CAIRO — The death of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi in a US
air strike was seen by analysts, Democrats and ordinary Americans as
another "mission accomplished" and a golden opportunity for
the Bush administration to say once again "ladies and gentlemen
we got him" in yet another propaganda victory for President
George W. Bush.
They said the announcement on Thursday is a
reminder of the US propaganda of the capture of ousted Iraqi president
Saddam Hussein just to divert public attention from an unpopular war
and the latest American disgraces in Iraq: the killing of innocent
civilians in cold blood.
"So, it's another 'mission
accomplished'," writes famed British columnist Robert Fisk in The
Independent of Friday, June 9.
"The man immortalized by the Americans as the
most dangerous terrorist since the last most dangerous terrorist, is
killed - by the Americans. A Jordanian corner-boy who could not even
lock and load a machine gun is blown up by the US Air Force - and
Messrs Bush and Blair see fit to boast of his demise," he said.
To this have our leaders descended. And how short
are our memories. They seek him here, they seek him there."
Lay people in the United States believe that
Zarqawi's death will have more value for Bush and his supporters that
it will for anyone else.
"A major propaganda victory on the home front,
but, as with Saddam's capture, not much else," says one American
in a discussion forum posted by The Houston Chronicle on Zarqawi's
death.
US warplanes killed Zarqawi in a strike that
President George W. Bush said could help to turn the tide against the
"insurgency," a loose term used by the US military to
describe all armed groups in Iraq, resistance or not, without
distinction.
The Al-Qaeda leader was killed in a joint US-Iraqi
operation helped by tip-offs from Jordanian intelligence.
Vowing to fight on, Al-Qaeda in Iraq confirmed the
death of Zarqawi, who had a $25 million bounty on his head.
The US military released pictures of the corpse of
Zarqawi with facial abrasions and eyes closed. The air strike was
carried out by two F-16 planes, one of which dropped two 500 lb (227
kg) guided bombs onto Zarqawi's "safe house" in Baquba,
north of Baghdad.
Zarqawi is notorious for masterminding a campaign
of bombings that targeted innocent Iraqi civilians and grisly
beheadings.
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"So, it's another 'mission accomplished'," said Fisk.
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Some Democrats said the death of Zarqawi in Iraq
was a stunt to divert attention from a hopeless war and US soldiers'
disgraces in Iraq.
"This is just to cover Bush so he doesn't have
to answer" for Iraqi civilians being killed by the U.S. military
and his own sagging poll numbers, said Rep. Pete Stark, California
Democrat, reported The Washington Times.
"Iraq is still a mess -- get out."
Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio Democrat, said
Zarqawi was a small part of "a growing anti-American
insurgency" and that it is time to get out.
"We're there for all the wrong reasons,"
Kucinich said.
"Where is Osama? Where are the battalions of
trained Iraqis? Doesn't matter, we got this guy, right? We wrote a 25
million check as a reward, and get a new headline to bump off Haditha."
"Just as the American public begins to look
into Haditha, this happens. I'm going to be interested as to how
Bush's approval rating changes, as well as how long we've known where
this guy was," a Democrat told The American Inspectator
newspaper.
In what would be the worst case of abuse by
American soldiers in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, US soldiers are
accused of being involved in a string of cold-blood killing of Iraqi
civilians, including children and women, in the cities of Haditha and
Ishaqi in November and March respectively.
Bush has seen his standing in public opinion polls
plummet to the lowest level for a US president in a generation, with
three in five Americans believing the March 2003 invasion to topple
Saddam was a mistake amid mounting calls for a quick US withdrawal.
With the war set to shape key congressional
elections in November, the White House has sought to emphasize good
news out of Iraq and complain that the US media has improperly focused
on US military deaths in Iraq.
If recent history is an indication, any bump Bush
gets in the polls from Zarqawi's demise might be temporary, reported
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
His popularity rose, but only marginally, in the
days after Saddam's capture on December 13, 2003.
But his ratings tumbled below 50 percent barely two
months later, after confirmation that the weapons of mass destruction
at the core of his public case for war had not been found.
A recent US presidential report revealed that the
United States was "dead wrong" on Iraq’s alleged WMDs and
its officials made the case for invading the oil-rich country despite
intelligence doubts and strong voices of dissent.
Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell regretted
his UN statement making the case for the US-led Iraq invasion, saying
it was a "blot" on his record.
Trumpeted
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Democrats say the announcement was made to divert attention from American soldiers' disgraces in Iraq.
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Zarqawi's death was trumpeted by US administration
officials, American and British media as a great achievement and one
of the most significant developments in Iraq since the capture of
Saddam Hussein 2003.
"Zarqawi's death is a severe blow to Al-Qaeda.
It's a victory in the global war on terror, and it is an opportunity
for Iraq's new government to turn the tide of this struggle,"
Bush said Thursday in the White House Rose Garden.
Asking for patience with the war in Iraq, a
somber-looking Bush said Washington's "difficult and necessary
mission in Iraq" would have to go on.
"Given the nature of the terrorist networks,
the network of networks, the death of Zarqawi, while enormously
important, will not mean the end of all violence of that
country," he cautioned.
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the killing
of Zarqawi was "enormously important" for the fight against
terror in Iraq and around the world.
Zarqawi's killing "should give coalition
forces and the elected Iraqi government a psychological lift,"
The Financial Times wrote.
The Times, The Daily Telegraph and the tabloid
press gave a more bullish assessment of the Zarqawi news.
"This is a moment of extraordinary opportunity
and it must be the mission of Mr Al-Maliki and his allies to ensure
that it becomes a turning point," The Times said in an editorial.
Vicious Circle
Experts further believe that the killing of one of
Al-Qaeda leaders is a "vicious cycle" as the terrorism
phenomenon played well into the hands of the Bush administration,
citing Osama Bin Laden's stunning videotape one day before the
November 2004 US presidential election as a case in point.
They said the US administration would make another
"myth" of Al-Qaeda's successor as it dead with Zarqawi and
Osama Bin Laden.
US Major General William Caldwell was quick to say
Thursday that an Egyptian militant trained in Afghanistan called Abu
Al-Masri, who established the first Al- Qaeda cell in Baghdad, may
succeed Zarqawi as head of the group in Iraq.
US military leaders have been using Iraqi media and
other outlets in Baghdad to publicize Zarqawi's role in the
"insurgency."
Although Zarqawi and other foreigners in Iraq have
conducted deadly bombing attacks, they remain "a very small part
of the actual numbers," Col. Derek Harvey, a former top military
intelligence officer in Iraq, told an Army meeting at Fort
Leavenworth, Kan., last summer.
"Our own focus on Zarqawi has enlarged his
caricature, if you will -- made him more important than he really is,
in some ways."
According to famed American web writer Bill
Weinberg, what failed to dominate the news June 9 were the bombs that
killed at least 31 people in Baghdad.
In the deadliest blast, a roadside bomb in a
crowded market in eastern New Baghdad district killed 13 and wounded
28.
Before Bush's reelection, experts said as long as
Osama bin Laden and his ghostly network, Al-Qaeda, continued to grab
the headlines, Bush was certain to win enough support to stay in the
White House for another four years.
A BBC survey in February found that most people in
33 out of 35 countries worldwide believed the US-led invasion of Iraq
had increased the threat of terrorism worldwide.
