al-Zarqawi Killed

Good riddance.

AP: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi killed in air raid

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq who waged a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and beheadings of hostages, has been killed in a precision airstrike, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday. It was a long-sought victory in the war in Iraq...

Full coverage on Yahoo- here.

Now onward at last to Osama?

Still not awake enough to write in detail, but here are some other blog reactions I came across this morning... AJ at AmericaBlog says "GREAT. Whatever you think about the war in Iraq, Zarqawi was a significant threat to Coalition troops and Iraqi military forces and civilians, and his death is a victory for progress and security... While the so-called al Qa'ida in Iraq was a relatively small group, it's an important success for both tactical and psychological reasons due to the disproportionate impact they had through mass casualty operations." A commenter at Huffington Post (noteworthy since most of the comments there are flamewar insults) states "The killing of al-Zarqawi is a great event for the US military, and they should be lauded for it. However, this is now the important time. Just as the toppling of Saddam left a power vacuum into which al-Zarqawi stepped into, the military and the US government cannot allow the power void of al-Zarqawi to be filled by something more sinister. This is an opportunity for a real turning point in Iraq. I just hope that the turn is not immediately eastward." What they said.

All analysis aside, much deserved praise this morning to our troops for a job well done.

UPDATE: Official responses from Pres. Bush, Sec. Rumsfeld, and other world leaders.

Spin-free blog reactions from State of the Day, TPM Cafe, Think Progress, and Juan Cole.

Finally, a interesting CNN interview with Michael Berg- whose son was murdered by Zarqawi.

UPDATE #2: Must-read column by David Corn- The Death of Zarqawi

UPDATE #3: A great analysis by The Independent (UK)- Al-Zarqawi: A life drenched in blood

[Related- US ambassador warns of Zarqawi backlash (AP)]