[Betman]

According to the news, the scum bag of the ages named Al Zarqawi may have died in a gun battle.

He was allegedly hiding in a house with 7 other losers when they were surrounded by US and iraqi troops.

Bummer ! I was hoping they would capture him alive and do to him what he did to others.

[bigboydan]

just heard that myself bud. it's about time they got this guy.

heres the story that came accorss the wire not to long ago:

US hopes al-Zarqawi died in gunfight
November 21, 2005 - 9:09AM

forces have sealed off a house in the northern city of Mosul where eight suspected al-Qaeda members died in a gunfight - some by their own hand to avoid capture.

A US official said that efforts were under way to determine if terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was among the dead.

Insurgents, meanwhile, killed an American soldier and a Marine in separate attacks over the weekend, while a British soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in the south.

In Washington, a US official said the identities of the terror suspects killed was unknown. Asked if they could include al-Zarqawi, the official replied: "There are efforts under way to determine if he was killed."

American soldiers maintained control of the site, imposing extraordinary security measures, a day after a fierce gunbattle that broke out when Iraqi police and US soldiers surrounded a house after reports that al-Qaeda in Iraq members were inside.

Three insurgents detonated explosives and killed themselves to avoid capture, Iraqi officials said. Eleven Americans were wounded, according to the US military.

The US soldier killed near the capital was assigned to the Army's Task Force Baghdad and was hit by small arms fire, the military said. The Marine, assigned to Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division, died of wounds suffered the day before in Karmah, a village outside Fallujah to the west of the capital.

Their deaths brought to at least 2,093 the number of US service members who have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

In the southern city of Basra, a roadside bomb killed a British soldier and wounded four others, the British Ministry of Defence said. The ministry said 98 British soldiers have died in the Iraq conflict.

The US military also said that 24 people - including another American Marine and 15 civilians - were killed the day before in an ambush on a joint US Iraqi patrol in Haditha, 220 kilometres northwest of Baghdad in the volatile Euphrates River valley.

According to the US statement, the attack began Saturday with a roadside bomb detonating next to the Marine's vehicle, followed by a heavy volley of fire from insurgents.

"Iraqi army soldiers and Marines returned fire, killing eight insurgents and wounding another," the statement said.

Meanwhile, four women were killed when gunmen stormed their home in a Christian district of eastern Baghdad, police said, adding that valuables were stolen and the motive for the attack appeared to have been robbery.

The latest deaths occurred at the end of a violent three-day period in which at least 140 Iraqi civilians died in a series of bombings and suicide attacks - most targeting Shi'ite Muslims.

The victims included 76 people who died Friday in near-simultaneous suicide bombings at two Shi'ite mosques in Khanaqin and 36 more killed the next day by a suicide car bomber who detonated his vehicle amid mourners at a Shi'ite funeral north of the capital.

In Washington, Defence Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld said on the TV show This Week that commanders' assessments will determine the pace of any military drawdown.

About 160,000 US troops are in Iraq as the country approaches parliamentary elections on December 15.

The Pentagon has said it plans to scale back troop strength to its pre-election baseline of 138,000, depending on conditions.

Rumsfeld said the US-led coalition continues to make progress in training Iraqi security forces, which he placed at 212,000.

Rumsfeld also said talk in the United States of a quick withdrawal from Iraq plays into the hands of the insurgents.

"The enemy hears a big debate in the United States, and they have to wonder maybe all we have to do is wait and we'll win. We can't win militarily. They know that. The battle is here in the United States," he told Fox News.

In Cairo, Egypt, Iraq's president said he was ready for talks with anti-government opposition figures and members of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath Party, and he called on the Sunni-led insurgency to lay down its arms and join the political process.

But President Jalal Talabani, attending an Arab League-sponsored reconciliation conference, insisted that the Iraqi government would not meet with Baath Party members who are participating in the Sunni-led insurgency and attacking Iraqi and US-led forces in the country.

"I am the president of Iraq and I am responsible for all Iraqis. If those who describe themselves as Iraqi resistance want to contact me, they are welcome," Talabani told reporters.

"I want to listen to all Iraqis. I am committed to listen to them, even those who are criminals and are on trial."

Talabani made clear in his remarks, however, that he would talk with insurgents and "criminals" only if they put down their weapons.

In Baghdad, hundreds of Sunnis demanded an end to the torture of detainees and called for the international community to pressure Iraqi and US authorities to ensure that such abuse does not occur.

Anger over detainee abuse has increased sharply since US troops found 173 detainees at an Interior Ministry prison in Baghdad's Jadriyah neighbourhood.

The detainees, mainly Sunnis, were found malnourished and some had torture marks on their bodies. Sunni Arabs dominate the insurgent ranks.

The 400 protesters carried posters of tortured detainees, disfigured dead bodies and US troops detaining Iraqis as they marched for a few hundred metres through western Baghdad.

Iraq's Shi'ite-led government has promised an investigation and punishment for anyone guilty of torture.

Attacks against Shi'ite civilians by Sunni religious extremists have occurred throughout the Iraq conflict but spiked since the detainees were found last weekend.

© 2005 AAP

[tacomax]

Is he the pitcher for the Kansas City Royals?

[Senator7]

If he is dead, I wonder how the media and liberals will spin this so that Bush looks bad. God forbid they report good news coming out of Iraq. I actually had a Marine buddy of mine who just got back from Iraq start crying in front of me while discussing how the media is portraying the mission over there by not reporting the incredible amount of good news everyday and only reporting the little bad news. You know what they say, good news doesn't have feet, but bad news has wings.

[HAPPY BOY]

I would love to stuff the rooster suckers balls down his troat and make a turbin out of shit to put up on his ****ing head.

[Betman]

Al Zarqawi's dead body

[Shawn01]

taco, that was funny.

Senator, I agree utterly with your comments about how the media portrays this.

If he is actually dead I hope they display images, like they did with Saddam's sons, to prove it to the world. He must have known what being taken alive would mean because there is no way a group of 8 terrorists could win a battle against U.S. soldiers. Even if they gained the advantage support forces would be quick to arrive.

[BuddyBear]

This is a big catch if this is true and let's hope that its the case.

Let's not get carried away...good news is being reported from Iraq daily its just a lot of bad things are happening there. I think most Americans are concerned about American soldiers that are in danger as opposed to a road or airport being reopened.

However, we have to be sober here for a moment. Let's say Zarquawi is dead...does anything really change? Just a new terrorist moves up into the leadership position and so on and once that guy is done a new guy emerges and so on. Till you tackle the infrastructre of an organization it really doesn't matter much.

Right now things are spiraling out of control in Iraq and I personally don't see things getting better at all or how they will get better anytime soon.

[onlooker]

Read on CNN that they doubt they got him in the attack. But I hope they did get him.

[Relentless]

Let's not get carried away...good news is being reported from Iraq daily its just a lot of bad things are happening there. I think most Americans are concerned about American soldiers that are in danger as opposed to a road or airport being reopened.

.

Nicely said.

[Senator7]

Forgive me, I wasn't trying to get carried away. I was simply upset and uneasy over the fact that a US Marine who had just gotten home from a mission was shedding tears over how treasonous the news media is. I wasn't trying to be overly political, but its not every day that you see a Marine (our country's bravest and finest) shed tears.

[tacomax]

Forgive me, I wasn't trying to get carried away. I was simply upset and uneasy over the fact that a US Marine who had just gotten home from a mission was shedding tears over how treasonous the news media is. I wasn't trying to be overly political, but its not every day that you see a Marine (our country's bravest and finest) shed tears.

Personally I was against the invasion of Iraq and have seen nothing since which has changed my viewpoint. The US/UK have tried and succeeded in making a balls-up at every available opportunity. But still my sympathy, aside from being with the Iraqi people, is with the soldiers serving out there. They are there doing their job and risking their lives everyday and, through the incompetance of the US/UK administration, seeing their efforts being derided on a daily basis.

Anyone who puts their life on the line as part of their daily work deserves the highest praise. It's just unfortunate that the political machine behind this mess is ridiculing their efforts in the eyes of the public.

[Shawn01]

But still my sympathy, aside from being with the Iraqi people, is with the soldiers serving out there. They are there doing their job and risking their lives everyday and, through the incompetance of the US/UK administration, seeing their efforts being derided on a daily basis.

Amen.

Anyone who puts their life on the line as part of their daily work deserves the highest praise. It's just unfortunate that the political machine behind this mess is ridiculing their efforts in the eyes of the public.

Amen again. Well said.

[natrass]

Forgive me, I wasn't trying to get carried away. I was simply upset and uneasy over the fact that a US Marine who had just gotten home from a mission was shedding tears over how treasonous the news media is. I wasn't trying to be overly political, but its not every day that you see a Marine (our country's bravest and finest) shed tears.

The media must always be objective ... if it causes a soldier to cry then thats not a reason to change it.

The French and German sceptism doesnt look so bonkers now.

[BuddyBear]

The media is pretty much objective.

Let's face up to some facts...things are really really bad in Iraq. I wish it was otherwise but even the administration has toned down the rhetoric about success in Iraq.

I feel really bad for these soldiers. I don't think this is what they expected at all and the lack of progress on a number of levels and immense uncertainty they expereince has to be driving them crazy. I mean think about it fellows...random road bombs that explode spontaneously and random guys who walk in with bombs strapped onto their chest is there really anything scarier than that. Now compound with the fact that they have no idea when they'll return home and you have to believe that many soldiers right now are experiencing a lot of sleepless nights.

It's getting very depressing to read on the news each day "2 US marines die in road side blast" or "bomber kills 74 civilians and 5 marines." It doesn't seem like there is nary a day there isnt' a report like this.

Politics aside, I really hope this gets resolved quickly

[Senator7]

The media must always be objective ... if it causes a soldier to cry then thats not a reason to change it.

That's the problem, they're not being objective and they haven't been objective for decades. People wonder why Fox News and the Drudge Report are so successful. Its because they're a breath of fresh air in comparison to the old media. Everybody says that Drudge and Fox are so far to the right. When everything is already so far to the left, anything in the center will appear right!

[Betman]

George Bush's attitude is typical of that of a hardcore alcoholic.

Hardcore alcoholics are constantly fighting their demons and they express that with unecessary agressiveness.

Only a hardcore alcoholic would decide to go to war on such frivolous grounds. Bush wanted a fight no matter what. He chose the weakest one, the one he knew he would win and make himself look like the tough guy in the block when he is actually the biggest moron ever to be elected president.

A president who is concerned about the safety of the american people would have gone about North Korea. But then again, North Korea is no Iraq and an armed conflict with the Koreans would have led to so many casualties Bush would have walked all the way back to his farm in Texas.

[Betman]

Now that I think about it, candidates who run for the White House should meet at least 2 requirements :

1) An I.Q. at least larger than the candidate's shoesize
2) No previous history of severe chemical dependancy.

Bush would have failed in both categories.

[natrass]

In a way I can understand George Bush ... he is what he is, just like his father who worked so hard to support a Sadam-like regime in Chile in the 70s without ever reflecting on the hyopocrisy of claiming to be a man of democracy. George Bush has argued WMD ... was wrong. he has arfued terrorist threat ... was wrong. Now all he is left with is the claim of fighting for the betterment of Iraqi civilians. Its laughable really.

But, I dont understand Blair. He just looks like a spineless idiot ... no excuses left for him.

[Senator7]

I don't imagine there's going to be too many Bush fans here, but I just want to say that I did work for the man and that he is truly a great person. I've been around a lot of politicians and I have a very high BS meter and the President was genuine and real. He always remembered my name on the campaign trail and always took the time to say hi and chat for a couple minutes on campaign stops. Laura Bush, The Cheneys, Condi Rice and Karen Hughes were very nice and cordial as well. Karl Rove, on the other hand, was a jerk. I don't agree with everything the President has done or with some of his beliefs and policies, but I do feel he was much better than the alternative.