USA Today reports that a terrorist on Saudi Arabia's most-wanted list was killed in an American attack on an al-Qaeda stronghold in northern Iraq. A message from terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi confirmed that Abdullah Mohammed Rashid al-Roshoud "got what he wished", which is to say, he died with a gun in one hand and the Qu'ran in the other:

The Web statement said Abdullah Mohammed Rashid al-Roshoud was killed in fighting near Qaim, on the border with Syria. It was signed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most notorious terrorist leader in Iraq.

The statement did not say when al-Roshoud was killed, but U.S. forces have launched a series of offensives near Qaim in past weeks against militants coming across the border. ...

"When the Crusaders could not enter the area, the only thing they could do was bombard the mujahedeen with warplanes," it said. "Our sheik (al-Roshoud) got what he wished" — martyrdom.

Al-Roshoud had been No. 24 on a list of the 26 most-wanted terrorist leaders put out by Saudi Arabia two years ago and was one of only three militants on the list still at large. He was one of the main theologians for al-Qaeda's network in Saudi Arabia, calling for a holy war against the Saudi royal family and Western interests in the Persian Gulf.

This news comes as a series of bombings by AQ ripped through Iraq, killing dozens. So far, Zarqawi has led an eight-week offensive with increasingly more effective shape-charge IEDs, although he continues to primarily target civilian and police facilities rather than military assets, where his attacks have been much less effective. Losing the leadership of Roshoud and the resources at his command will impact the ability of this network to maintain that kind of forward momentum.

So will the actions of the Americans and Iraqis in neutralizing the less senior members of the Zarqawi AQ network. Iraqi police captured 50 insurgents in and around Baghdad in their efforts to squeeze the terrorists out of the capital. It creates an intelligence opportunity that will allow the Iraqis to track down more of the leadership. American troops killed seven more after the terrorists tried attacking a patrol in western Baghdad and seized a large cache of weapons as a result.

The Iraqis are becoming a much more effective force in their own defense as time and training goes along. While we will need to stay around until they have the ability to maintain order on their own, they have made good progress and they will garner more and more support from their own people. The radical Sunni and Wahhabi dead-enders tossing the bombs, on the other hand, have left all pretense of supporting Arabs behind them, along with the 1200 or so civilian casualties they have caused during this offensive. They don't want to free Arabs from foreign domination; they want to place Arabs under the domination of terror, and the Iraqis, at least, see that clearly.

If the Zarqawi fanatics can't achieve that, they wish as Roshoud did to die at the hands of their enemies. May those wishes come true, and quickly.

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» Abdullah Mohammed Rashid al-Roshoud \"got what he wished” an died with a gun in one hand and the Qu\'ran in the other. from BlogSpy.NET
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» Top al Qaeda Leader Killed in Iraq from The Jawa Report
Another one bites the dust. And another one's gone, and another one's gone, another one bites the duest. Hey, were gonna get you too, another one bites the dust.... Word on the anti-jihadi sites is that al Qaeda in Iraq... [Read More]

Tracked on June 23, 2005 11:06 AM