Word: zarqawi
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...allies' most dramatic victory in Iraq since Saddam Hussein was captured in December 2003. He didn't allow himself a public grin until half an hour later, at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast. While Washington slept, Iraqis had announced that an American air strike had killed Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, who competed only with Osama bin Laden for the title of world's most wanted terrorist. Speaking live for six minutes on the network morning shows, the President said coalition and Iraqi forces had "persevered through years of near misses and false leads, and they never gave up." The congratulations...
...Zarqawi is dead," President Bush said this morning, "but the difficult and necessary mission in Iraq continues. We can expect the terrorists and insurgents to carry on without him. We can expect the sectarian violence to continue. Yet the ideology of terror has lost one of its most visible and aggressive leaders." The President could afford to be muted because the magnitude of the victory was obvious. "We thought we were never going to catch a break," said a relieved Presidential adviser...
...President had learned of it 11 hours earlier, in an Oval Office meeting with a few top aides. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told Bush that "there had been a strike in Baquba and they thought that they had gotten al-Zarqawi." Snow said the President responded with understatement: "That would be a good thing." Bush appeared relieved and pleased, and was more inquisitive than jubilant, Snow reported...
...Later, Snow used a televised briefing to walk a cautious line of taking credit while preparing the public for future trials. "We saw scenes of celebration in Iraq. Does this mean that happy days are here again? Of course not," he said. But Snow suggested that Zarqawi's death was "a blow to the morale of the other side" and might send a helpful message within Iraq. "We have been crushing the opposition," he said, "but what happens is, the opposition's been controlling the airwaves with scattered, fragmentary acts of violence. In this...
...Iraq and achieve our shared goal of an Iraq that can govern itself, defend itself and sustain itself." Since last July 4, Bush has been saying that "as the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down." The President's aides hope that the 500-pound bombs dropped on Zarqawi have increased the chance that he might finally be able to carry out that pledge...