Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV Zarqawi autopsy briefing
Multi-National Force-Iraq
Sunday, 11 June 2006
Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV Zarqawi autopsy briefing.
SPECIAL MULTINATIONAL FORCES IRAQ BRIEFING SUBJECT: AUTOPSY RESULTS FOR ABU MUSAB AL-ZARQAWI BRIEFERS: MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, MULTINATIONAL FORCE IRAQ; COLONEL STEVE JONES, COMMAND SURGEON, MULTINATIONAL FORCES IRAQ; WITH A FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST VIA TELEPHONE LOCATION: COMBINED PRESS INFORMATION CENTER, BAGHDAD, IRAQ TIME: 8:21 A.M. EDT DATE: MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2006
GEN. CALDWELL: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. As you know, coalition forces killed al Qaeda terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and one of his key lieutenants, spiritual adviser Sheikh Abdel Rahman, June 7th in an airstrike against an identified isolated safe house, eliminating a major threat to the stability, security and prosperity of the Iraqi people.
Today we will present a brief operations overview of the last 48 hours, but our primary focus will be an analysis presented by the medical experts of the autopsies performed on both Zarqawi and Rahman.
Over the last 48 hours, coalition forces and Iraqi security forces conducted 140 company and above-level operations. As a result of these operations, 32 anti-Iraqi elements were killed and 178 were detained. Out of that, there were six major caches found, and we also picked up, due to a tip by an Iraqi local, one high-value individual who had a reward of $50,000 on him.
Regarding the medical specifics at the site of the night of the strike, at 6:12 p.m. local time, a coalition aircraft launched a kinetic strike on an isolated safe house. At approximately 6:40 p.m., coalition forces were on the scene and took possession of Zarqawi in order to positively identify him both visually and by searching for known scars. A coalition medic treated Zarqawi while he did lapse in and out of consciousness. The medic secured his airway, at which point Zarqawi expelled blood. The medic ensured Zarqawi was breathing, however, he noted the breathing was shallow and labored. The medic then checked his carotidic pulse, which was barely palpable, and quickly deteriorated, and which he determined, therefore, that Zarqawi's death was imminent. Lack of serious external injuries led to the belief that he had suffered massive internal injuries. The medic registered no pulse or respirations, and at 7:04 p.m. on 7 June, realized that Zarqawi was dead. This is approximately 24 minutes after the coalition forces arrived, or approximately 52 minutes after the first airstrike on the safe house.
Joining me today is Colonel Steve Jones. He is the command surgeon of Multinational Forces Iraq. In that role he is responsible for the oversight of all coalition medical activities in Iraq. Dr. Jones was present during the procedure, he reviewed the remains, and he consulted with the medical examiners who performed the autopsy.
Also joining us via phone to take some of your questions will be one of the forensic pathologists who did perform the autopsy. Autopsies for coalition forces are normally conducted in the United States or donor country, therefore, the necessary specialists are not here in theater. Two board-certified forensic pathologists were flown to Iraq to perform these autopsies, following the standards established by the National Association of Medical Examiners. Both individuals have deployed before and are the most senior armed forces medical examiners we had available. These autopsies were performed to make a definitive determination as to the cause of both Zarqawi's and Rahman's deaths. The scientific facts provide irrefutable evidence regarding the death of these terrorists, and will serve to counter speculation, misinformation and propaganda. The Iraqi people deserve the facts, to know that the personal threat of Zarqawi is eliminated and the fact that he was treated better in death than he treated others in life.
On a last note on DNA testing, the Federal Bureau of Investigation returned the results to us and there was a positive match by DNA that this was Zarqawi.
With that, I'll turn it over to Dr. Jones.
COL. JONES: Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. On Saturday, June 10th, an autopsy was performed on the remains of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Sheikh Abdel Rahman to make a definitive determination of the cause of death. The procedure was performed by senior Department of Defense forensic pathologists flown in from outside Iraq.
The team of five included military and civilian personnel, board- certified forensic pathologists and their assistants. These are among the most experienced individuals in the world in examining these types of injuries. They follow the standards established by the National Association of Medical Examiners.
Two medical examiners participated in each autopsy to ensure it was thorough and that there were no questions about the findings. The team performed a standard forensic autopsy. It included total body X- rays, external examination of the remains and examination of the internal organs. Samples were also taken for toxicology analysis.
Throughout the process, all personnel have treated these remains with the same high degree of dignity and respect that we treat our own casualties.
I'd like to take a few minutes and review with you the injuries sustained by Zarqawi and Rahman.
If my -- can I have the first slide, please.
This slide displays the injuries sustained by Zarqawi. Total body X-rays showed a non-displaced fracture of the lower right leg. No shrapnel or bullets were seen. External examination showed multiple bruises, abrasions and lacerations of the head, as you've seen in the photos that have been released. Lacerations, abrasions and bruises were also seen on the body, the arms and the legs. There was extensive blast injury to the lungs, with bruising and disruption of the lung tissue. There was bleeding in the middle ear on both sides, and there were no evidence of firearm injuries.
The cause of death was closed-spaced primary blast injury of the lung. Blast waves from the two bombs caused tearing, bruising of the lungs and bleeding. These injuries are not apparent from an external inspection. They can only be seen by examining the lungs.
This wound was not immediately fatal. Death occurred as lung function deteriorated, and the lungs became progressively unable to absorb oxygen into the bloodstream.
All the injuries found were consistent with the type seen in blast victims. The abrasions, lacerations and the fracture were likely due to flying debris or Zarqawi being thrown against a hard object by the force of the blast. May I have the next slide, please.
These are the injuries sustained by Rahman. X-rays revealed a skull fracture of the left temporal area, extending to the base of the skull. Rib fractures, a fracture of the left arm above the elbow, shrapnel and other debris from the bomb blast were also seen on the X- rays. External examination showed multiple bruises, abrasions of the -- and lacerations to the head, body, arms and legs. These injuries were more severe than those sustained by Zarqawi.
Internal examination showed extensive bleeding from the head injuries just beneath the scalp and beneath the skull around the brain as well. There was severe bleeding into the left lung and several lacerations of the liver. Examination of the laceration of the left knee showed a small fracture not seen on X-ray.
The cause of death was secondary and tertiary blast injuries caused by shrapnel, flying debris and being thrown against a hard object by the force of the blast.
All injuries were consistent with those seen in blast victims. Death was instantaneous.
I'll explain now how two individuals killed by the same bombs can have different injuries.
If I can have the next slide, please.
Explosive munitions like bombs cause three types of injuries: ballistic, blast and thermal. Fragments from the casing of the weapon cause ballistic injuries. Flying debris such as bricks and stones may cause these injuries as well. The explosion of the weapon causes a shockwave that has a high pressure and high velocity. This shockwave causes blast injuries. Hot gases produced by the explosion can cause burns if the victim is close enough. Those are the thermal injuries that you see on this chart.
I'm sure you're wondering how Rahman could have sustained more severe -- serious shrapnel wounds than Zarqawi. I'll explain that. Fragments from an explosion are distributed fairly symmetrically along the long axis of the bomb. When a bomb detonates with his nose straight down and perpendicular to the Earth, the fragments are distributed evenly around the point of detonation. However, most bombs fall with their axis at an angle to the perpendicular so there is considerable asymmetry in fragment distribution. If a bomb falls at an angle, there may be far more fragments on one side of the detonation than on the other.
May I have the next slide, please?
There are different types of blast injuries. This chart shows the mechanisms that cause the different injuries. The shockwave from the blast can rupture air-filled organs such as the ears, lungs and intestines. Those injuries are not obvious from looking at the external surface of the body. This type of injury is called primary blast injury and is what killed Zarqawi. Shrapnel from the exploding bomb and flying debris cause secondary blast injuries. The force of the blast can also throw an individual down causing tertiary injuries. Other injuries caused by an explosion, such as burns, are called quaternary injuries.
May I have the next slide, please?
There are several factors that affect the severity of blast injuries. These factors vary from person to person and lead to different types of injuries. The greater the peak pressure of the shockwave generated by the explosion, the greater the injury. The further away an individual is from the explosion, the less the effect.
Body position and orientation influence the severity of the blast effect. The effect is greatest when the individual is facing the explosion and both lungs will be injured. If the victim is sideways to the blast, one side will be more injured than the other. If the individual is facing away from the blast or lying on the ground, the effects will be less than expected.
The presence of obstacles which prevent the travel of a shockwave in some directions may increase this effect in other directions. In an enclosed room, the shockwave cannot escape and the pressure is magnified by reflections off the walls. At the same time, an individual on the other side of that wall will be protected from the shock and the fragments.
Next slide, please.
This table -- the table on the right shows the peak pressures that are generated by explosions. The effects of those peak pressures are listed on the left. A shockwave exerting the pressure of 500 pounds per square inch kills only half of the individuals hit. Compare that to the peak pressure of a 500-pound bomb seen here. Because Zarqawi died from primary blast injury, he must have been in an enclosed space where the peak pressure of the blast was magnified.
That is how we know he was inside the house when he was hit.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your time. I understand we'll now transition to comments from one of the medical examiners who participated.
DR. : Colonel Jones, thank you very much for the explanation. It was great, and I wouldn't say it better. I don't know, I'm here waiting for any comments or questions, because I think you explained everything very clearly. But I'm here to answer any possible questions.
COL. JONES: Okay, we'll open it up for questions now, then. Yes, sir?
Q This is for General Caldwell. General -- and I know, you know, the information you've been getting is --
GEN. CALDWELL: I can hear. It's working.
Q On Saturday you said, I believe, that there were no ground forces on the ground at the time of the strike. On Friday you said that the airstrike had been called in by the commander on the ground. We've spoken to a number of Iraqis who were in the area at the time, who say that there were American forces near the house, around the house, before the airstrike, and specifically that they came in on helicopters; differing times as to how long before the strike. It's pretty clear the special operations guys were involved, because President Bush congratulated them.
Can you talk about the role of ground forces in this operation, whether they were special operations guys or not, whether in the air, ground, water, anywhere, and where they were before the strike?
GEN. CALDWELL: Sure. When I said the ground force commander called in the strike, that's an operational expression, that the person in charge of the operation, regardless of where he or she is, is the one who called in the strike. And that person was not on the ground and was not at that location in civilian terms, but they were in charge of the operation and observing it through visual means.
The first coalition forces to arrive on the scene was at approximately 6:40 p.m., and that's the time when we first were able to administer medical aid to Zarqawi. And again, the first bombs dropped at approximately 6:12 p.m. So there's a period there of about 28 minutes before coalition forces arrived at that location and physically had, as you would say, boots on the ground at the safe house. They were not outside the building before then.
Q And General, just to be clear, the word "coalition forces" includes special ops guys as well as --
GEN. CALDWELL: "Coalition forces" include all forces operating in the country of Iraq, that's correct.
Yes, ma'am?
Q Thank you. I'm sorry, which --
GEN. CALDWELL: The doc.
Q (Off mike) -- on?
GEN. CALDWELL: Should be.
Q Either one. Were there any indications, anything to indicate that Zarqawi was beat up before he was taken away?
COL. JONES: We have clear evidence that he died of blast injuries. There is no evidence to suggest that he was beaten, and I have no reason to suspect that that happened.
If we could, Doc that's on the phone, do you hear us?
DR.: Yes, I did.
COL. JONES: Could you answer that too, as the examiner who did the actual examination?
DR.: I didn't hear the question. I just heard the answer.
Q Was there any evidence that Zarqawi was beaten up before he was taken away?
DR. : Not at all.
No evidence of beating and no evidence of any firearm injuries.
COL. JONES: Sir?
Q Would it be right to say that he actually died mainly because of internal injuries, as you say that there have been no firearm injuries externally visible?
COL. JONES: Yes, sir, that is true is the injuries to his lungs were not survivable. That's what killed him.
Yes, ma'am.
Q Can you give us a specific -- you know, at 6:12 the air strike happened, and then the coalition forces arrived on the scene. Can you give us kind of a tick-tock of what happened in between that time? And can you talk about the -- when the Iraqi forces arrived on the scene? Are you including those in the coalition forces?
GEN. CALDWELL: The Iraqi police -- no, I was not. And we are going to get the -- as best we can the time that the Iraqi forces arrived on scene.
I realize from just talking to several of you on Saturday, you're very interested in the timeline. We have a tentative timeline. We're doing a vetting process of it now because of a couple of discrepancies in there, just to have people go double-back and check their facts, and we should have that in about two more days for sure, available to anybody who would like to see it.
But what I do know is that the first coalition forces arrived right at about 6:40 p.m. at the safe house. But Iraqi police were already there when we arrived.
Q If I could follow up?
GEN. CALDWELL: Yes, ma'am.
Q Can you just give us an idea -- what's kind of holding up that part of the timeline? Is there a problem with the -- you know, are you getting information from the Iraqis or --
GEN. CALDWELL: Well, the challenge is we're getting information from a lot of different units. It's not like one organization was involved. And the intent was to try to give you about a 24-hour period from about 6:12 p.m. to about 6:00 p.m. the next night. So we've asked a lot of questions about the forces that secured the site overnight, if there was further interaction with other people, what things did they observe, just so that it's a fairly accurate timeline. So if somebody to were allay or say they saw this or that, it occurred the next day, hopefully, we would have already captured that in this timeline that we'll make available to you.
Yes, sir?
Q Hamad Zol al-Ankant (ph), Al-Arabiya.
(In Arabic.)
GEN. CALDWELL: The remains of the three females --
Q Could you repeat the question?
GEN. CALDWELL: Oh, I'm sorry, yes. The question was, what is the disposition of the remains of the six personnel that were on the site of the safe house?
The three females that were on the site were passed off to the local hospital there. They took possession of those three people, the three females. And I don't have follow-up as to what the -- you'd probably have to check with the government of Iraq as to what disposition the hospital did from there. I would assume they'd try to make some sort of positive identification and follow-up to any relatives that may be in the area, but I do not know that one.
The disposition of the three males -- those currently -- one is being turned back over to the Ministry of Health, and the other two, Rahman and Zarqawi -- right now, we're still in discussions with the government of Iraq as to the final disposition of those remains. They're still currently under coalition forces control, those two.
Yes, sir?
Q Richard Engel from NBC News. Do you have an identification for that third male? Were the Iraqi police supposed to be there first on the ground? It seems difficult to understand why you would want them there just to take the body away from them or dying Zarqawi away from them. And finally, was all of this medical examination done where you tried to put a -- clear his airway during -- was all of this done at the scene or was he moved to another location by a medivac or some other kind of means?
Thank you.
GEN. CALDWELL: Richard, the medical care was provided there on the scene. The medic determined from very early on in the process -- after clearing his airway and having, as the report reads, quite a bit of blood come out from his lungs -- in fact his carotid pulse was such that he was not going to live. I mean, it was very evident that he had extremely massive internal injuries, but they continued to provide medical care for him on the site at that point.
The Iraqi police were not part of this operation, but they did arrive first on the scene. They were in the area, but it was not because coalition forces had coordinated previously with them or had asked them to report to that scene. They just showed up having heard a blast and were on location. We're going to establish approximately what time that was. But no, they were not part of the coalition forces operation.
Q Were they handcuffed -- (off mike) -- as some reports have suggested? I'm sorry. Were they handcuffed and forced to take their shirts off as some reports have suggested? We've heard that from witnesses -- that the Special Forces or other coalition forces that arrived on the scene, not expecting them to be there, handcuffed them and treated them like suspects, at least in the beginning.
GEN. CALDWELL: That I have not read one way or the other. We can go back and check. I just have not asked that question. I'm not -- I have not heard that or been made aware of that.
Yes, sir?
Q Solomon Moore, Los Angeles Times. I just wanted to get a better understanding of what areas around Iraq have been hit in these raids that followed Zarqawi's death -- if we could get some better idea of the different areas that have been hit. And also just wondering if you have any idea about his last few days, where Zarqawi was in those last days or weeks before his death. And finally, if there's any concern being paid to Muslim burial rights or handling of the body -- if any of that has been taken into consideration.
GEN. CALDWELL: As far as the burial, again, the government of Iraq is in consultation with the Department of State at this point. As far as what the disposition of the remains will be, at this point we have treated the remains with utmost respect and dignity and have followed all the normal procedures that would have been afforded to any coalition soldier that would have an autopsy performed on him or her. So that's been standard, treating everybody the exact same way. There's been no difference.
As to Zarqawi's movements and activities prior to that night, those have -- I have not been made aware of. I'd have to go back and ask that question. I know the person that we were tracking diligently in those several weeks before in that intensive intelligence-gathering phase was Al Rahman.
Q Can you share with us something, though? Can you give us a better idea of what he was doing in his last days or weeks, where he was?
GEN. CALDWELL: I'll be glad to go back and see if I can't get some of that information for you.
Q And what about the strikes, where are those happening? And is Ramadi also a big focus of these, you know, after-raid strikes?
GEN. CALDWELL: I did not break the 140 -- it was company level and above operations by both Iraqi security forces and coalition forces conducted over the last 48 hours. Of those, 11 of those were a direct result of intelligence gained from the strike on the night of 7 June, June 7th. The others were incidental strikes that were the result of intelligence derived or formulated by just ongoing operations within Iraq. I know they're spread throughout the area. The focused 11 were primarily in the Baghdad and surrounding areas -- that one I do know.
But we could try to show a little better on a diagram. We don't track necessarily each and every individual operation at this level -- they are at a much lower level, but not necessarily at this level. It's more of an aggregate up here. But we can go back and see if we can't give you some general idea.
Yes, sir?
Q General, Rod Nordland from Newsweek. Have you done DNA tests on all the victims? And if so, have you determined if the child was Zarqawi's, or if there were any other relationships there?
GEN. CALDWELL: Rod, we didn't do any testing at all on the three females. We just turned them back over to Iraqi authorities right away. They took control of them right from the site itself. So we did absolutely no testing on the females.
On the three males, the only DNA testing that we did was on Zarqawi himself.
Yes, sir?
Q Thanks, General. Jon Finer from The Washington Post. You had said at one point that you were -- or they were 100 percent certain that Zarqawi was the target of this strike when they launched it. Given that, and given, you know, how important a target this was, I just would like to understand a bit better why it took 28 minutes for the first coalition ground forces to arrive at the scene. And I was also wondering if you could say definitively which forces were the first to arrive, which coalition forces, what unit or who they were.
GEN. CALDWELL: Jon, when I said the other day 100 percent certain, again, I'm speaking from an operator's perspective. I'm not a public affairs person by trade. But when you're out in the field and you're conducting operations and you're making the decision of life and death on whatever you're doing -- prosecuting a target or telling your troops to do something -- you, in your mind, have to be 100 percent certain that you're making the best possible decision with all the information you have available at that time. And that's when I said they were 100 percent certain; they were 100 percent certain that they had all the best possible information that could have been collated together as they're watching the target, as they're doing all that analysis over three weeks, that they were making the right decision to prosecute that safe house at that point in time. That's what I meant by that.
Was it 100 percent certain in terms of eyes on the target and seeing Zarqawi inside? No, that was not the case. And perhaps, you know, somebody may on civilian terms think that's what I'm talking about, I'm not. I'm talking about when you make a life and death decision, when you make a decision to drop that bomb, you have got to be sure in your mind that you are making the right decision. And the commander -- not physically on the ground there, but the commander in charge of the operation in fact had that feeling when he made that decision.
Q The question was, though, given that, why the 28 minutes away? And who were the forces that arrived?
GEN. CALDWELL: This was a time-sensitive target. We had been following al-Rahman, and when he arrived at that safe house, all the criteria that they had previously established that would have told them that there is a link-up occurring between Zarqawi and al-Rahman was occurring, in fact were met at that point in time. And so being a time-sensitive target, not knowing we were going to that house, not knowing we'd be in that location, the only asset available to prosecute that target was an air asset, and that's the reason for calling in the F-16 strike on that house at that point.
It was a time-sensitive target.
Q General?
GEN. CALDWELL: Yes, sir.
Q General, from all you've said, it sounds very likely, to me, at least, that U.S. special forces were in the air and close enough to reach there fairly quickly, that they were in fact engaged in this operation, in the hunt, and that the commander himself may have been in the air, with all your high technology, because when you said the other day that we had no ground forces on the ground, I took that as implying that they might have been in the air and over the horizon at the time.
The second question I have is for our remote pathologist, if he could describe to us whether Zarqawi was dressed when the autopsy began; if so, what he was wearing; and if anybody, you or the pathologist, could tell us whether there's any truth to reports that the uniform -- that the clothing of Zarqawi was ripped apart as part of the medical procedures at the site, or possibly to determine whether he was carrying a suicide bombing belt.
GEN. CALDWELL: John, as far as the forces go, I know everybody keeps asking it, coalition forces were intimately involved in this operation and participated from the beginning. We were asked the question the other day, too, were Jordanian assets involved. And clearly, going back and asking that question, Jordan was extremely important and very informative in helping us establish and be able to prosecute this operation.
And then I'm glad you've asked a question of Dr. Jones, because he's dying to come back up here.
Steve?
COL. JONES: Yes, sir. And I think that question is for our medical examiner that we have on the phone. If you'd like to go ahead?
DR. : Yes, sir. Both bodies were unclothed, but this is not surprising for us because we receive many of our soldiers also unclothed, either because of security reasons or because of the medical treatment. So it was not unusual for us to see the unclothed remains. Q Could you address the question about the clothing being pulled apart and so on?
GEN. CALDWELL: Again, just from reading the written reports, I do know that he was in some kind of black outfit -- I'll have to go back and read it more carefully -- which they did start removing from him, removing from his body. And again, I didn't ask what condition it was in or anything. But there was nothing that said he had a suicide belt on in the report that I saw.
Q Would that be a procedure that would be normal in that case, to remove the clothing to determine whether there was a suicide bomb belt?
GEN. CALDWELL: Well, I think -- oh, about a suicide belt, of that I'm not sure. I'm not sure what procedure they normally follow in that case. I'd have to check. But I do know what normally is when a person has been medically hurt, we start immediately cutting their clothing away. I mean, you normally -- I mean, one of the first things you do is you take a knife out and you just start slicing the uniform away so that you can clearly see what wounds exist on the person. If you leave their clothes on, you can't ascertain where the wound is. Normally the blood is such that it is all across the -- in our case, it would be on our uniform. You wouldn't be able to clearly ascertain where the gunshot wound is, and you wouldn't know if there's other fragments or other things, so you would cut away the clothing. That's pretty standard procedure we use.
Yes, sir?
Q Yes, General. Could you explain why Zarqawi died of primary blast injuries and Abdel Rahman died of secondary and tertiary blast injuries?
Could it be that Abdel Rahman was not inside the building when the first or the second bombs were dropped?
GEN. CALDWELL: I'll let Dr. Jones take that.
COL. JONES: Well, it may well be that they were in different locations. We can tell by the extent of the injuries that Rahman was very close to detonation of the bomb and was likely inside the building. Again, I'll defer to our medical examiner on the phone.
DR. : I believe that the -- Sheikh Al Rahman was thrown against a wall or something because head injury was the most devastating injury. The skull was fractured badly. So I think he either hit a wall or something hit his head. But at the same time, he also had blast injuries of the lungs. So I think also he was in an enclosed place, but he was more exposed to the blast waves, more than Zarqawi.
GEN. CALDWELL: Is there any other questions?
Yes, ma'am?
Q Yeah. I'm Janelle Caldwell (sp) -- (affiliation inaudible). If we can get back to the raids?
GEN. CALDWELL: Okay.
Q There was a raid early this morning near Baqubah in which two children were killed. Was that one of these raids? And can you comment on how many civilians were killed in the raids? You said 32 people, I think, in the beginning.
GEN. CALDWELL: The 32 people that are referred to that were killed were in fact all anti-Iraqi elements. No women or children in that group. They were all engaged in a hostile act.
Q And that was nationwide?
GEN. CALDWELL: That's nationwide. That's correct. Thank you. Yes, nationwide over the last 48 hours.
As far as the one you're talking about in the operation near Baqubah, there is -- that was extremely unfortunate situation. You're exactly correct. U.S. coalition forces or coalition forces were prosecuting a target. They came in on a target. They came under heavy intensive fire. There were seven anti-Iraqi elements that were killed. There was three wounded, and I want to say, I think one was detained. They were on top of a building, and up on the top of the building, they did have some children with them. One was a young boy, probably about six months old, and the other one a young boy of about four years of age. There was a young boy of eight years of age also up there. He was wounded in the heel -- not life threatening.
Any time we're out conducting operations against terrorist elements and they mix themselves in with innocent young women and children and civilians, they in fact are asking for that possibility to occur. We regretfully feel for anybody that is ever, you know, hurt in any kind of activities when we're taking and prosecuting a target. I mean, you know, our deepest condolenscences go out to those individuals, their families and all their families and friends in that area because that's the last thing, of course, anybody would want to have happened. But the terrorists do (plan ?) themselves right into the middle of civilians without any regard for them and will sit there and take under fire other personnel.
Yes, sir?
Q Just -- last question, for me anyway. Another question for the medical examiner. In laymen's terms, could you just explain what this blast wave would do to someone's lungs? Would it cause the lungs to effectively explode, or would it just go through the lungs and damage them? You talked about this supersonic wave that affects parts of the body that have air inside of them.
What exactly, in simple terms, did this blast do to his lungs?
Thank you.
DR. : Matter of fact, I don't know about the supersonic waves, but I am talking about air pressure waves that expand the lung. If the lungs were free in the air, it will explode. But because it is contained in a chest wall with ribs and muscles and skin, there is no way for it to explode. That's why all the blood vessels inside the lung start rupturing and the blood is seeping into the tissue. And in the same time, the air bags or air sacs in the lung explode and form these cavities that also get filled with blood. So there's no exchange of air, and the person -- it depends on the strength of the blast wave -- either die immediately, die within minutes or die later, in hours. In this case, it was severe.
GEN. CALDWELL: Okay.
DR. : I hope this explains it.
GEN. CALDWELL: Okay, hold tight. We got another question coming for you.
Q Can I just follow up --
GEN. CALDWELL: Sure.
Q Do we need a mike?
GEN. CALDWELL: Sure, if you don't mind, just so everybody can hear.
Q Is that what you call -- I'm talking to the medical examiner -- the sort of compression and then refraction where essentially the lungs are compressed and then they -- and then the pressure drops -- or the pressure increases inside, and then they explode outward? Isn't it, like, a two-step process?
DR. : Matter of fact, it expands first because the air is sucked in through the trachea and expands the lung very rapidly. That's why it expands first.
But then because the air is not going anywhere because of the chest wall and the muscles around it, that's why the air expelled out. But I don't know about -- how -- the terminology you used, but that's what usually happen -- rapid expansion and then rupture of vessels and air spaces.
Q General, could you give us a better idea of what's happening in Ramadi and how -- and whether the timing of operations in Ramadi right now are linked to the death of Zarqawi?
And then finally, were there other examples of collateral damage in these various raids that took place around the country? And if so, how many?
GEN. CALDWELL: Right now, Ramadi -- it's not linked directly to Zarqawi's strike. I mean, it was a time-sensitive target. We did not know we were going to be striking that target on June 7th when it occurred, although we had been following and things were leading up to that.
The Ramadi -- what may be going on out there right now has been playing for a while. The operations out in Ramadi that they're conducting right now is just an intensified look at the city of Ramadi, which clearly is one of the two focal points for insurgent and anti-Iraqi elements activity going on at this point. There were some additional forces that were moved into that location; some of that, though, just to assist with the normal summer rotation of forces so that they were able to sustain and to continue their current state of operations that they were already conducting. This is not a Fallujah- like operation, if that's what you're alluding to, that's going on out there. But it is a focused effort that they are conducting.
As far as the other 140 raids that were conducted over the last 40 hours -- 48 hours of company size and above -- there are other activities. There's other patrols that are at checkpoints. There's lots and lots of other activities than just that. These are company level and above by Iraqi security forces and coalition forces. And at this point in time, all that I have been personally been made aware of is this one situation up in Baqubah, which was extremely unfortunate where we lost those young children.
Q Just one more follow-up about that one. I think in this statement that was issued on that, there was a senior al Qaeda militant who was, I believe, captured. Can you give us any idea who that might be, or if it was al-Masri?
GEN. CALDWELL: At this point, they're not releasing it, but we have asked to have that information released as soon as they can.
Yes, ma'am?
Q Yeah. Anna Mulrine with U.S. News again.
Following up on that question earlier about the Ramadi operation, you mentioned it's not a Fallujah-like operation right now. Could it become one in the near future? GEN. CALDWELL: I would never speculate or try to box a commander in the ground into whatever they want to do for operations. I mean, they will assess the situation, they will make those determinations, and they will identify the requirements. As I understand it today, you know, it's ongoing operations with an intensified effort, though, looking at Ramadi. The whole intent behind this is to give the time and ability for the Iraqi security forces, specifically in this case the Iraqi police and Iraqi army, the ability to stand up, get organized, and take control of the security situation in Ramadi. I mean, that's what they're trying to set the conditions for out there right now. But I would never predispose and try to dictate to what a commander on the ground will do ahead of time.
Yes, sir?
Q One general question, one very specific. To start with the specific one, among the three men killed at the site, is any one of them liable for a reward under the $25 million ransom payment? And I ask that because one of the statements made by, I believe the prime minister, had a kind of poignant element to it. He said we'd keep our promise. And I just wondered whether that meant that the decision to resort to bombing meant that somebody who had been able to give you positive identification of Zarqawi was in that house, died in the bombing. The specific question.
The general question relates to your raids on al Qaeda targets. We've heard a great deal about the degradation of AQIZ over the past two years. Do you -- can you give us an estimate of what you've done to al Qaeda in the last four or five days as a result of this raid, as to whether you believe that you really have degraded them significantly?
GEN. CALDWELL: As far as the first question goes with respect to rewards, rewards is a Department of State program, and I really need to refer you to the Department of State and ask them to take that question, if they wouldn't mind.
As far as the al Qaeda network, we're, you know, cautiously optimistic that we have been very successful thus far in the ongoing operations over the last five days. But at the same time, you know, we realize this is not going to end the insurgency, and that it's really going to take the people of Iraq making that decision with their Iraqi security forces, both the police and the army standing up and assuming control of the country, and then the people themselves deciding, just like this tip that occurred in the last 48 hours, we were able to capture that one high-value individual because he called it in and reported, and we went to that location and found the person that he had said was there. But the more the Iraqi people continue to take control of their destiny, that will be the key to success in ending this insurgency in Iraq.
Any other questions?
STAFF: Last question.
GEN. CALDWELL: Yes, sir, okay.
Q Yeah, General, the 140 attacks, what percentage did you say -- I didn't hear -- were related to the Zarqawi investigation? And where are they focused? Are they focused in Baghdad or any other particular locale?
GEN. CALDWELL: Based on the intelligence that came off the safe house that night, there was about 11 of them over the last 48 hours that were conducted directly related to or attributable back to the information that came off that site. And most of those -- all of those were conducted either within Baghdad itself or in about probably a -- I didn't look that closely at the map, but probably a 15-, 20- kilometer radius around the city of Baghdad, not out in the outskirts of the country.
Okay.
Q Just before we close it down, could we ask the remote pathologist --
GEN. CALDWELL: Oh yeah, please.
Q -- how long did you take with these autopsies, Doctor, individually? What period of time did it take you to complete them? And are you presently in Iraq? Are you somewhere in Baghdad?
DR. : For the first one, it took us about two and a half to three hours on each autopsy. This excluding, of course, the full-body x-rays because this took some time prior to the autopsy.
As for location, I'm sorry, I can't answer this question.
Q What kind -- sorry. Zarqawi appeared in the video that was made available about three or four weeks ago, in the so-called machine gun video, to be rather a hefty individual. What would you say about his general shape? Was he a fit man or an unfit man at the time of his death?
DR. : I'm sorry, is this a question for me?
Q Yes. GEN. CALDWELL: Yes, it is. That's your question.
DR. : He was fit, but I think he was on the heavy weight side.
GEN. CALDWELL: And if you want, you can give them a general description as to where your local is -- large picture.
DR. : I'm in the United States right now.
GEN. CALDWELL: Okay --
Q Sir, can I ask another question?
GEN. CALDWELL: Sure, go ahead.
One more question for you.
Q Yeah, Doctor, do you have an opinion on whether given the nature of Zarqawi's injuries it was plausible that he would have been able to talk or to say anything before he died?
DR. : To tell you the truth, no, I can't determine that from the autopsy findings. The only thing we noticed right away is that his injuries were not immediately fatal. So all our conclusion after that, we have to depend on the eye-witnesses on site. But from the autopsy, I wouldn't speculate about that.
GEN. CALDWELL: For the pathologist? Okay.
We've got another question for you.
Q Did the autopsy results show any ailments that Zarqawi or Rahman suffered? And also, there was talk that Zarqawi had some sort of lame leg. Did the autopsy results show that?
GEN. CALDWELL: If I could, there are also -- the autopsy does -- excuse me, I'm sorry. But there is a lot more information that came out of the autopsy. Just out of respect for each and every individual, we wanted to really limit the questioning specifically to how he died with respect to this situation. The pathologist does in his report have a lot more information, but we're not -- we didn't really want to discuss the nature of each of those individuals, but how they died with respect to this operation.
Excuse me, I didn't mean to cut you off.
Any other questions?
Q One medical question which I think would be relevant, if it could not be answered now, at a later date, was, was there any evidence that either of these individuals had been a recent user of drugs? DR. : I can take this, sir. I don't know if recent or not. But we collected samples for toxicology, and we will do full toxicology studies like we do in any of our cases.
GEN. CALDWELL: Okay, we'll take that as a due out. We'll look at it.
Okay, well, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
END.
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