Now, here's a timely idea....

U.S. Creates Task Force to Target Al-Zarqawi

WASHINGTON — U.S. military planners have assembled a special task force charged with finding and neutralizing Jordanian terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (search), U.S. officials told FOX News.

Known as Task Force 626, the operation is assembled along the same lines as that of Task Force 121 (search), which searched months before capturing Saddam Hussein and is still hunting Usama bin Laden.

Task Force 626 is smaller than its higher-profile sibling but is similarly made up of CIA operatives, special operations troops from the Navy and the Army, and a handful of investigators.

Members of 626 have fanned out in areas ranging from Baghdad to Fallujah and other areas in the contested al Anbar province in search of al-Zarqawi. While al-Zarqawi is still at large, officials say the task force and other military units have been very successful in eliminating many leaders of his group's leadership.

Many key al-Zarqawi figures have been "whacked," one official told FOX News, citing the missile strike that took out al-Zarqawi's spiritual guide and advisor late last week.

Officials believe they may have taken out as much as half of the members of the senior leadership of al-Zarqawi's group, Tawhid and Jihad (search) — whose name is loosely translated as "Monotheism and Holy War," but they caution that the group harbors many more figures who could rise up and take their places.

One can only wonder why it took this long. While it is true we have done his infrastructure a fair amount of damage, it has seemed like we have not been as aggressive as we need to be in pursuit of Al-Zarqawi. I presume finding him will be far easier than Saddam. In Saddam's case we had a man who had help both from those who loved him and those who feared him. He had a bankroll and was not involved with high-level tactical command and control functions.

If Al-Zarqawi is trying to fight the war he will undoubtedly be easier to find. And the sooner the better.