Death of A Salesman

The death merchant, known as the Prince to Osama bin Laden, is dead. His safe house destroyed by two 500lb bombs, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq lived for 52 minutes before expiring. The man who believed it acceptable to cut off the heads of those he deemed apostates suffered nowhere near enough to atone for the acts of terror he both committed and inspired. Die he did though, and the world is better off for it. Alone in my living room at 4:00am last Thursday morning, I cheered the news that Musab Abu al-Zarqawi had been killed by US forces. I cheered not only because one of the most vile, murderous, loathsome, evil creatures ever spawned had received his just due, but because his death is sure to have lasting effects, out of context with the death of one man, on the global war on terror.

Much has been made recently of the notion that his particular cell of Al-Qaeda was small, and barely more than a regional player. Pundits from far and wide have weighed in to pontificate on how this will have little to no impact on the war in Iraq, much less the global War on Terror. What is neglected in that opinion is the charismatic, iron-fisted nature of Zarqawi. He ran Al-Qaeda in Iraq with a no nonsense attitude that brooked no dissent. His goal of repelling the infidels from the Middle East was to be accomplished three ways: first, he was an instigator of a rabid, radical Islam that demanded the faithful attack the US and its allies at all points of the globe; second, he trained terrorists in Iraq, (some 300 according to Jordanian security forces), who were then sent back to their home countries to await the time when fomenting terror could exact the most casualties; and third, to attack US forces himself whenever and wherever he could.

His handiwork has been seen in Jordan and in Chechnya. Western intelligence forces confirm that dozens of young, militant Muslim men have been intercepted on their way to fight in Iraq, or stopped while planning to do so. His death, if nothing else, momentarily arrests that flow. His successor, allegedly named yesterday, does not yet hold the charismatic sway among the radicals that Zarqawi did. In the internecine fighting that is sure to develop, considering the vacuum he left behind, his force will be broken into factions and weakened through death, attrition and neglect. When these new factions rise up to make names for themselves they will be forced to crawl out from the cracks that currently shelter them, and it is then that US military force can make its mark. More will be killed, and the remnants will be that less able to wage war.

It is not simply that he led what has been termed a splinter group of Al-Qaeda. Zarqawi was poised to challenge bin Laden directly for, if not operational control, then spiritual control of the worldwide network that is Al-Qaeda. Bin Laden does not specifically order many attacks, but he inspires a great number; one need only look to the recently uncovered plot in Canada to see aspects of both men. To the young would be jihadists Zarqawi, not bin Laden, exemplified the current fighting spirit. Bin Laden, while still revered as a sheik, is seen more as the elder statesman, with Zarqawi as the Islamic warrior on the frontlines. His death, then, leaves the movement without a warrior prince in the mold of Darius. Someone that could physically take the throne from the heretics and infidels is suddenly absent, and no talk of virgins and martyrdom can replace that.

Surely, Zarqawi's death is not the end of anything. In fact, it is sure to spawn a spate of violence that will spike in the coming weeks. What his death changes though, is the dynamic of the conflict. By pushing the advantage, US and Iraqi military forces have a narrow window in which to turn the tide against the less experienced members of not only Al-Qaeda in Iraq, but the network as a whole. It is time to begin the fight we should have started years ago, namely one of no quarter asked, none given. Special Operations forces have started that directive pointedly. Some three dozen raids on suspected terrorist hideouts have been carried out since Zarqawi was killed. It is time to send the message that the sleeping giant is awake. Putting Zarqawi's head on a pike alongside the road to Baghdad may be too much to ask of the Iraqi and coalition forces, but, to take a page from Gen. Black Jack Pershing, we could send a more poignant message. We should, quite publicly, butcher a hog and wrap Zarqawi's remains in its skin, before unceremoniously dumping his body in an unmarked grave. We should then announce that this is the fate that awaits any radical Muslim who attacks us, or our allies. This would directly address terrorists all over the world. You can still play the game, if you wish, but no virgins nor martyrdom await you. You will be revealed to this world, and the afterlife at once, as what you have always been: an unclean, low-rent thug who has done nothing but pervert a religion for your own ends. Only then will we stem the tide of terror and allow freedom loving people everywhere the right to pursue happiness. Only then can we, and those like us, truly be free.