WAR: al-Zarqawi may be dead again

A report has been recieved of al-Zarqawi having blown himself up when surrounded by troops.



Although this will be good news if true, I am sure they have backup leaders, and backup leaders behind the backup leaders to carry on their campaign.

[edit on 20-11-2005 by Netchicken]

hmm.

DEBKA reports, US forces and forensic experts are busy trying to identify 8 bodies (7 men and one woman) who blew themselves up Sunday, Nov. 20, after their hideout in northern Iraq was under siege by a large US force, backed by tanks and helicopters.

A sample of al-Zarqawi's DNA is in American possession for a match-up.

Let's wait.

Can't wait for updates, but the title of this thread has me in stitches!

ya, like you said..

Although this will be good news if true, I am sure they have backup leaders, and backup leaders behind the backup leaders to carry on their campaign.

Thier back up will be yet again.

al-Zarqawi

So short lived, I am sure he is part cat.. So we can hear from this guy once again 7 more times at least.

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Sorry since you are already beyond the edit time I am forced to vote no.

This is potentially good news for coallition forces and the Shiites. I hope the reports turn out to be true.

I hope he stays dead this time.

It makes sense that if he was surrounded, he'd kill himself rather than let the USA or coalition soldiers have the pleasure of killing him.

If this is true, it will also reflect positively on the president and the Iraq war by people here in the USA.

So, although I'll be glad to hear that he's no longer a threat, I'm not thrilled about support for the war increasing. And it's true that 3 will step up to take his place. Plus there's the whole martyr thing...

This could be good and bad news.

Emmanuelle Goldstein dies again. Awesome!

I can't wait for Return of the Living Dead Part 6.

It'd be nice if he was killed, but on FOX they just said it's highly unlikely that he was among the dead.

I hope he's dead.

How long will it take to match the DNA? In the US, it would be overnight, but they're in the field - and I think they would still have to locate a DNA source first.

How the heck did we get a sample of his DNA I wonder?
huh. I sure hope he's dead. But somehow, I doubt it.
That would be too good to be true. I can imagine the
Iraqis and the Jordanians having a huge party in the streets
on the news that Zarqawi has died.

How the heck did we get a sample of his DNA I wonder?

I imagine from the Jordanians, they had him in jail there for a while or they could have samples from his family.

[edit on 11/20/2005 by djohnsto77]

On the radio they are saying that his tribe in Jordan has disowned him because of the bombings and his threat to kill the president of Jordan. Having done that the report says that he looses any protection the trube would provide.

So ... did someone from the tribe rat on him? maybe the last attack just pushed them over the edge and they felt he had to be stopped.

[edit on 20-11-2005 by Netchicken]

Updates seem to indicate that it is highly unlikely it he was there, or killed if he was. Tests are being run to try to answer that.

Was he ratted out? Highly likely; he did some major PR damage in Amman.

I must ask this - can his family members contribute any clues to his DNA?

Edit to ask about DNA

[edit on 20-11-2005 by jsobecky]

I guess, I would assume, that could have just collected hair from one of his previous locations. Unless they had to take it directly from him, in which case, I got nothing.

Mitochondrial DNA. They could do a DNA match from his mother to him. It's not as accurate as if you have a sample directly from him, but it would still be good enough to identify him.

www.jpac.pacom.mil...

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is contained in the mitochondria of the cell. The mitochondria are organelles located outside the nucleus in the cytoplasm of the cell. These organelles are responsible for energy transfer and are basically the "powerhouses" of the cells. The CILHI uses this form of DNA because it preserves well in bones and many of the casualties that we are attempting to identify do not have blood samples on file (unlike the modern military). This form of DNA is in short strands and therefore does not mutate or change form very quickly - it is relatively stable and can be compared across several generations. Mitochondrial DNA is only passed along the maternal line - so if we want to compare a sample from a casualty individual we have to obtain a blood sample from the mother or any of the siblings (who would share the same sequence of mtDNA as the mother), but in terms of nieces or nephews, we could only obtain it from a sister's children (a brother's child would obtain his or her mtDNA from the mother who would not be related).

Are there any similarities between his DNA and that of his siblings that other people wouldn't have? Like a "Zarqawi molecule" that is unique?

The strands would only match a direct relative of his, through his mother. Basically, it's a bit of your mothers DNA in you. It will ONLY match your mother. It might be similar to other people, but the only match will be your mother. So by taking a blood sample from his mother, and comparing it to the mitochondrial DNA from what they think is his body, if it matches then it's him.

Mitochondrial DNA is usually used when the only samples that exist contain only that, not nuclear DNA (like hair samples without a root).

You can still do better with nuclear DNA tests against any close relative, although it's not as good as nuclear DNA tests against suspected DNA from the same person.

meh, forget it. my brain shut down in the middle of what I was trying to say. too tired to think.

[edit on 11/20/2005 by Zaphod58]