Zarqawi Suffered Before Dying

Please, people. Absolutely no glee. This man did more for the art of involuntary ad hoc head removal than anyone since Robspierre.

A mortally wounded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was still alive and mumbling after American airstrikes on his hideout and tried to get off a stretcher when he became aware of U.S. troops at the scene, a top military official said Friday.

...

Al-Zarqawi could barely speak when Iraqi police arrived at the scene of Wednesday's attack.

"He mumbled something, but it was indistinguishable and it was very short," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said at a news conference.

Other witnesses believed he said, "Baltimore Sun-- Avenge Me!"

A lot of raids since then:

Also, U.S. troops conducted 39 raids late Thursday and early Friday based on information gleaned from searches in the hours after the al-Qaida leader's death. Fearing that insurgents will seek revenge, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki imposed driving bans in Baghdad and restive Diyala province, where the terrorist was killed.

Cool fact: the word "restive" was invented solely for the purpose of screwing kids up on the SAT. In the seventeenth century, an English baron first used the neologism "restive" to mean "totally, completely, not restful or resting."

That Baron's name? Lord Joseph Bloggs.

Meanwhile, Defense Tech has a slightly hype-y but still good piece on the new technology that allows aircraft to fly in wait and then attack suddenly discovered time-sensitive targets.

posted by Ace at 12:28 PM

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