# What exactly killed al-zarqawi? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 8, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904 "2006-06-08T16:16:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/1 "2006-06-08T16:16:03Z")
News reports say that two 500lb. bombs were dropped on the house that he was in and we have a head shot of a dead zarqawi. So how did he die exactly? Did the house collapse and crush his body? Did the shock of the blast jolt him to death? Did schrapenel from the blast pierce his body but not his head? It doesn’t appear that he burned to death. So what did him in? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/2 "2006-06-08T16:59:02Z")
The reports I heard said that helicopters attacked the house. Zarqawi was badly injured, but managed to get out of the house alive. He was quickly arrested by someone-or-other (either American troops or Iraqi police, I forget which), and died of his injuries soon after. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/3 "2006-06-08T17:07:36Z")
[Here’s the link for the air strike (video)](http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/08/zarqawi.strike/) Looking at he video I’d suspect he was bombed. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/4 "2006-06-08T17:26:36Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > The reports I heard said that helicopters attacked the house. Zarqawi was badly injured, but managed to get out of the house alive. He was quickly arrested by someone-or-other (either American troops or Iraqi police, I forget which), and died of his injuries soon after. We (USAF) don’t use helicopters for air strikes - [this source](http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19413201-601,00.html) among many others identifies the strike aircraft as F-16s. The article also discusses him dying of his injuries. It could be anything, really - shrapnel in the torso, blood loss, internal bleeding from the overpressure of the blast, or blunt trauma to the head from debris. ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/5 "2006-06-10T14:59:52Z")
Who would want him dead ? I don’t buy the F16’s targeted by manual lasers, backed up by some of the most frightened troops/police one could find. Interrogation is conversion - most likely he is alive and enjoying it Who wants seven virgins when seven houris are on tap - and a spot of vengeance ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/6 "2006-06-10T15:10:54Z")
[Iraqi Witness Says U.S. Troops Beat Dying Man After Blast – Zarqawi?](http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002651385) > [@](#): > > An Iraqi man who was one of the first people on the scene of the U.S. airstrike targeting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said he saw American troops beating a man who had a beard like the al-Qaida leader. > > The witness, who lives near the house where al-Zarqawi spent his last days, said he saw the man lying on the ground near an irrigation canal. He was badly wounded but still alive, the man told Associated Press Television News. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/7 "2006-06-10T17:24:21Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > News reports say that two 500lb. bombs were dropped on the house that he was in and we have a head shot of a dead zarqawi. So how did he die exactly? > Did the house collapse and crush his body? Did the shock of the blast jolt him to death? Did schrapenel from the blast pierce his body but not his head? It doesn’t appear that he burned to death. > > So what did him in? Respiratory and/or cardiac arrest. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/8 "2006-06-10T17:32:26Z")
Lead poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/9 "2006-06-10T17:40:11Z")
> [@FRDE](#): > > Who would want him dead ? I know, it’s a real puzzler. The cops are gonna have to dig deep on this one. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/10 "2006-06-10T19:27:39Z")
The reports indicate two smart bombs…one satellite guide, one laser-guided. The use of smart bombs in precision strikes is perfectly reasonable, and one can release them with minimal risk from ground fire. And the idea of such a precision strike is to strike accurately, precisely, surgically and promptly. Good intelligence can give you the required coordinates, which can then be used in the guidance for the satellite-guided bombs. As for the laser-guided bombs, the plane dropping the bomb can do the illumination, a secondary plane can do the illumination, or a ground team can do the illumination. The bomb’s laser guidance head doesn’t have a prefernece in the matter. The use of helos would be stupid, as helos are noisy, are vulnerable to ground fire, and can’t carry the size munitions to destroy such a house. People who die in such attacks die from a number of things: Blown apart by the bomb blast; Damage to to percussive trauma without or with minimal shrapnel; Crushing or other injury due to structural damage caused by the blast itself. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/11 "2006-06-10T23:23:51Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > So what did him in? They’re doing (or did) an autopsy today. They’ll announce the results of that eventually. > [@FRDE](#): > > Who would want him dead ? Yeah, I can’t think of _anyone_. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/12 "2006-06-10T23:30:50Z")
[Marvin The Martian] It was the earth shattering Kaboom![/MTM] ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/13 "2006-06-10T23:56:44Z")
I supect it was a cerebral hemorrhage. A 9mm hemorrhage. ---
**Author:** ![seenidog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@seenidog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seenidog)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/14 "2006-06-11T03:54:57Z")
From FRDE > [@](#): > > Who would want him dead ? > > I don’t buy the F16’s targeted by manual lasers, backed up by some of the most frightened troops/police one could find. > > Interrogation is conversion - most likely he is alive and enjoying it > > Who wants seven virgins when seven houris are on tap > > - and a spot of vengeance Well, about 3 billion (give or take a billion) non muslims are involved. I suspect one or two of them might have a gripe about blowing up soldiers, women, children, dogs cats and just about anything else. Other that that , the man was a saint. No one ever really meant to kill him, he was the victim of collateral damage caused by the energetic disassembly of the outhouse out back. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/15 "2006-06-11T04:32:37Z")
I don’t think anyone has really answered the OP’s question, “What _exactly_ killed” that prick? Even in the absence of crush injury from falling debris, or penetrating/dismembering wounds from shrapnel, the blast, itself, was more than enough to send him to meet his virgins. Blast injuries often affect the lung and cause grave consequences. From the link below: > [@](#): > > The lung is the organ that is second most susceptible to primary blast injury. Pressure differentials across the alveolar–capillary interface cause disruption, hemorrhage, pulmonary contusion (appearing as a bihilar “butterfly” pattern on chest radiographs), pneumothorax, hemothorax, pneumomediastinum, and subcutaneous emphysema. The brain is also affected by the blast itself. The pressure of the explosion throws the brain around inside the skull and often leads to a so-called _contrecoup_ injury (where the brain injury occurs on the side opposite of the applied force, i.e. a force from behind throws the brain forward thus leading to damage to the front of the brain). Of course, what I’ve written is a very superficial, incomplete account of blast injuries. [Here’s a recent review of blast injuries](http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/352/13/1335) (that _may_ be available free of charge). ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/16 "2006-06-11T10:23:52Z")
I must confess I am now getting rather puzzled. It seems a small stone building was hit by two accurately guided 500lb bombs. - there would not be enough there, from a direct hit, to distinguish between Zarqawi and a badly overdone shish kebab We have a ‘first hand’ report of US soldiers covering his head and kicking sh\*t out of him, that does not make sense, the US troops in the area would be amongst the smartest, they would have wanted to keep him alive. We also have reports that the ‘action’ was down to Jordanian Intelligence, probably true, Jordan would like to send a message to people that blow up weddings in Jordan, are in for a hard time. Being British, I have long said that the best way of dealing with terrorists is to feign their deaths, let them watch their funerals, and quietly convert their outlook. Just the sight of Zarqawi’s pretty undamaged face, should be enough to frighten the daylights out of anyone he knows. I have a feeling that the US has finally latched onto psychological warfare, if the Saudis found Bin Laden in a Pakistani hospital dying of AIDS it would confirm it. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/17 "2006-06-11T10:38:19Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > They’re doing (or did) an autopsy today. They’ll announce the results of that eventually. Yep. But I think ultimately, he did it to himself. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/18 "2006-06-11T15:18:39Z")
This just in: The coroner has ruled out poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/19 "2006-06-11T15:30:08Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > This just in: > > The coroner has ruled out poisoning. And also suicide by Mod. I was asleep. Honest! ---
**Author:** ![Lee\_from\_Texas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Lee\_from\_Texas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lee_from_Texas)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904/20 "2006-06-11T18:04:10Z")
> [@FRDE](#): > > I must confess I am now getting rather puzzled. > … > > We have a ‘first hand’ report of US soldiers covering his head and kicking sh\*t out of him, that does not make sense, the US troops in the area would be amongst the smartest, they would have wanted to keep him alive… I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess you’re not a soldier. I am. Yeah we all know about the Geneva Convention blah blah blah. But hey, if you happen to run across a guy who leads an organization dedicated to killing you and your brothers, you might be inclined to let him know what time it is. I damn sure would. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-killed-al-zarqawi/359904.md?page=2)