The big story is that the unrelenting Task Force 145 finally got their man.
ABU Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's al-Qaeda leader and the nation's most wanted man, has been killed in a US air raid north of Baghdad.
And not only him, but his "spiritual" mentor Sheik Abd-Al-Rahman. I've talked about Task Force 145 and Task Force Central before and how they have operated. According to Army Times
TF-145 is comprised of Army Delta Operators, Navy SEALs, U.S. Army Rangers, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the Air Force’s 24th Special Tactics Squadron, British Special Air Service, and British paratroopers. Left out are the myriad of intelligence assets likely assigned to TF-145. TF-145 is split up into four regional commands: West, North, South and Black.
Given their methodology, it is unlikely they will rest with this get. They now have the opportunity to roll up more of the network.
It's painstaking work, starting with the low level street runners, working through the middle managers until finally being able to pick up on the whereabout of the top guys. Now, with the information left behind by these folks, they can work back down the tree and picking up potential successors before they get a chance to take over. Bill Roggio over at the Counterterrorism blog
Task Force 145 was very likely the lynch pin in the success in killing Zarqawi and Sheik Abd-Al-Rahman, his spiritual adviser. Over the past two months, TF-145 has conducted numerous raids and killed or captured numerous high-level members of Zarqawi's organization in the area directly north and west of Baghdad. Known strikes against senior members of al-Qaeda in Iraq's organization were executed in Baghdad, Ramadi, Yusifiyah, Muthana Chemical Complex at Lake Thar Thar, Samarra, Karbala, Jublayah, and Balad. Zarqawi was finally identified and targeted in Baquba, a city with an entrenched insurgent presence. “Tips and intelligence from Iraqi senior leaders from his network led forces to al-Zarqawi and some of his associates who were conducting a meeting approximately eight kilometers north of Baqubah when the air strike was launched,” according to Multinational Forces-Iraq.
Task Force 145's operations were not random, but a concerted operation based on intelligence on al-Qaeda's organization and whereabouts in the region north and west of Baghdad. Zarqawi and al-Qaeda focused their efforts on the Iraqi capitol of Baghdad in an effort to influence the western media, incite a civil war and destabilize the nascent Iraqi government. This required moving their operational capabilities closer to the capitol.
The bad news is, the remaining top bad guys know that they have likely been compromised and will probably be running for cover in Syria and Iran and potentially all the way to Afghanistan through Iran.
But the good news is, they are always on the run and we never rest in trying to track them down. And it has to be more than a little disconcerting that they know they could be taken out at any time without warning, such is our intelligence and technological advantage.
Scared and on the run is just how we want them.
