Exit Zarqawi

Bush's best Iraq excuse

By ADAM REILLY | June 8, 2006

SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY: Zarqawi legitimized Bush's Iraq rationale

Think the Iraq War was a bad idea? You and me both, cowboy. But if you’re not cheering the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, you’ve got a screw loose. Check out this run-down of Zarqawi’s handiwork. Getto the one about Zarqawi sending a car bomb into a group of kids getting candy from US soldiers, and even the most pious observer should get a hint of satisfaction at Zarqawi's death. Anyone who presides over this much bloodshed doesn’t deserve to live.

Having said that, as the scramble to assess Zarqawi’s legacy continues apace, it’s worth highlighting the grotesque symbiotic relationship he shared with President George W. Bush. Without the Bush Administration’s negligent management of post-Saddam Iraq, Zarqawi couldn’t have been as brutally effective as he was. And Zarqawi? He returned the favor by legitimizing Bush’s conflation of 9/11 with the Iraq invasion. Saddam in bed with al Qaeda? Fight the terrorists there so we don’t fight them here? These arguments were utter bullshit when the US invaded, but the mayhem perpetrated by Zarqawi made them a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hell, Zarqawi was even kind enough to change his network’s name from Monotheism and Holy War Group (boring!) to Al-Qaeda in Iraq back in 2004, thereby co-opting terrorism’s hottest brand and bolstering Bush’s defense of the Iraq venture in one fell swoop.

The dark hatred that fueled Zarqawi’s project won’t vanish with his death. If we’re lucky, though, Zarqawi’s replacement(s) won’t have his knack for setting Sunni against Shiite and killing and maiming en masse. Time will tell. In the meantime, we can all indulge in some dark enjoyment of the more absurd aspects of Zarqawi’s death, as newscasters everywhere struggle to correctly pronounce his name (gamely fought, Dolores Handy!) and US soldiers use photos that look to have been framed at a Sears Portrait Studio to prove he’s dead. A fittingly undignified end for a loathsome human.

Topics: News Features , Politics, U.S. Politics, George W. Bush, More

| More

Most Popular

The Current Issue

Table of Contents

Cover Archive

Masthead | Authors | Contact us

Blogs

Where To Follow Me
Talking Politics | March 24, 2013 at 11:09 AM

Mo Takes His Turn
March 21, 2013 at 12:59 PM

[Q&A] KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko on art, Columbine and having balls
On The Download | March 18, 2013 at 3:22 PM

See this film series: The Belmont World Film Series @ Studio Cinema in Belmont
Outside The Frame | March 18, 2013 at 11:00 AM

See this film: This is Spinal Tap [with post-film talk by expert from Acoustical Society of America] @ the Coolidge
March 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM

More Information

060609_zarqawi_side

Briefing video (Windows Media)

Air Strike video (Windows Media)

ARTICLES BY ADAM REILLY

BULLY FOR BU! | March 12, 2010
After six years at the Phoenix , I recently got my first pre-emptive libel threat. It came, most unexpectedly, from an investigative reporter. And beyond the fact that this struck me as a blatant attempt at intimidation, it demonstrated how tricky journalism's new, collaboration-driven future could be.

STOP THE QUINN-SANITY! | March 03, 2010
The year is still young, but when the time comes to look back at 2010's media lowlights, the embarrassing demise of Sally Quinn's Washington Post column, "The Party," will almost certainly rank near the top of the list.

RIGHT CLICK | February 19, 2010
Back in February 2007, a few months after a political neophyte named Deval Patrick cruised to victory in the Massachusetts governor's race with help from a political blog named Blue Mass Group (BMG) — which whipped up pro-Patrick sentiment while aggressively rebutting the governor-to-be's critics — I sized up a recent conservative entry in the local blogosphere.

RANSOM NOTES | February 12, 2010
While reporting from Afghanistan two years ago, David Rohde became, for the second time in his career, an unwilling participant rather than an observer. On October 29, 1995, Rohde had been arrested by Bosnian Serbs. And then in November 2008, Rohde and two Afghan colleagues were en route to an interview with a Taliban commander when they were kidnapped.

POOR RECEPTION | February 08, 2010
The right loves to rant against the "liberal-media elite," but there's one key media sector where the conservative id reigns supreme: talk radio.