The death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi doesn't mean the fighting in Iraq is over, the terrorists will disappear, or that US troops can pack up and go home. Of course, no one ever said that it would mean any of those things, any more than killing a single enemy general automatically ends a war. The rush by those supposedly on our own side to soft-pedal the enormous achievement of killing a dangerous enemy leader is simply amazing, unparalleled in any previous American conflict.
It's hard to imagine Americans having the same reaction when, say, British-trained Czech partisans assassinated Reinhard Heydrich in 1942. Heydrich, the SS officer who headed the Gestapo and was responsible for organising the Holocaust, was considered a likely successor to Hitler. He was given an elaborate hero's funeral, and his death sparked reprisals that resulted in the deaths of over a thousand men, women and children, including the erasure of an entire Czech village.
Did politicians consider Heydrich's death an excuse to retreat from the war? Did journalists diminish the importance of killing an arch-murderer of innocent people? Did anti-war partisans complain that killing Heydrich would only inspire more Nazis, or that his death was immaterial because hundreds more were just waiting to take his place? Most important, was his assassination considered a wrong move because of Nazi retribution? If anyone did spin Heydrich's death in those ways, they are not remembered. Yet these are the same talking points repeated ad nauseum today by opponents of the war and of President Bush.
If Heydrich's death had been greeted with the same general knee-jerk cynicism we have seen from the Left and the media upon the death of Zarqawi, President Roosevelt would have been under enormous pressure not to deploy troops and tanks to North Africa -- especially in light of the fact that the Japanese were winning battle after battle in the Pacific. If Roosevelt had waited to engage Germany until after defeating Japan, WWII might have been lost to a weakness of will. And so might Iraq and the larger War on Terror, if we listen to the Left.
John Kerry, the latest Democratic Presidential candidate, saw Zarqawi's death as the perfect opportunity to retreat from Iraq as fast as possible... ironically, exactly what Zarqawi was trying to accomplish. Congressman John Murtha (D-PA), who accused Marines of killing civilans in cold blood, continues to call for immediate withdrawal, whether the news from Iraq is good or bad. Representative Pete Stark (D-CA) called Zarqawi's death a "stunt," then said, "Iraq is still a mess -- get out." Most Democratic leaders praised the death of Zarqawi, to be fair, yet added a "but" followed by condemnations of the war and President Bush. Most launched a "strawman" attack by saying "...but his death doesn't end the problems." As I said, no one said that it would.
Zarqawi's death was by no means the end of problems in Iraq, not even the end of terrorism. I think this event does, however, herald a turning point for the Iraqi people. They have lived under the shadow of terrorism since a few months after the fall of Saddam, yet turned out to vote in ever-increasing numbers despite death threats. Every time a bomb killed novice Iraqi police officers, even more would sign up for duty the next day. Despite Zarqawi's attempts to foment a Sunni-vs-Shi'a civil war, the elected leadership successfully formed a coalition government inclusive of all Iraqis. Zarqawi's death can only have a positive effect on Iraq's new government, even though terrorist attacks continue.
In their drive to find or formulate bad news with which to berate President Bush, the Left has sold the Iraqi people short, ignoring their courage and determination in the face of adversity. As discussed during 2002, in the months before the overthrow of Saddam, a democratic Iraq is the beginning of change in the region. Al-Qaeda is right to fear a democratic Iraq. The question is: why do some Americans fear a democratic Iraq?
As the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Zarqawi served as a rallying point and a fundraising icon for terrorists around the world. "The terrorist celeb, if you will," said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), a former FBI agent who serves on the House Intelligence Committee. "It is like selling for any organization. They are selling the success of Zarqawi in eluding capture in Iraq." Besides providing a great morale boost to all Iraqis as well as American troops, Zarqawi's death was a serious blow to al-Qaeda, it would seem. That's not the way the story is reported in the mainstream media, however.
The media is more interested in breathless speculation about Zarqawi's possible successor than American successes, but the (not very) safe house in which Zarqawi spent his last hours yielded a wealth of information about his networks and funding. US and Iraqi forces staged thirty-nine raids the day after Zarqawi's demise alone, based mostly on short-lived information recovered from the scene. Twenty other safe houses were raided, resulting in the capture of even more terrorists and information. There is no way to tell how far exploitation of that material will take us in the fight against terrorist networks and supporters. Hopefully, Baghdad can be secured before al-Qaeda recovers from the near-decapitation of its operations in Iraq.
Most people, however, were simply satisfied to know that the man responsible for such horrific massacres of innocent men, women and children was dead. The only way that news could have been improved upon was if Zarqawi knew who got him before he died. As it turns out, he did survive just long enough to take that knowledge with him into the dark. Good riddance.
