No Thought Given To Taking Zarqawi Alive
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Courtesy Of: ABC News
Brian Ross Reporting
June 08, 2006

U.S. military officials gave no thought to capturing Abu Musab al-Zarqawi alive, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad tells ABC News.

Khalilzad says he was informed yesterday by General George Casey that the military was getting close to al-Zarqawi and there was no plan to move in troops for a possible capture.

"That was not brought up," he said "The only means that could be applied in a timely fashion was the attack by air power and that was decided by General Casey as the right thing to do."

U.S. Jet fighters dropped two 500 pound bombs on a house in a field about five miles North of Baqubah.

The strike took place at 6:15 P.M. Baghdad time, 10:15 A.M. in Washington, D.C.

Initial reports that al-Zarqawi had survived the attack, with severe injuries, were later denied by U.S. officials. They said al-Zarqawi was killed outright in the bombing.


My Observations:
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1. General Casey gave Ambassador Khalilzad several hours notice, which means that they did have time to deploy troops to capture Zarqawi. Especially, when The United States had Marines, along with Iraqi troops, operating against the insurgents around Baqubah.

2. Before Zarqawi's demise, it was already General casey's intention not to capture him alive, or he would have made provisions for that scenario.

3. In the opening minutes of the invasion of Iraq, The United States military received "actionable intelligence" regarding Saddam's whereabouts, and immediately launched a missile barrage in an attempt to decapitate him.

4. In Zarqawi's case, the U.S. had intelligence that was at least several hours old regarding Zarqawi's whereabouts. Therefore, it seems that they did have the opportunity to deploy troops to capture him alive.

5. When the United States received "actionable intelligence" on short notice regarding the whereabouts of Saddam (after the U.S. occupied Iraq, and Saddam was on the run), they immediately sent a Task Force to an area around Tikrit and captured Saddam alive.

6. Zarqawi is supposedly an extremely high value target, a "terror mastermind." It should have been obvious to the U.S. military that it would have been more desirable to capture him alive, and milk this alleged treasure-trove for information regarding "Al Qaida/Iraq," and his links to Osama Bin laden.

7. Zarqawi's face looks in excellent condition, for a person that Just had two 500 pound bombs dropped on him, with the ensuing bombs shock wave and high tempurature from the blast, not to mention a building collapsing on him.

Source:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/06/no_thought_give.html