Friday, June 09, 2006
HAPPY KIDS
Email from a US soldier in Iraq:
We were out on a mission when Z-man went to the Big Jihad in the Sky. Pulled into a village to do a hearts and minds (and intel) gig, and were instantly surrounded by dozens of kids. That’s common, but the kids saying “Mister, mister! Zarqawi! Zarqawi!” and pulling their index fingers across their throats most certainly is not.
Ha! Looks like those kids aren’t among the disaffected. Today’s editorial in The Australian:
While Iraqis by and large cheered Zarqawi’s death, in some corners of the West, reaction was sadly, if predictably, more mixed. In the US, a few anti-war congressional Democrats dismissed Zarqawi’s killing as a stunt. Many media outlets looking for a contrary news grab on the terrorist leader’s passing were quick to point to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s statement that “we cannot pretend (Zarqawi’s death) will mean the end of the violence”. Tellingly, they played down or ignored the rest of his statement, in which Mr Annan – who opposed the invasion of Iraq – said “it is a relief that such a heinous and dangerous man who has caused so much harm to the Iraqis is no longer around”.
The Palestinians, true to form, did themselves no favours in the wake of Zarqawi’s death. The ruling Hamas faction proclaimed Zarqawi, the man responsible for the deaths of so many Arabs and Muslims, a “martyr of the (Muslim Arab) nation”. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Paul McGeough, who in 2004 was convinced that interim Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi shot suspected insurgents in cold blood for sport, yesterday opened his dispatch on Zarqawi’s death wondering if the terrorist was dead. But perhaps the most bizarre reaction to Zarqawi’s death came from Robert Fisk.
Read on. (Regarding Fisk, incidentally, a crucial matter of his place in internet history now appears to be resolved.) Commenter Saltydog, whose nephew was recently killed in Iraq, posts this:
I wanted to thank everyone for their kind words on the death of my nephew. I figured I couldn’t pick a better place than one of the wonderful threads about the death of the bastard Abooooo Al, AKA the Zarkman. You have no idea how it has lifted the spirits of my family to see him dead! It was almost like he was taken out just to give us solace. In a way, it was!
My family sends its thanks as well. (A friend emailed the thread to me and my sister.) It is stunning to think that people half a world away mourn our loss with us. Thank you all. You will never know how your words have touched us, especially me.
Now go party hardy. Give an extra toast for Charley-O, for no one would be happier the bastard is dead than he would have been.
Will do, Salty. Prime Minister John Howard deals with the martyrdom question during an interview with the ABC’s Jon Faine:
FAINE: And the risk is he becomes a martyr to the cause.
PRIME MINISTER: Well of course. But you’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t. That’s not a reason for letting him go on. He becomes a hero. And I still think when you are dealing with terrorists, a live hero to the terrorists is a bigger threat than a dead martyr.
Great answer.