Zarqawi Killing and Intelligence

Scripps Howard columnist Jay Ambrose recently participated in FDD's Academic Fellowship, which included a visit to Israel to study how democracies can defend against terrorism.  He found some important parallels between Israel's experience and the hunt for Zarqawi in Iraq:

One of the most important things about the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is that the dropping of the bombs that shattered his lungs was made possible by intelligence operations that disclosed what Zarqawi and friends most wanted to be kept secret, his whereabouts.

That fact likely means U.S. and Iraqi military intelligence _ an absolutely crucial weapon in the fight against the terrorists _ is getting better and that the improved capacities will help in the killing or capture of still more terrorist leaders and their followers. The cause of a safe, sane, stable Iraq could thereby be furthered.

The vital role of intelligence in thwarting terrorist attacks was emphatically brought home to me during a 10-day visit to Israel as a fellow of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Lecture sessions and field trips underlined the obvious truth that traditional means of combat are largely useless against the sort of warfare summed up by suicide bombers in civilian dress whose chief targets are innocent men, women and children.

The rest of his column is here.

Comments

[Mark Eichenlaub]

Zarqawi's recovered documents have also shown that he was admitting defeat to the USA in Iraq. Pretty big news.