It was with a certain amount of measured optimism that the White House and Iraqi government announced the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi yesterday. Certainly the U.S. military could be justly proud that one of their most important missions for public relations had gone right and that an avowed and dangerous enemy of the United States was put out of commission for good.
But in the great scheme of things, will this make any difference? Zarqawi's followers are already praising his name and thanking Allah that he died as a martyr. His designated successor(s) will take over and the war will continue. If anything, we will see an upsurge of violence and deaths as revenge and retribution is added to the hatred of the insurgents. When will it all end? How can it all end?
I think it was a travesty to call this current action a "War" on terror just as it was to call previous efforts a "war" on drugs or a "war" on poverty. Drugs, poverty, and terror have always been around as long as there has been civilization and there doesn't appear to be any reason that they will soon disappear. At what point do we declare victory? Do we change campaign slogans and let the war die as we did with the war on poverty? Or do we maintain a continuous, low level effort as we are with the war on drugs?
I'm hopeful that Zarqawi's death will mean something to the Iraqis - maybe show them that none of their enemies is invincible. Maybe they'll be able to rally around some show of justice and pull together enough that we can start bringing our troops home. Maybe this will be the excuse to start declaring (again) "Mission Accomplished."
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