Zarqawi is Dead; Insurgency Withers
Seriously, how significant might Zarqawi's death be? Could it be as important as Stonewall Jackson's death was in the Civil War? Of course that suggests that the insurgency will lose in a year or two, so the comparison is a bit strained right there.
posted by ziel | 6/08/2006 08:05:00 AM
4 Comments:
I believe that the appropriate word is "wither" not "whither" though that is just a minor issue.
It seems doubtful that this will slow or diminish the insurgency short term but it may have a positive long term impact.
The general experience is that someone will step up and try to prove worthiness as a new leader, possibly with increased violence, but that ultimately the weakness of the "B" team will become clear and the organization will suffer.
He may have been a power hungry, maniacal bastard (Rumsfeld?) but he apparently had some organizational strength based on the last several months.
This is clearly a good thing and I'm sure Bush will juice it for all it is worth ("I told them to look in the closets") and will get some positive press out of this (and they may deserve a bit)but nothing substantial changes in Iraq: money down the drain, kids (and Dads) killed and nothing accomplished.
Can we leave now????
@: So when they found the guy he looked exactly like he did in the wanted pictures, why wasn't he disguised at all?
He had a rather distinctive look and he is just traveling around without changing it. It appeared not even modest changes had been made while he's got a $25 million price on his head and the U.S. military is looking for him. Weird.
Steve N.
Stonewall Jackson's death had little to no impact on the result of the Civil War. Nothing could have stopped the inexorable grinding down of the South by the North once Grant took command and coordinated the campaigns in all the military theaters. The industrial might and suffocating blockade of Southern ports by the North was like an implacable vice on the Confederate jugular cord.
Even if Jackson's presence had resulted in a victory at Gettysburg, which is doubtful, Lee's army would have been in hostile country, outnumbered by at least a 3:2 margin. It would have been merely a matter of time before he had to head back to Northern Virginia and awaited Grant's deliberate but irresitable campaign.
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