After U.S. officials bulldozed the site of Zarqawi's death, there is no longer much to be found there - other than questions - observes a story in today's New York Times.
Some of us are still trying to figure out how come Zarqawi's face looks so nice and intact after two 500 pound bombs were dropped on it.
We've seen no photos of the faces of the three men, two women and one girl (aged 5 to 7) who were also attacked.
The obsession with the image of Zarqawi's face is sick. Why is the man's face so nicely framed? Is it going to be mounted over the fireplace at the Crawford Ranch?
Are we all cowboys now?
And why are the dead head shots so tightly cropped? Are there no photos of him lying in the rubble?
"The two 230-kilogram bombs that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi pulverized the brick house where he spent his final minutes, vaporizing walls and the foundation, hurling concrete blocks 90 metres into the weeds and blasting a crater 12 metres wide and deep."
The bombs "ripped a crater" in the forest surrounding the hideout and left "a 600-square-yard wasteland of broken concrete, twisted steel and splintered tree trunks."
How is it that Zarqawi was not instantly killed when everything and everyone else was "shredded or blown to pieces"?
According to U.S. officials, Zarqawi actually survived the attack, at least for a few minutes.
As yet, there have been no reports of famed super hero, Private Jessica Lynch arriving on the scene and single-handedly slaying Zarqawi.
Perhaps that story will break tomorrow.
U.S. officials have stopped denying that a child was killed.
But representatives of the U.S. Government continue to deny that: "When the Americans arrived they took him out of the ambulance, they beat him on his stomach and wrapped his head with his dishdasha, then they stomped on his stomach and his chest until he died and blood came out of his nose."
Or, as CBS News tells it, "an Iraqi man who was one of the first people on the scene . . said he saw American troops beating a man who had a beard like the al Qaeda leader."
If you suspect that your government may be in the business of spreading propaganda, or lying to you again, I'm certain you will be relieved to know that the Ministry of Truth denies it:
"There is no intention on anybody's behalf to engage in deception, manipulation or evasion."
Bush Zarqawi Jessica Lynch Propaganda Bushgate Iraq War Impeach Bush Terrorism Ministry of Truth
