09 June 2006
Zarqawi’s Death Doesn’t Matter
The “extermination” of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi does too little, too late for the establishment of order in Iraq. He was successful instructing the competing factions in that country how to use terrorism to achieve their parochial goals. Yes, he took sides in that struggle – targeting Shia victims, after first making a name for himself by kidnapping and beheading American symbols of occupation. Nevertheless, his primary accomplishment was to show all the national communities in Iraq that they did not have to acquiesce to imposed combination within artificial borders, if only they take matters into their own disruptive hands.
Now Zarqawi is a martyr. You can’t win against Islamic terrorism by fighting its perpetrators. The only solution is painstakingly to convince their followers that life matters, and to assure that the joys of living are within their reach.
The “extermination” of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi does too little, too late for the establishment of order in Iraq. He was successful instructing the competing factions in that country how to use terrorism to achieve their parochial goals. Yes, he took sides in that struggle – targeting Shia victims, after first making a name for himself by kidnapping and beheading American symbols of occupation. Nevertheless, his primary accomplishment was to show all the national communities in Iraq that they did not have to acquiesce to imposed combination within artificial borders, if only they take matters into their own disruptive hands.
Now Zarqawi is a martyr. You can’t win against Islamic terrorism by fighting its perpetrators. The only solution is painstakingly to convince their followers that life matters, and to assure that the joys of living are within their reach.
Comments:
Post a Comment
