As
General Wiliam Odom (pdf, great article) pointed out long ago, and
General Robert Scales, former head of the Army War College, reiterated this morning, foreign fighters are a
miniscule part of the insurgency (four to 10 percent by our own military intelligence estimates), and, in fact, were disdained by native Iraqi insurgent groups.
Odom has noted a number of times that foreign jihadists were likely to be either wiped out or forced to leave the country upon a U.S. withdrawal -- completely undercutting the administration's claims that Iraq is "the central front in the global war on terror" or that Iraq would become a "haven for terrorists" -- because the native Iraq insurgency had no use for them beyond fighting the American and "coalition" forces in the country.
Zarqawi's death underscores Odom's point.
The native Iraq insurgency and civil war is a wholly seperate entity from Zarqawi's operation, much larger in scope and depth, as Case pointed out this morning in his NPR interview, linked above.
(more)
Denying that there is civil war in Iraq is denying reality. Zarqawi was a very small part of that civil war.
So while it was good news that this true terrorist is no longer able to direct attacks against both coalition forces and the Iraqi citizenry, the truth is his killing may have as much effect on what ultimately happens in Iraq as the capture of Saddam Hussein.
So three cheers of the killing of a terrorist. But don't pretend this event has larger implications for Iraq stability.
That's a pipe dream.
More of our fighting men and women will die. And many more Iraqis will die.
And the neocon trainwreck will continue on its merry way, unabated, Zarqawi or no Zarqawi.