The Chronic Curmudgeon

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June 08, 2006

Zarqawi Doin'?

So al-Qaeda's top man in Iraq, Abu Musab Zarqawi, is apparently dead this morning, killed in an American bombing raid. You'll pardon me if I don't proclaim "Oh frubjous day!" and pull a muscle while celebrating too vigorously and acting like this is a huge deal.

First of all and out front, I am glad when anyone belonging to the infestation that is al Qaeda dies. It's not that I have any sympathy for Zarqawi, it's just that I don't see his "termination" as the massive victory the administration will surely play it as.

For starters, Zarqawi is not Osama bin Laden. You remember him? The guy who five years ago organized and financed the murder of more than 3,000 innocent people? The guy George W. Bush swore would be captured "dead or alive?" Unfortunately, W's promise turned out to be hollow, as he discarded his pursuit of bin Laden for a futile and unrelated oil war in Iraq; he was like a kid on Christmas morning, excited about all the new toys for 20 minutes, then going back to play with his old favorite while leaving the shiny new toys abandoned under the tree. You want me to celebrate the death of an al-Qaeda figure as a major -- if merely symbolic -- US victory? Get bin Laden. (And not in October as a desperate act of political salvation, either.)

Secondly, while Zarqawi is was a henious, evil terrorist who created chaos and sowed death, let's not forget that he did so in an arena of George W. Bush's creation. Bush's false premise-based invasion of Iraq in 2003 caused the vaccuum in which Zarqawi thrived; had we all not been misled into war by a lying president, Zarqawi would likely have never reached the zenith that he did as a terrorist leading figure. Hell, had we actually, you know, finished the job we started and actually carried out a war on terror/al Qaeda instead of splitting our forces and resources in the false war, it's possible we'd have killed Zarqawi three years ago. There's nothing like deliberately spilling milk, then wanting credit for breaking out the paper towels and mopping it up, eh W?

But finally, here's the thing -- the most tragic thing about the missed opportunity Bush's war cost us: al Qaeda doesn't stop. The death of one figure isn't going to impact their operations. Even bin Laden's death, which I admittedly openly cheerlead for, would be laregly symbolic and wouldn't put an end to the threat or the attacks. The only way to ever stop al Qaeda is to 1) exterminate every last damn one of the existing members from the face of the Earth (which we opted not to pursue in favor of Bush's phony war), and 2) address the root causes that lead young men to join fundamentalist terror groups in the first place (i.e., the conduct of Middle Eastern governments for their own self-enrichment and self-preservation at the expense of their people, the clamp-downs on freedom and opportunity, the abject poverty that their own governments cause -- all while conveniently scapegoating Israel and the US for their issues and turning a knowing but blind eye at Wa'habism and other hatred-fostering movements).

The death of Abu Masab al-Zarqawi doesn't accomplish that. It may give Bush and his administration a trophy to parade out to the world; I'm sure this morning's press conference will be filled with testosterone-laden talk about how this proves that we will hunt down the evil-doers wherever they are and eventually bring them to justice. But in the end, nothing in Iraq will change for his being dead. The violence will continue; the insurgency will keep attacking US forces. And we still created the vaccuum in which he operated and they continue to operate.

No trophy kill changes those basic facts.

Posted by Christopher on June 8, 2006 07:16 AM

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Comments

Posted by: Liz at June 8, 2006 10:52 AM

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