Omar from Iraq the Model.

Quickly the prime minister arrived and he was flanked by General Casey and the U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. At that stage we knew a big announcement was coming, to have all three of them together. Maliki got up the podium and right away he said, "This is a message to all of the people who commit acts of terrorism; Zarqawi has been eliminated."

Then all of the Iraqi journalists who were in the room started to applaud. There were women in the back who started "ululating" – which is that traditional Arabic way of celebration when someone wags the tongue back and forth and makes sort of a wailing or shrieking noise. People started applauding and cheering. I hadn’t seen that kind of reaction since Saddam Hussein was captured and there was a similar spontaneous outpouring of excitement from the Iraqi press corps that was gathered.

Joy filled Baghdad's hot streets, as gun shots sounded through the air, and cars packed with overjoyed Iraqi's roamed the streets. Iraqis were sharing sweets with people outside their homes. Civil organizations paraded as they condemned violence chanting "death to Zarqawi and Saddamites." Thursday's celebrations could be compared to the jubilation in Baghdad's streets the day Saddam Hussein was captured.

. . . . While a BBC reporter today referred to al Zarqawi as a “controversial leader of the resistance” the reaction among most Iraqis lacks such nuance, they are glad for one simple reason, al Zarqawi is dead.

The reactions among Iraqis to the death of al Zarqawi is quite different than that to the similar demise of Uday and Qusay. The deaths of the brothers Hussein was met with a jumble of emotions among Iraqis in 2003: some saw them as leaders while most saw them as the homicidal maniacs they were. The reaction to the death of al Zarqawi is far more visceral, akin to ridding one’s house of a menacing rat.

A reserved Sunni intellectual who is quite particular in the language he uses summed up the feeling surrounding al Zarqawi’s death: “Goddamn that motherfucker for what he has done to Iraq.”

. . . . The death of al Zarqawi will unfortunately not end the violence in Iraq. People will still worry about their children going and coming from school as well as look over their shoulder while shopping in the market. However, the death of this particular thug can not be underestimated. Like all terrorists he relied upon fear and his invincibility to cow people into submission. At each turn in the process of a democratic Iraq the people have said ‘no’ to al Zarqawi and his henchmen. Lining up by the millions to vote in three elections during 2005 showed the entire world that Iraqis want peace and freedom, not the negative nihilism offered up by Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Zarqawi was killed by U.S. Special Forces with the help of Iraqis. I was especially interested in the role played by the Sunni tribes in Anbar, where Zarqawi had been holed up while directing his campaign of random slaughter of Shiite men, women, and children. . . . the Anbar tribes were disgusted by the murder of countless Iraqi civilians, and united against him.

From Jordan: The man whose wedding reception was destroyed, and 30 guests murdered, by Zarqawi.