Bush: al-Zarqawi death a 'severe blow'

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Thursday hailed the killing of al-Qaida leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi by military forces and said his death is a "severe blow" to the al-Qaida network.

"U.S. forces delivered justice to the most wanted terrorist in Iraq," the president said in the Rose Garden.

"Now Zarqawi has met his end, and this violent man will never murder again."

Americans "can be justly proud" of U.S. fighting men and women, the president said.

Zarqawi, blamed for the beheading of foreign captives and the death of hundreds in suicide bombings, was killed in a raid north of Baghdad, Iraq’s prime minister said earlier.

Bush alerted Wednesday
Bush learned of the killing Wednesday afternoon from national security adviser Stephen Hadley, who had received a phone call from Baghdad shortly before 4 p.m. ET.

"That would be a good thing," White House press secretary Tony Snow quoted Bush as saying at the time.

In his statement Thursday morning, Bush said the terrorist's death means "the ideology of terror has lost one of its most visible and aggressive leaders." But he cautioned that the war on terror lives on.

"Zarqawi is dead, but the difficult and necessary mission in Iraq continues," Bush said. "We can expect the terrorists and insurgents to carry on without him. We can expect the sectarian violence to continue."

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Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who has been under consistent fire from critics for his handling of the war in Iraq, suggested it was appropriate that al-Zarqawi died on the day that Iraqi officials announced their new defense and interior ministers.

“But,” he added, “let there be no doubt, the fact that he is dead is a significant victory in the battle against terrorism in that country, and I would say worldwide, because he had interests outside of Iraq. He was an integral part of the war on terror.”

Speaking at a news conference at a meeting of NATO defense ministers, Rumsfeld said that al-Zarqawi’s death will hurt the terrorist network, particularly since others with him were also killed.

“It will slow them down,” he said.

News that al-Zarqawi was killed comes at a time of trouble in Bush’s presidency. It is uplifting news for the president whose popularity has been weighed down by waning public confidence in his handling of the war in Iraq.

Only 40 percent of the public approves of Bush’s performance on foreign policy and the war on terror, and just 35 percent of the public approves of Bush's handling of Iraq, according to the most recent AP-Ipsos polling.

Sigh of relief
Al-Zarqawi's death allowed U.S. counterterrorism officials an initial sigh of relief at what they hailed as a significant development, but they quickly cautioned against expecting it to end terror operations or violence in Iraq.

U.S. Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told reporters there the development would not end the insurgency and an official in Washington, who requested anonymity while details of al-Zarqawi’s death were still unfolding, said it should not cause anyone to have unrealistic expectations.

The impact of Zarqawi’s death is nonetheless symbolic: The U.S. has not seen the elimination of such an iconic figure since former President Saddam Hussein was found in an underground bunker in late 2003.

“Arguably over the last several years, no single person on this planet has had the blood of more innocent men, women and children on his hands than Zarqawi,” Rumsfeld said. “He personified the dark sadistic and medieval vision of the future — of beheadings, suicide bombings and indiscriminate killings.”

Al-Zarqawi was considered the most dangerous terror plotter and foreign fighter in Iraq, coordinating a loose coalition of militants numbering at least in the hundreds. Osama bin Laden called him the “emir,” or prince, of al-Qaida in Iraq.

The U.S. government was offering up to $25 million for information leading to al-Zarqawi’s killing or capture, putting him on par with Hussein, bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.

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