Friday, June 09, 2006
ZARQAWI'S DEATH
A few brief comments about the death of al Qaida terrorist leader and loose cannon Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
First, let me congratulate the military personnel in Iraq, at CENTCOM, in the IC who worked long and hard on this difficult operation. You pulled off a genuine coup for which you have not gotten adequate thanks or credit in the media or the blogosphere. Fantastic work !
And yes, the Bush administration deserves credit as well.
Secondly, the unseemly rush among pundits, partisans, cynics, politicians like Representative Pete Stark (D-Cal.) and carpet-chewing, mentally unbalanced, haters of the Bush administration to screech how Zarqawi's death is irrelevant, a political stunt or a hoax is revolting as well as stupid. Yes, Zarqawi will be replaced. Admiral Yamamoto was replaced as a commander by the Japanese Imperial War Cabinet when we shot his plane out of the sky, but his death was still a great day for the Allies and a blow to the Japanese.
I'm sorry that some on the Left are so obsessed with George W. Bush that American victories cause them to feel depressed and bitter, but the fact they they are blindly partisan fools shouldn't be allowed to detract from the accomplishment of the troops. No, this isn't everyone on the Left or even a majority but it isn't a fringe sentiment either.
Thirdly, overselling or overhyping the long-range implications of Zarqawi's death, as some Bush administration officials were doing yesterday, is unwise and undercuts the real benefits derived from killing Zarqawi.
Fourth, that Zarqawi may have been betrayed " from the inside" is no surprise. Bin Laden's career as a terrorist mastermind was launched most likely by complicity in the death of his friend, patron and mentor Abdullah Azzam at the hands of other Islamist radicals ( most likely affiliated with his second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri). There is no honor among thieves or takfiri extremists either.
All in all, a great day. ¶ 7:26 AM
A few brief comments about the death of al Qaida terrorist leader and loose cannon Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
First, let me congratulate the military personnel in Iraq, at CENTCOM, in the IC who worked long and hard on this difficult operation. You pulled off a genuine coup for which you have not gotten adequate thanks or credit in the media or the blogosphere. Fantastic work !
And yes, the Bush administration deserves credit as well.
Secondly, the unseemly rush among pundits, partisans, cynics, politicians like Representative Pete Stark (D-Cal.) and carpet-chewing, mentally unbalanced, haters of the Bush administration to screech how Zarqawi's death is irrelevant, a political stunt or a hoax is revolting as well as stupid. Yes, Zarqawi will be replaced. Admiral Yamamoto was replaced as a commander by the Japanese Imperial War Cabinet when we shot his plane out of the sky, but his death was still a great day for the Allies and a blow to the Japanese.
I'm sorry that some on the Left are so obsessed with George W. Bush that American victories cause them to feel depressed and bitter, but the fact they they are blindly partisan fools shouldn't be allowed to detract from the accomplishment of the troops. No, this isn't everyone on the Left or even a majority but it isn't a fringe sentiment either.
Thirdly, overselling or overhyping the long-range implications of Zarqawi's death, as some Bush administration officials were doing yesterday, is unwise and undercuts the real benefits derived from killing Zarqawi.
Fourth, that Zarqawi may have been betrayed " from the inside" is no surprise. Bin Laden's career as a terrorist mastermind was launched most likely by complicity in the death of his friend, patron and mentor Abdullah Azzam at the hands of other Islamist radicals ( most likely affiliated with his second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri). There is no honor among thieves or takfiri extremists either.
All in all, a great day. ¶ 7:26 AM
Comments:
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Hi Sonny,
The kudos were more than deserved.
And I think the "disconnection" of which you speak is from the larger American society. Their moral attachment is toward like-minded individuals, including those overseas, who share their worldview and not their fellow citizens or nation-state per se.
The new transnationalism requires at most, holding a neutral, skeptical, critical attitude toward one's own country while extending the benefit of the doubt to all others, even to a ridiculous extreme. Here's an MSM example:
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/820
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The kudos were more than deserved.
And I think the "disconnection" of which you speak is from the larger American society. Their moral attachment is toward like-minded individuals, including those overseas, who share their worldview and not their fellow citizens or nation-state per se.
The new transnationalism requires at most, holding a neutral, skeptical, critical attitude toward one's own country while extending the benefit of the doubt to all others, even to a ridiculous extreme. Here's an MSM example:
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/820
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