ZARQAWI'S DEATHA 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.