What’s the Impact?
In what is destined to become a classic understatement, Newsweek subtitles their aricle Face of the Enemy about the death of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi Zarqawi’s many roles in the Iraqi tragedy suggest his deminse may have side effects that are very difficult to predict. One thing we can be fairly certain of is that his death will not make all the other terrorists go home and decide to play nicely with others, while not beheading or blowing them up.
This entire article is well worth reading. Fighting terrorism is not nearly as easy as we want to think. The level of force that is necessary is very large, and the cost is high. Strategic mistakes are very costly. Don’t assume too much from the death of one leader.