US military officer Major-General William Caldwell points to a framed picture of the dead Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, during a US military briefing in Baghdad. The US military predicted that slain Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would be succeeded by an Egyptian-born lieutenant known as Abu al-Masri.(AFP/Ahmad al-Rubaye)Well, it was bound to happen. This is from Yahoo News:
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose bloody campaign of beheadings and suicide bombings made him the most-wanted terrorist in
Iraq, was killed when U.S. warplanes dropped 500-pound bombs on his isolated safe house, officials said Thursday. His death was a long-sought victory in the war in Iraq.
The targeted air strike Wednesday evening was the culmination of a two-week-long hunt for al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. Tips from senior militants within the network led U.S. forces to follow al-Zarqawi's spiritual adviser to the safe house, 30 miles outside Baghdad, for a meeting with the terror leader. The adviser, Sheik Abdul Rahman, was among seven aides also killed.
It was bound to happen. The American military has been hunting high and low in Iraq for Zarqawi, and for the past three years Zarqawi has been able to stay one step ahead of the American military. Here it is not a question of if Zarqawi would be captured or killed, but when.
What's the Bush White House saying about Zarqawi's death? How's this story from Fox News:
WASHINGTON — President Bush on Thursday said Iraqi and U.S. forces have "delivered justice to the most wanted terrorist in Iraq" after officials confirmed that the most wanted terrorist in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed.
"Through his every action, he sought to defeat America and our coalition partners and turn Iraq into a safe haven from which Al Qaeda could wage its war on free nations," Bush said during remarks made in the White House Rose Garden. "Now Zarqawi has met his end and this violent man will never murder again."
"Zarqawi was the operational command of the terrorist movement in Iraq. He led a campaign of car bombings, assassinations and suicide attacks that has taken the lives of many American forces and thousands of innocent Iraqis," Bush continued, adding that Usama bin Laden even called his recruit, "the prince of Al Qaeda in Iraq."
Although Zarqawi is dead, Bush warned that the "difficult and necessary" work in Iraq must continue as that country settles in with its new government that still faces seemingly increasing sectarian violence. Although that violence may continue, "the ideology of hate" that Zarqawi espoused has lost a key voice, the president added.
"Zarqawi's death is a severe blow to Al Qaeda, it's a victory in the global War on Terror and it's an opportunity for Iraq's new government to turn the tide of this struggle."Map locating the Iraqi town of Baquba where al-Qaeda militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in an air strike.(AFP)
First, it doesn't surprise me that the Bush administration is playing this up as a major victory in their Great War on Terrorism. In fact, you can almost say that the Bush White House is making this into another political turning point in the Iraq war--stay the course! We are winning the war in Iraq!
And that is where the Bush administration is completely and totally wrong. Zarqawi's death may be a tactical victory in the Iraq war--considering the coordination of intelligence gathering, communications and coordination between the different branches of the U.S. military, and the incredible good luck of striking the target while Zarqawi was still there--but in the overall strategic view in the Iraq war, Zarqawi's death is meaningless. First, Zarqawi has already developed the al Qaida network that is engaged in its low-tech insurgency against the American occupation forces. President Bush claims that Zarqawi was the "operational command of the terrorist movement in Iraq." And that could be true that Zarqawi was the operational command of al Qaida in Iraq--back in 2003. But al Qaida has reorganized its command and control network from a centralized system into a decentralized system, after the U.S. invaded and smashed al Qaida in Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11. Zarqawi would have certainly known that and would have set up the Iraqi al Qaida network with a decentralized command and control. Killing al-Zarqawi would not have caused a disruption of al Qaida communications with its various terror cells, or would have disrupted al Qaida operations. Once the al Qaida network was set up in Iraq, Zarqawi could let the network run on its own and concentrate on the propaganda side of rallying troops and inciting anger and violence within the Middle East. So President Bush's claims that Zarqawi was the "operational command of the terrorist movement in Iraq," is a complete and utter fabrication to both claim to the American public that progress is being made in the Iraq war, and to drum up the American public's deteriorating support for the war.
This is not to say that Zarqawi's death is meaningless. In the short-run, Zarqawi's death certainly has resulted in some chaos and confusion within the al Qaida network in Iraq. And Zarqawi has also provided his own ideas regarding strategy and tactics during this insurgency--al Qaida has lost that advantage in the Iraq war. But al Qaida fighters are not going to be demoralized, or a ready to lay down their arms and surrender, just because the U.S. was able to kill Zarqawi. Zarqawi's death at the hands of the U.S., elevates him to a martyr status. And as a martyr, al Qaida can use Zarqawi's name to recruit more young Muslim fighters throughout the Middle East into their cause.
In the end, Zarqawi's death is a Catch-22 situation for the U.S. There are both positive and negative consequences towards this strike against the top al Qaida leader in Iraq. The problem is that both these positive and negative consequences of Zarqawi's death are negated due to the quagmire of this U.S. war in Iraq. Iraq is a foreign society, with a foreign culture, and a foreign religion. It has become a colony of the U.S., with the American military becoming and occupation force. The people of Iraq, as well as the people of the entire Middle Eastern society, want this American occupation to end. While Zarqawi may be gone now, this low tech insurgency will continue to be a meat grinder for young American lives, and will cause a great loss of American treasure. There is no way we can win this war in Iraq.
And one final comment here. Does anyone remember who this guy is?
Who is this guy, and where could we find him? REUTERS/U.S. District Court/HandoutFunny how he seems to have dropped off the Bush administration's GWOT radar....
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