Target: Zarqawi

“It’s only a matter of time before Zarqawi is taken down.”
— Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, the U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, to reporters (May 4)

“Under my leadership and that of our brothers in other tribes, we are getting close to the shelter of this terrorist. We will capture him soon.”
— Osama al-Jadaan, a leader of the Karabila tribe along the Syrian border, to AP (March 9)

“His days are numbered.”
— U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, to reporters (Nov. 21, 2005)

“His days in Iraq are numbered.”
— Gen. John Abizaid to Senate armed services committee (March 1, 2005)

“Hopefully in a very short period of time nobody will hear about Zarqawi or his group.”
— Interim Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib to reporters (Feb. 3, 2005)

“My guess is he’s going to be captured soon.”
— then Fox analyst (now White House spokesman) Tony Snow on “The O’Reilly Factor” (Oct. 26, 2004)

“I would hope that that hit we had on Fallujah this afternoon at that safe house got Zarqawi.”
— American Enterprise Institute’s James Lilley on MSNBC’s “Scarborough Country” (June 22, 2004)