U.S. troops beat him

The mystery of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's sudden death after surviving a pair of 500-pound bombs dropped on his house became a little clearer today when Iraqi troops said they watched U.S. Marines savagely beat the wounded terror bogeyman.

"The witness said he saw the man lying on the ground, badly wounded but still alive," AP Television News reported today.

"He said U.S. troops arriving on the scene wrapped the man's head in an Arab robe and began beating him. His account cannot be independently verified."

The Pentagon argued that the Marines were there to "provide medical attention," which apparently resulted in the conscious, alert Zarqawi being dead within moments of their arrival at the scene.