Friday, June 09, 2006

The Sun sets on Zarqawi casting a false dawn over Iraq

The news that the US forces have managed to kill Abu Musab al-Zarqawi will, if anything, only highlight the mistake Bush and Blair made by overstating his importance.

Many on the right, who have bought into Bush's rhetoric that this war on a noun can be won by fighting the terrorists over there "so we don't have to fight them here" will at this moment be thinking that another major corner has been turned.

However, similar to the capture of Saddam, the death of Zarqawi will have almost no effect on the daily death toll in Iraq.

Yesterday President George Bush announced plans to hold an extraordinary meeting in Camp David on Monday to rethink Iraq policy, as the US sought to sustain military and political momentum from Zarqawi's death. The meeting will include senior members of Mr Bush's cabinet, linked by video conference to US military commanders in Baghdad and the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki.

The White House denied that the meeting was aimed at drafting a timetable for troop withdrawal. However, administration officials hope the combined impact of Zarqawi's killing, the intelligence gained from raids on suspected al-Qaida targets and the appointment of three new Iraqi government ministers, has the potential to tip the war in America's favour.

This is simply Bush attempting to shore up his ailing poll numbers by being seen to "take action".

Even by describing this as a possible tipping point is a further example of the the administration's tendency to overstate Zarqawi's importance.

The real significance of his death is how it will effect Bush's hard-line supporters who have believed his rhetoric. I imagine, considering that he is slumped in the low thirties, that only the most rabid are still supporting him and that nothing will deflect from their enthusiasm. But it will be interesting to watch if the continuing violence causes any of them to reflect on the version of events that they have been sold and the gigantic chasm between that world view and the reality that is Iraq.

I used to say that this was the worst British foreign policy intervention since Suez. I have rethought this and decided that my initial conclusion was actually too generous.

This is worse than Suez.

And in the nightmare that is Iraq the death of Zarqawi don't amount to a whole tin of beans.

Click title for Guardian article.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

And in the nightmare that is Iraq

I know. I too long for the halcyon days of Saddam, Uday and Qusay.

Kel said...

There are actually many ways in which it can be argued that Iraqis were better off under Saddam.

Certainly if you are a female. Saddam wouldn't have allowed Sharia law that permits husbands to beat their wives.

The new regime is talking of introducing just that law.

Anonymous said...

Ben Johnson, at FrontPage, makes some interesting points about Zarqawi including taking on some of the common but vacuous assumptions of the Left:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=22865

Kel said...

The vacuous presumption is actually Mr Johnson's as even Bush has admitted that Zarqawi's death will make little difference.

I suppose you war supporters must cling to anything that gives you hope.