The Jihad Continues

It's now a week since cold-blooded murderer and insurgent leader, Jordanian, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was hunted down and killed by US forces in Iraq. Fighter jets dropped two large bombs on the safe house where he and his 'spiritual adviser' were hiding. This is undoubtedly a hugely welcome development. The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Zarqawi was responsible for personally beheading hostages, dispatching suicide bombers, and inflaming tensions between the Sunni and Shia communities in Iraq. He may be dead; the violence in Iraq continues. At least 24 people were killed in Iraq yesterday according to the Reuters news agency. Three suicide bombers blew themselves up and another was shot dead in an attempt. Unfortunately the insurgency in Iraq - both the Islamic fundamentalists and nationalist fighters - is too well entrenched and committed to their respective causes to be affected by the death of one man, however influencial. Al-Qaida in Iraq named his successor, Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir on Monday.

So where does this leave the War on Terror? A key al-Qaida figure has been assassinated (although it's unclear how close al-Qaida in Iraq is to the main international organisation - especially since frontline fighter al-Zarqawi's prominence was growing in comparison to Osama bin Laden's low profile presumably in Pakistan leading to a rivalry). To the Americans it is a victory. President Bush was quick to pay a flying visit to Baghdad yesterday as much to celebrate this success as to bolster flagging Republican poll ratings before the upcoming mid-term elections in November with a 'good news' story from Iraq. However can there really be victories in this abstract war? No sooner had Zarqawi been killed than his replacement was named within days. Surely there are more recruits being created every day by the coalition occupation of Iraq that will step up to replace him upon his death. This can be seen in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. When Hamas leaders have been assassinated others have replaced them, and now the militant group is more popular than ever, winning this year's election to control the Palestinian Authority. The United States should learn from the example in Palestine.

In a way it's unfortunate that al-Zarqawi hadn't been captured alive and put on trial. The United States successfully prosecuted the so-called 20th 9/11 hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui, sentencing him to life in prison instead of execution; denying him the martyrdom he craved. While a trial of Zarqawi in Iraq would most likely have ended with his death, it would have denied him the instant martyrdom that this assassination will give him in the eyes of some misguided and ignorant people in the Muslim world. Also unfortunate is that this killing seems to have taken the Haditha massacre, perpetrated by US Marines, out of the headlines. Just because the United States had a good day in Iraq last week doesn't mean we should forget about the bad.