The big news of today is, of course, the announcement from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that al-Zarqawi is dead, “killed in a U.S. air raid north of Baghdad” (MSNBC). U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad described the announcement as “a huge success for Iraq and the international war on terror.” He also claimed that al-Zarqawi was the “godfather of sectarian killings and terror in Iraq”. Tony Blair echoed these sentiments saying, “This is a very important moment for Iraq. A blow against al-Qaida in Iraq is a blow against al-Qaida everywhere.” (Guardian) But is it really a “huge success”?

According to the BBC, the killing had come from intelligence passed on by Iraqi citizens: “What happened today is a result of co-operation for which we have been asking from our masses and the citizens of our country,” said PM al-Maliki. The body was identified by facial confirmation and fingerprints. (Newsday)

Unfortunately, while removing a terrorist who was responsible for the killings of innocents is unarguably a good thing, the claims of “huge success” at killing the “godfather” of Iraq’s violence are puzzling because al-Zarqawi was always made out to be more than he really was - a specific propaganda ploy by none other than the US military. In April, 2006, The Washington Post reported that Zarqawi was the focus of “a propaganda campaign” by the US military “to magnify the role of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq”. Citing a transcript of a meeting held at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., they quote “Col. Derek Harvey who served as a military intelligence officer in Iraq and then was one of the top officers handling Iraq intelligence issues on the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff” as saying:

“Our own focus on Zarqawi has enlarged his caricature, if you will — made him more important than he really is, in some ways. The long-term threat is not Zarqawi or religious extremists, but these former regime types and their friends.”

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt remarked of the program: “The Zarqawi PSYOP program is the most successful information campaign to date”.

The Washington Post also revealed that the US “home audience” was a target of the propaganda campaign, and that Dexter Filkins of the New York Times was the target of a “selective leak” the result of which was an article “about a letter supposedly written by Zarqawi and boasting of suicide attacks in Iraq, ran on the Times front page on Feb. 9, 2004.” The authenticity of the al-Zarqawi letter was never fully substantiated. al-Qaeda stated it was a forgery (Juan Cole), while others expressed scepticism at its authenticity. (Editor and Publisher)

While it’s undoubtedly good news that he’s gone - he was believed responsible for a string of terrible terrorist attacks (The Globe and Mail) - claims that the “godfather” has been killed seem to be a case of believing in their own propaganda, or just simply news-amnesia.