: elmondohummus at June 08, 2006 10:31 AM (Sf/1c)
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I think the greater thanks go to the SOF troops that were there on the ground, guiding the CAP in. They are the ones that went in immediately after to do a BDA (bomb damage assessment). Maybe they should bury old a-Z in the nearest pig-pen.
Posted by: Mike at June 08, 2006 11:21 AM (BJYNn)
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These are the guys who put the firepower and the trigger puller in that piece of air at the right time for Yamamoto and Zarqawi to meet their maker.
Posted by: Thomas Greene at June 08, 2006 11:51 AM (b7Tng)
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Hey Blu,
I must agree and not the least bit grudgingly, a great day this sick misguided Islamist piece of shit is dead. Of course, it remains to be seen what affect it will have on the course of events as they are unfolding or one might say unravelling in Iraq.
I will not however agree that his death is justification for destroying Iraq, but you already knew that.
Posted by: strawman at June 08, 2006 03:14 PM (G2Zzw)
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One small correction, the AirForce office who was on Fox this AM said the lead F-16 attacked with a 500 lb LGB. F-16 #2 dropped a JDAM.
Posted by: wayne at June 09, 2006 07:00 AM (y6dNe)
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"We joke about the 72 ugly virgins, but in all seriousness, there are no virgins. He went straight to hell."
No Annika,
You're wrong. The virgins ARE there. It's just that they STAY virgins. THAT's why it's called Hell!!
Posted by: Bat Guano at June 09, 2006 08:17 AM (mkw7u)
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Thanks for mentioning Yamamoto--it's interesting to imagine how the shootdown would have been covered by today's media (see my post
here.)
Although he certainly merited killing, I don't think Yamamoto was on the same level of evil as Zarqawi. He orchestrated an aggressive war, and fought for a government that committed many atrocities. But I don't think there is any evidence that he was a personal sadist in the Zarqawi mold.
Posted by: David Foster at June 09, 2006 08:42 AM (/Z304)
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Everyone, I gotta go with David Foster on this one. Zarqawi was a human cancer with no honor. Yamamoto was western educated, and if I remember my history correctly, was one of the few opposing war with the US. Remember, he
was the one who spoke the words about America being the "sleeping giant" that was awakened by the Pearl Harbor attack. And, according to one biography (
this one, I think), he spent the remainder of the day of the attack rather depressed. In short, he sounded alarms about the impossibility of success (there was another quote attributed to him, trying to remember from where (historians, help me out please!) where he promises that he can run the tables on the US for around 6 months, but after that, he had "no expectations of success", or something like that) and basically only fought out of duty and honor, not bloodthirsty destructiveness or delusional nihilisim like Z-man.
In short, everything I remember reading about him was that he was a clear headed, non-delusional, honarable enemy, a legitimate and neccessary target, but orders of magnitude removed from a human stain like Zarqawi. Not to condone or forgive his part in Pearl Harbor, an unpardonable act in the overall view of history; I say the above to underline that he was nowhere near being the subhuman thug that Zarqawi was.
Posted by: elmondohummus at June 09, 2006 11:20 AM (xHyDY)
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Here's my shameless self-promotion... all that predator feed... I'm responsible for that communications link here in Ramstein, DE
. Theoretically I've been responsible for the deaths of thousands
. JK. Peace out Annika.
Posted by: trisa at June 10, 2006 03:24 PM (Rhuwm)
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True to another readers comments... Yamamoto wore his uniform and didn't try and hide amongst Japanese civilians to try and gain leverage. But then again terrorists aren't exactly known for their honor. After all... what, WHAT religion condones and promotes such unabashed killing of people? Perhaps they should look a little deeper at what such a benign, loving deity might request. My only hope for Zarqawi was that he had actually lived. To be taken into custody by 'infidels' is far greater shame to Muslims than the shame that ancient Samurai felt when compelled to impale themselves over swords... Now his status has raised to 'martyr' whereas if we'd imprisoned him he would have been 'impotent.' BUT considering the freakin US of good ol' A let the 20th hijacker of 9/11 (the greatest tragedy since Pearl Harbor) off for life in prison; perhaps a swift and certain death of Zarqawi was the best route indeed. Again... peace out my friend Annika!
Posted by: trisa at June 10, 2006 03:51 PM (Rhuwm)
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