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U.S. Warplanes Kill al Qaeda's Top Leader in Iraq; President Bush: U.S. Military Has 'Delivered Justice'

Aired June 08, 2006 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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MAJ. GEN. BILL CALDWELL, MULTINATIONAL FORCE: Last night was the first time that we have had definitive, unquestionable information as to exactly where he was located.

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JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Dead. U.S. warplanes kill al Qaeda's top leader in Iraq.

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Joy and anguish. Iraqis celebrate the death of a hated enemy eve as more bombs shatter the streets of Baghdad.

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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now Zarqawi has met his end, and this violent man will never murder again.

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CLANCY: Good riddance. The U.S. president joining others hailing Zarqawi's death but carefully overstating its value in bringing peace to Iraq.

It is 8:00 p.m. right now in Baghdad, 12:00 noon in Washington.

I'm Jim Clancy.

GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani.

Welcome to our viewers throughout the world and the United States.

This is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CLANCY: He led a terror network in Iraq with suicide bombings, attacks, beheadings. And now he is dead.

GORANI: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike near Baquba. Here are the latest developments for you.

American military aircraft dropped two 500-pounds bombs on a hideout in a remote area. Intelligence from Iraqis inside al- Zarqawi's network pointed forces to the site, apparently. Several other people were killed, includes a spiritual adviser and a woman and a child.

CLANCY: Now, at a news conference, U.S. military commanders displayed what they said was a cleaned-up photograph of the body of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

GORANI: Members of Iraq's security forces and civilians celebrated the news on the streets of Baghdad.

CLANCY: For his part, U.S. President George W. Bush joined other world leaders hailing the killing of al-Zarqawi but cautioning the death wasn't going to bring an end to the insurgency in Iraq.

We're covering this story for you from all angles. But let's begin in Baghdad.

CNN's John Vause is there on the ground -- John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, no one here is expecting this violence to end anytime soon. We've been told the insurgency is bigger than just one man, even if that man is the most wanted man in Iraq.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

VAUSE (voice over): "Today Zarqawi was eliminated," said the Iraqi prime minister. At a room filled with reporters, mostly Iraqi, broke into cheers and applause.

There were celebrations on the streets of Baghdad as word spread that the man called "The Prince of al Qaeda" was dead.

"The announcement of the death of Zarqawi is good news for all Iraqis," said this man. "God willing, security will prevail."

But with the death of Iraq's most wanted came words of caution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Zarqawi's death will not by itself end the violence in Iraq. But it is an important step in the right direction.

VAUSE: A bloody reminder of that violence came hours earlier. A roadside bomb left at least a dozen dead at a market in Baghdad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lead aircraft is going to engage it here momentarily.

VAUSE: And the U.S. military said this was the airstrike which killed Zarqawi and five others, two 500-pound precision bombs dropped by F-16s. According to the military, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was meeting at a safe house near these homes north of Baghdad. They, too, appear to have been destroyed by the strike. Iraqi police were the first on the scene.

U.S. Intelligence had been tracking Zarqawi's spiritual adviser heading to a meeting of senior leaders. CALDWELL: We had absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Zarqawi was in the house. There was 100 percent confirmation. We knew exactly who was there. We knew it was Zarqawi. And that was the deliberate target that we went to get.

VAUSE: Vital clues before the strike, according to Iraq's foreign minister, came from this video released by Zarqawi in April, as well as from one of his officials arrested last month by Jordanian authorities. His identity was confirmed by fingerprints, scars, and tattoos. A DNA test is also being done.

"This is a message to all those who are using violence and killing and destruction to stop and to think twice before it's too late," warned the Iraqi prime minister.

The self-proclaimed leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq was responsible for some of the most brutal attacks over the past three years, blowing up Shiite mosques, car bombings, kidnappings, and beheadings. His reach stretched beyond Iraq to his native Jordan, Morocco, and Turkey.

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VAUSE: And with his death, attention now turns to who will take his place. U.S. and Iraqi officials already have a name, Abu al- Masari (ph), another name and another target -- Jim.

CLANCY: It would seem there are a lot of targets. Seventeen different locations were raided based on information gathered in the run-up to this operation that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. How valuable are the things coming in on the intelligence front?

VAUSE: Well, what we are hearing from the U.S. military here in Baghdad, the information which they gathered from the site of Zarqawi's home was described as a treasure trove of information and intelligence. In fact, what we understand is that those Baghdad raids were 17 simultaneous raids which were the result of intelligence gathered from this one house just north of Baghdad near the city of Baquba -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. John Vause reporting live from Baghdad.

Thanks, John.

GORANI: Now, the U.S. defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, says that al-Zarqawi personified evil and his death marks a victory in the world's fight against terrorism. Rumsfeld spoke -- spoke from Brussels where he's attending a meeting of NATO defense ministers.

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DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I think arguably over the last several years no single person on this planet has had the blood of more innocent men, women and children on his hands than Zarqawi. He personified the dark, sadistic and medieval vision of the future of beheadings and suicide bombings and indiscriminate killings.

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GORANI: Well, for more on the operation that led to the killing of Iraq's most wanted terrorist and coalition raids in Baghdad after the air assault we go now live to the Pentagon, and our correspondent, Barbara Starr, there.

More now, first, Barbara, on what led to the bombing that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Authorities are not revealing intelligence or precisely what tips led to this, but do we have any sense of what directed them at least to where they ended up dropping those bombs?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hala, the best information we have is that information was developed over the last six weeks or so from a variety of sources, and initially it was information about this spiritual adviser, Sheik Abu al-Rahman (ph), that they believe Zarqawi was meeting with at various points along the way.

So they started to develop this information over the last many weeks, and they were looking for points at which the two men might come together and might meet. They apparently had some very, very fresh intelligence yesterday that they would be at this house in Baquba, and they called in an airstrike, we are told, because they didn't want to go in with just ground forces. They were afraid Zarqawi would escape yet again.

So two F-16s dropping two 500-pound bombs. Nonetheless, there were Special Forces on the ground keeping an eye on the target, we are told. But already they have moved along to the next step.

What we have heard from Baghdad, of course, as John Vause was referring to, 17 raids conducted of places that they had been keeping their eye on. but now that they have Zarqawi, locations they moved in on very rapidly.

Listen to the military spokesman for a moment.

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CALDWELL: And in those 17 raids last night, a tremendous amount of information and intelligence was collected and is presently being exploited and utilized for further use. I mean, it was a treasure trove. No question. And we had identified other targets we had previously not gone after to allow us to continue staying focused on getting Zarqawi, but now that we have got him, it allows us now to go after all these other targets we have been using in order to establish his movements, his patterns, his habits, and where we could find him, like we did last night.

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STARR: And Hala, they have, indeed, as John referred to, already begun to identify who they think Zarqawi may have designated to be his successor in the event of his death. They are looking for an Egyptian Arab man named al-Masari. He is said to have been in Iraq for the last couple of years, involved in establishing that al Qaeda cell in Iraq, and is involved in attacks, involved in IEDs. And so already the hunt is on for him -- Hala.

GORANI: All right. Al Qaeda in Iraq clearly must have had a contingency plan. I'm going to ask you a question that perhaps is not that easy to answer, that we might not have the information to answer at this point, but is the sense at the Pentagon that what might have led to a tip that directed forces to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi came from a Sunni from inside the al Qaeda network, that, in effect, that network is splitting somehow?

STARR: Well, you know, that is exactly what they said in the press release they issued many hours ago now, that tips and intelligence from senior Iraqi leaders inside Zarqawi's network contributed to getting him in the final end game, if you will. That's pretty significant, Hala, because what of course it indicates to all of us is that Zarqawi no longer had the foreign fighter network, the people, the fighters he came to Iraq with from outside the country, Syria and other places.

Those people, the foreign fighter network, had been very badly decimated. Many, many people being either captured or killed. And we have been told over recent weeks and months Zarqawi was increasingly relying on Iraqis for his security circle. Perhaps in the end they were less loyal to him than he thought -- Hala.

GORANI: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. A couple of things are coming in right now.

We want to show you one thing. Take a look at -- this is an overall view of the area where this attack was carried out.

This is Google Earth. Take a look. We're going to zero down on this safe house, get in as close as we can. This is where the bomb strike occurred.

Now, if we can, let's go to the Department of Defense video. Show the videotape of the bomb strike itself.

We've seen this location outside Baquba, about 60 kilometers north of Baghdad. Now this is the bomb site video. And there you see the first of two 500-pound bombs striking the target.

President George W. Bush says what really happened there was that the U.S. military delivered justice, in his words, to a violent man who will never murder again. He says the killing could help turn the tide against that foreign insurgency.

Elaine Quijano joins us now with more reaction from the White House -- Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Jim.

President Bush walked a fine line today between congratulating American forces and also cautioning the American people that there is still a difficult road ahead in Iraq. In an early morning appearance in the Rose Garden, the president said the death of Abu Musab al- Zarqawi was a remarkable achievement. He said he spoke to Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, this morning, congratulating him on the close collaboration between coalition and Iraqi forces. But the president was also careful to say that Zarqawi's death is not expected to end the violence.

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BUSH: We can expect the terrorists and insurgents to carry on without him. We can expect the sectarian violence to continue. Yet, the ideology of terror has lost one of its most visible and aggressive leaders.

Zarqawi's death is a severe blow to al Qaeda. It's a victory in the global war on terror, and it is an opportunity for Iraq's new government to turn the tide of this struggle.

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QUIJANO: Now, as for how all of this unfolded from the White House perspective, we understand that President Bush was informed on Wednesday afternoon that the United States believed Abu Musab al- Zarqawi had been killed in Iraq.

He in fact had just finished meeting with a group of United States lawmakers to discuss Iraq. And at the time, when he was told about that possibility, the president's response was that it would be a "good thing."

Now, then late last night, he received word from his national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, that Zarqawi's identity had, in fact, been confirmed. And then early this morning he spoke to the Iraqi prime minister before heading out into the Rose Garden to discuss the development -- Jim.

CLANCY: Elaine Quijano reporting to us there live from the White House.

Thanks, Elaine.

GORANI: The British prime minister, Tony Blair, says al-Zarqawi was the most vicious prosecutor of a brutal campaign to stifle democracy in Iraq. But he says almost every major nation has also felt what he calls al-Zarqawi's outreach of evil.

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TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The death of al-Zarqawi is a strike against al Qaeda in Iraq and, therefore, a strike against al Qaeda everywhere. But we should have no illusions. We know that they will continue to kill. We know there are many, many obstacles to overcome. But they also know that our determination to defeat them is total.

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CLANCY: Now, we have heard a whole gamut of emotions expressed in the Arab world, outside the Arab world, inside Iraq. And you have heard the name Abu Musab al-Zarqawi over and over again.

GORANI: And today we want to ask you about what impact you think the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi will have in Iraq.

The question is...

CLANCY: Well, that's it, what effect do you think Zarqawi's death will have on the war?

Send us your responses. E-mail them to YWT@CNN.com.

GORANI: CNN's breaking coverage of al-Zarqawi's death continues.

CLANCY: Up next, right after a short break, the aftermath of today's announcement. We'll take a look back at the many faces and the many atrocities that paralleled his climb to notoriety.

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. More reaction now to the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, this time from New York and New York's police commissioner, Ray Kelly, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Listen.

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MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), NEW YORK CITY: We've stayed at level orange ever since 9/11. The police department, as you know, has police officers around the world. We have contacts with all different intelligence agencies.

I'd let the commissioner speak. We don't announce what our plans are.

I don't think you should worry about are you safer today than you were yesterday or are you more in danger. The world probably is better off without this person, but there are plenty of other people that we have to bring to justice. And I know that we all hope that we do that without any more loss of life of our troops.

We have young men and women who are overseas risking their lives and, sadly, you read about them giving their lives so that we can be here and we can be safe in our homes, and we can practice our religion.

Commissioner, do you want to add anything?

RAY KELLY, NYPD COMMISSIONER: You know, we have obviously listening posts, as the mayor said, in other parts of the world. We have them I think appropriately placed in this area. We work closely with federal agencies. We have no information at this will generate any sort of retaliatory act.

QUESTION: Commissioner, do you -- does the department do anything differently now with what you've learned about Zarqawi as you get this information?

KELLEY: Well, as the mayor said, we have -- we're at a higher alert level than the rest of the country. We've been that way since 9/11. I think we're doing everything that's appropriate to protect the city. And again, we have no specific information about any increased threat as a result of the demise of Zarqawi.

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WHITFIELD: Just to touch a little bit on what Ray Kelly was saying, CNN has reported over months and years now that the New York police force does have teams of people positioned throughout the Middle East to help protect America's largest city from abroad.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. More of YOUR WORLD TODAY right after this.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Iraq was where Zarqawi made a name for himself. In less than a year, murdering his way to be one of the most wanted terror suspects in the world linked to Osama bin Laden.

JONATHAN STEVENSON, TERRORISM ANALYST: Zarqawi has emerged as a player, a global player in the al Qaeda network, having recently been formally in a way anointed as bin Laden's protege in Iraq.

ROBERTSON: In a letter said to be from Zarqawi to bin Laden, intercepted by U.S. forces in Iraq, Zarqawi promised his support if bin Laden approved his plans for starting a civil war in Iraq.

He claimed to be the man in the mask. Minutes later, in this rare video, beheading Nick Berg. He also claimed to be the mastermind behind even bloodier attacks like this one, killing dozens of Shia Muslims in their holy city, Karbala. As the death toll at the hands of his Sunni Muslim suicide bombers grew, his group changed their name from al-Tawhid wal Jihad to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the ancient name for Iraq.

But the chilling resume of this 38-year-old Jordanian began long before the war in Iraq. Wanted for the 2002 murder of U.S. diplomat Lawrence Foley in Jordan, linked to chemical weapons plots in Europe.

M. J. GOHEL, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION: Al-Zarqawi has been connected to virtually all the dangerous cells which have been operating in Europe, the (INAUDIBLE) cell in the U.K., the cell in Germany, also in Italy.

ROBERTSON: Even before the war in Iraq, however, Zarqawi had been singled out by the Bush administration as a link between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's regime.

COLIN POWELL, FMR. SECRETARY OF STATE: We know of Zarqawi's activities in Baghdad. ROBERTSON: The U.S. put a reward on Zarqawi's head and was on his trail, and had increased the reward to $25 million. Although they once thought they came close to catching him, a massive offensive and a suspected stronghold of Falluja failed to net him.

In that letter to bin Laden, Zarqawi recognized he was a wanted man. "The future has become frightening," he wrote. "Eyes are everywhere." Eyes that finally found Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

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CLANCY: Reaction to the death from around the world has been swift.

GORANI: Still to come, the response from the United States, including word from some of President Bush's biggest critics in Congress.

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SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: I hope this has a catalytic impact on the violence, but I predict to you that two weeks from now you're going to be showing people being ripped off of buses and beheaded, still.

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GORANI: While many people around the world say they're relieved by the news about Iraq's most wanted terrorist, the father of a U.S. contractor beheaded purportedly by al-Zarqawi himself says he doesn't see any good coming from the militant's death. Michael Berg says it's likely to fuel resentment among al Qaeda members who feel that they have nothing left to lose.

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MICHAEL BERG, NICOLAS BERG'S FATHER: To me, it's a sad day whenever any human being is killed. In Zarqawi's case, it's doubly sad, because not only is he a human being who has parents, who will now go through what I went through, but he's also a political figure. And as such, his death will reignite the resistance in Iraq and it will also possibly reignite the resistance throughout the world.

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GORANI: Well, Michael Berg's son, Nicolas, Nick Berg, was only 26 years old when he was kidnapped and killed in 2004. Michael Berg says he doesn't believe that the videotape of his son's execution -- this is the beginning of that tape there -- is authentic, and he dismissed the idea that al-Zarqawi's death might bring him closure.

CLANCY: U.S. lawmakers are hailing the news. The U.S. has not seen the elimination of such an iconic figure since former president Saddam Hussein was found in an underground bunker. That was in 2003.

CNN's Candy Crowley has more now on how the news could play out with the American public.

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CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: If you compare it, say, to Saddam Hussein's capture, when he was captured, it was, what, not quite a year into the war. And it was a big moment for the president, and there was an upswing in the polls. He was still doing pretty well in the polls at that point. The war had not worn on as it has.

And so there won't be that kind of boost, because Americans are used to hearing, well, they had an election in Iraq, and that's progress. And the next day something would blow up, and more Iraqis would be killed, and more U.S. military personnel would be killed.

So not only the president, but the American public has learned to be very cautious. So I suspect that, you know, obviously this doesn't hurt him. Perhaps he gets a little bump in public approval of how he's conducting the war, but I don't expect anything massive, because over three years Americans have grown considerably cautious about what to expect out of this war.

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GORANI: The death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi comes when U.S. public support for the war in Iraq is at an all-time low. A short time ago we spoke with U.S. House Democrat John Murtha. Well, the congressman is a former U.S. Marine who has been calling for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, but even he says this was a good thing.

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REP. JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Well, I think it's very significant. I think there's two things that happened.

One, is Zarqawi's elimination is a positive step, but also the fact that they have appointed a defense minister and an interior minister. And the fact that this information came from the security forces, if it's as reported, and came to the U.S., and the U.S. was able to coordinate with them and react to it.

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GORANI: Congressman John Murtha there as our breaking news continues.

Jim, we'll have much more on the death of Zarqawi.

CLANCY: Up next, we're going to be speaking with two of CNN's own reporters, both of whom covered his violent rise to notoriety in Iraq.

This is CNN. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: To our viewers in the United States and all around the globe, welcome back. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Jim Clancy.

GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani. And we are continuing our coverage of the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and recapping our top story, bringing you up to date. The killing of the leading al Qaeda figure in Iraq.

CLANCY: Now, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and several other people were killed, including one woman and one child that we know of. The U.S. sent war planes that bombed an isolated hideout near Baquba, north of Baghdad. Officials say intelligence that they got from Iraqis inside al-Zarqawi's network led them to this site.

GORANI: U.S. officials released a photo of the dead al-Zarqawi's face. You see it there. They had been tracking his spiritual adviser and learned he would be attending a meeting with the insurgent leader.

Let's get more on the operation and the future of the insurgency in Iraq, as well as the political developments. We have our reporters standing by. Our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, she's in London. Aneesh Raman also joins us from Boston.

Christiane, I'm going to start with you. And the question on everyone's mind right now is, if you cut the head off of the beast, if you will, what happens? Does the insurgency lose steam in a country like Iraq?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, precisely. You said in a country like Iraq, and that is the definition here, because the short answer is no. If you cut this head off, all the people who have talked about it today, all the leaders, political and military, who have made the announcement of his death, have said very carefully don't think that this is the end of this insurgency.

It's an important step. It's a major psychological blow. It potentially is operationally -- will have some consequences, perhaps in the short term. But it's generally assumed that there are layers of these organizations. It's generally assumed that the leadership knows that it is wanted and hunted and potentially could be killed on any given day. And, therefore, there are people, it's assumed, to step into the breach. Certainly that is what we've seen up until now.

Obviously, no such senior figure in the Iraqi insurgency has been killed to date. But there have been numerous claims by both Iraqi and U.S. commanders over the last several years that important leaders and important actors in these insurgencies have been killed. And yet, it has made, so far, no dent in the ability of the insurgency to continue apace.

In fact, according to the United States commanders on the ground, each time they think they're making headway against certain insurgent groups, they say that these insurgent groups are infinitely adaptable, very canny, very cunning, and have been able to come back.

GORANI: And why is that, then, Christiane, that the nature of this insurgency is specific in some ways to a country, as you said, like Iraq? What makes it adaptable? What makes it able to rise when some of its leaders are taken out?

AMANPOUR: Well, I think the first thing is that when we ask commanders on the ground -- for instance, many times, I've asked the top U.S. military commanders, you know, how long is this going to take? If you do X, will it mean that the insurgency is over? If you get the Y, will it mean that it's over? And they have responded that, no, the arrest or killing of one person is not going to end the insurgency. They've said that, in general, insurgencies of this kind can take a dozen years to extinguish. You know, in various degrees of virulence, obviously.

But they know they're in this for the long haul. I think what they hope is to gradually penetrate the civilian environment that supports them or the environment of people and supporters to try to penetrate that. In this case, if it is true that it's Iraqis inside the Zarqawi network who tipped them off, then that's important, because that's the objective of a counter insurgency, to deny the insurgents what they crave and they need most. And this is support from the environment, from the civilians, from the people around them. That's what they depend on.

GORANI: Let's bring in Aneesh Raman in Boston. Aneesh, you followed the political developments in Iraq, and today perhaps -- perhaps as significantly as the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- we have the appointment of two key security posts in the Maliki government. How might that impact the insurgency? We have Abu Musab al-Zarqawi gone, but we also have two key security posts filled.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT: Well, you have the two security issues being dealt with today. The insurgency, clearly Zarqawi was the only known face, really the only known face, of the Iraq's insurgency. As Christiane mentioned, his death deals a significant blow psychologically to the insurgency.

But in the announcement today, and you see the Iraqi prime minister there with the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, of an interior minister, that deals with the other complicating factor in the violence in Iraq, which are Shia militias, those that have allegedly infiltrated the interior ministry under the previous minister, Bayan Jabor (ph), who was widely linked to one of the country's largest Shia militias. So incumbent on the new Shia interior minister will be to cleanse that ministry of any Shia militia influence and to create a security force that sees itself as Iraqi before it sees itself as Shia, Sunni, and Kurds that are coming together and could easily dissipate and go on their own ethnic divide and fault lines.

So significant day, perhaps. It will be incumbent upon the Iraqi politicians as to whether this will be, down the road, a day we'll look back on as perhaps a turning point. And the reason is that they have lost momentum in the past year. And I have seen confidence between the Iraqi people and the politicians erode quite dramatically every election, because Iraqis really are just waiting for the basics to be delivered upon, and the first and foremost of that is security.

So today Iraq's prime minister, as a tangible result in the death of Zarqawi, and has the possibility with the new interior minister to rebrand that ministry. But it will be up to the politicians to seize on this moment. And if they fail, another moment like this could not come again -- Hala.

GORANI: All right. Both a military and a political development in Iraq. Our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour in London, and Aneesh Raman in Boston. Thank you very much -- Jim.

CLANCY: Well, everybody was looking everywhere to see some kind of a reaction to this. And certainly, we saw a lot of caution. But for instance, if you look on Wall Street, certainly not concerned about the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Stocks today, you might think they could be up? No. They're down more than a percent, more than 100 points right now, at least the bellwether Dow 30.

Also, oil prices, though, did fall back. There were cheers from some Iraqis to the news. It was cautious optimism, as we've heard, from President Bush and other world leaders. And, yes, words of relief from some of the survivors.

The killing of al-Zarqawi has prompted a wide array of reactions. Paula Newton gives us a view of that from one end of the spectrum clear to the other.

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PAUL NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Iraq, some celebrating, but elsewhere, the reaction was more sobering.

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The death of al-Zarqawi is a strike against al Qaeda in Iraq. And, therefore, a strike against al Qaeda everywhere. But we should have no illusions. We know that they will continue to kill. We know there are many, many obstacles to overcome. But they also know that our determination to defeat them is total.

NEWTON: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said al-Zarqawi's death is a relief for most Iraqis, but he was also cautious.

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: Of course, we cannot pretend that that will mean the end of the violence, but it is a relief that such a heinous and dangerous man, who was caused so much harm to the Iraqis, is no longer around to continue his work.

NEWTON: Al Qaeda glorified al-Zarqawi's death on a Web site saying his martyrdom was an honor.

In Jordan, King Abdullah met with the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to discuss Middle East peace. And although al Zarqawi's death was not mentioned, U.S. officials confirm Jordanian intelligence was crucial in targeting al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian himself who has used savage attacks as his currency in Iraq.

Al-Zarqawi is suspected of having personally beheaded Ken Bigley, a British hostage in 2004.

PAUL BIGLEY, KEN BIGLEY'S BROTHER: Not being a violent or a vindictive person, but the man is -- was an animal, and he deserved what he got. And may he rot in hell.

NEWTON: Few believe the death of one man will have much impact on the day-to-day killing spree still unfolding on the streets of Iraq. Today, a market bombing killed at least 13.

ZAKI CHEHAB, AUTHOR: I don't really rule out that an extensive campaign of car bombs will take place in Iraq in the coming few days to prove to the Iraqis Zarqawi is dead. But we're still functioning.

NEWTON: Al-Zarqawi was a polarizing figure in Iraq. He thrived on the mayhem of the insurgency.

MICHAEL WILLIAMS, MILITARY ANALYST: Zarqawi makes a difference in the sense that he was a very public figurehead, and he had very specific ideas about how to manipulate the media, the Internet to get his message across, and he's a very charismatic figure in this regard, and he was at odds with some other leaders in al Qaeda in terms of his goals and his objectives. So he make a difference in that regard.

NEWTON: Those older leaders include Osama bin Laden, and there seems little hope al-Zarqawi's death will have much impact on him or the thousands of al Qaeda-inspired freelance terrorists who continue to run a franchise of terror in many parts of the world.

Paula Newton, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: All right. Now, we are going to continue the coverage of the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, of course.

CLANCY: Including a look at how officials in the Pentagon and special forces in Iraq managed to get their man. A live report from Washington straight ahead.

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CLANCY: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY. We're glad to have with us right now for a little analysis. James Astill. He's a the defense and terrorism correspondent for the "Economist" news magazine. He's coming to us from London.

James, when you look at the situation. We have heard everyone downplaying it, reminding us, this doesn't mean the end of the insurgency. While all of that is true, this is indeed a major achievement, isn't it?

JAMES ASTILL, "THE ECONOMIST": It's a great achievement. It's hopeful and -- for the Iraqis that have suffered from Zarqawi's viciousness. It's extremely positive for American forces who have been very unsuccessful in hunting down top terrorists in the last few years. And it's not, as you say, going to end the war in Iraq. Zarqawi didn't control very much of the insurgency, but it may change the insurgency in ways that are still quite hard to predict.

CLANCY: Quite hard to predict. You know, they were talking a little bit earlier, as we heard the U.S. military, General Caldwell there, speaking from the Pentagon -- or speaking from Baghdad, I should say, in describing how they carried out 17 simultaneous raids. Probably more raids going on right now as a result of the intelligence information gathered up in the process of going after Zarqawi.

ASTILL: Yes. As I say, it's excellent news, but the nature of the terror cells in Iraq makes them -- makes individual replaceable. Zarqawi was a very charismatic figure. He was extremely successful in co-opting the al Qaeda brand, taking out the franchise in Iraq, if you like, and -- but terrorists operate in Iraq because there's a steady supply of young, Jihadi-minded Arabs who want to go to fight in that country. Zarqawi was not the reason why al Qaeda is fighting in Iraq.

CLANCY: Well, and at the same time, I think we have to be -- and let me ask you what your numbers are. We've heard it said today that he only represented about 10 percent of the fight that we were witnessing in Iraq; 90 percent of it being carried out by homegrown Iraqis, former military men, people opposed to any U.S. presence, any British presence in Iraq.

ASTILL: Well, I mean that sounds like quite a reasonable guess, but guesses is all it is. It's worth...

CLANCY: We don't know.

ASTILL: We know very, very little about the mechanics of the insurgency, and that's really why it's been so difficult to fight for these past few years.

CLANCY: What kind of an effect do you think it has overall on the image of al Qaeda?

ASTILL: I'm sorry, Jim, the image?

CLANCY: On the image of al Qaeda, because I think there are a lot of people that look at al Qaeda, and they say this outfit is almost invincible. Look.

ASTILL: Well, it's excellent. It shows that there isn't total impunity. It's not the same symbolic success that catching Osama bin Laden, for example, would be, but it's extremely important. It's a great achievement. And it depends what your focus is. If your focus is hunting down a few very famous terrorists, then, yes, it couldn't really be much better. If your focus is on ending the war in Iraq and healing that country, well, it may not be all that significant. We've yet to see.

CLANCY: All right, James Astil saying there very clearly, he's not out of business. He's the defense and terrorist correspondent for "The Economist." Thank you. GORANI: U.S. military officials say U.S. special forces had been tracking Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's spiritual adviser. They developed intelligence that both men would attend a meeting at a hideout, and that's what lead to the airstrike. David Ensor joins us now live from Washington with more on what we know about this operation -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, counter-terrorism intelligence officials say that U.S. officials developed a working theory, that this cleric, Abdel-Rahman, that if they could find and pursue him, that might lead them to Zarqawi. This was six weeks ago. They found him, and by various methods I am told, ranging probably from signals intelligence, interceptions, in other words, to human intelligence, information from captured persons close to Zarqawi, to various other types of intelligence gathering, including visual from the top down, they managed to follow this man, and in the end it all came together.

Now, U.S. intelligence and the military have raided 17 locations since killing Zarqawi,, and they are doing what they can to wrap up as much as possible of al Qaeda in Iraq. Now, they're realistic. They understand there will be a new leader of the group. It's not probably going to go all together away, but U.S. intelligence officials say that while it's true you can always replace him, there will be another leader, leadership does matter. And generally speaking, when one of these sort of charismatic and very competent leaders is killed, whoever replaces him is not as good. So they are regarding this as a very important victory -- Hala.

GORANI: What about those raids, 17 simultaneous raids? We're hearing expressions like treasure trove. Typically when you find that type of intelligence in raids, in the form probably of computers or the like, I mean we're not exactly sure, but typically how does it help?

ENSOR: Well, it may be in the form of human beings, who have knowledge in their heads that can be extracted from them through interrogation. It can save lives very quickly if they can stop operations that are in planning stages.

Now, officials do stress that Zarqawi worked through a series of regional subcommanders, emirs, al Qaeda emirs around different parts of Iraq, and there may be operations in the planning stages that will be coming off in the next few days. So they may not be able to stop terrorism that has already gotten to the point where it's about to happen, but they're looking to the medium and long term. And they're hoping that this very -- not just killing Zarqawi, but going after all these other people as well, will lead to the serious dip in the kind of mass-scale terrorism that we've seen for so many bloody months -- Hala.

GORANI: That is the hope. David Ensor live in Washington, thank you very much. Time for a short break.

CLANCY: All right, we're going to take that break. When we come back, we'll see what the loss of Iraq's top terrorist could mean for the insurgency. We'll be talking to Iraq's ambassador to the United States.

Stay with us.

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CLANCY: All right. Returning to our top story of the day now, the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a U.S. military airstrike near Baquba, Iraq, north of the capital.

Joining us is with his perspective is Samir Sumaidaie. He is Iraq's ambassador to the United States. Mr. Ambassador, hello and welcome to you.

SAMIR SUMAIDAIE, IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Thank you.

CLANCY: Who was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi for the Iraqi people?

SUMAIDAIE: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was a monster for most Iraqi people. He represented hate. He represented violence. He represented brutality. You know, love usually inspires love, and hate inspires hate, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was inspiring hate and death, and he was particularly harmful because he promoted sectarian hatred.

In Iraq, which has lived for many centuries Sunnis and Shias living in the same neighborhoods and intermarrying, this kind of -- this kind of message was particularly destructive, so we are all happy that he's out of the way.

CLANCY: Mr. Ambassador, do you think that he succeeded in fomenting civil war in Iraq, that it's too late now to turn that back?

SUMAIDAIE: I don't believe so. I think he failed. He failed spectacularly. In his attack on Samarra, he came close to some degree of success, but I believe the overwhelming majority of Iraqi people have shown no inclination towards civil strife and sectarian strife.

There are some extremist elements have continued and continue to this day to act violently against other communities, but I think by and large, Zarqawi has failed, and today that we all know that Zarqawi is out of the way, this sends a very good, positive message to both communities that this line of work is and should never be continued.

CLANCY: When everyone on this day is reflecting on Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, the path of death and destruction that he painted across Iraq, what do the leaders of the respective communities need to do? The communities that have been divided by some of what has happened in Iraq, what do they have to do to stand up today to help heal some of the wounds?

SUMAIDAIE: Well, they have to demonstrate through vigilance that we are all living together. We are all in one boat. The acts of extremists on either side damage all of us. Vigilance and cooperation with the security forces is the way out.

Supporting this new government, which is elected after all, and includes everybody is the right way forward, and we are now -- we must be focused on healing the wounds and building -- rebuilding our country and rebuilding confidence between everybody.

CLANCY: Who needs to lead that call? Who needs to stand up?

SUMAIDAIE: Well, we have an elected government in place. We have a president who has acted as a father-figure for the whole nation. We have a prime minister who has declared himself very clearly on policies which are right, which are in the right direction.

We have a cabinet now which is complete. We need to support them and not only in Iraq. The whole international community should rally to the support of this government and help it to get rid of the challenge of terrorism and violence.

CLANCY: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has shot his way, bombed his way, and beheaded his way into Iraqi history books, but how will this movement, this man, be remembered?

SUMAIDAIE: Well, he will be remembered in the same way as Hitler and Pol Pot and some of the more violent -- and no doubt Saddam after his demise, by the fact that he embodied evil. He embodied violence.

CLANCY: All right.

SUMAIDAIE: And he embodied anti-human sentiments.

CLANCY: All right. Mr. Ambassador, I want to thank you very much for being with us. Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq's ambassador for the U.S.

That's our report for now. I'm Jim Clancy.

GORANI: "LIVE FROM" is up next for our viewers in the United States.

CLANCY: For our viewers elsewhere, another hour of YOUR WORLD TODAY straight ahead.

GORANI: Stay with us.

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