Straw Man

Missing from the hoopla over the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the fact that there was no such insurgency, nor much less Al-Qaeda influence, in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. All of it stems from a U.S. invasion and occupation based on George W. Bush's lies.

So, in effect, Bush has simply destroyed the straw man he set up as a whipping boy for his right-wing voters. You know, the gullible guys (they're mostly guys) who are now cheering as if this were a football game.

The next shoe to drop -- wait for it -- will be when the Bushies spring a "surprise" attack on Osama bin Laden in October, as close as possible to congressional elections ... or is Osama being saved as the October surprise of the 2008 presidential election?

Everybody does know that the Bushies are saving Osama for the best news cycle propaganda-wise, right?

This isn't historical drama: it's a transparent ploy by a president whose war policy is opposed by two-thirds of the electorate.

In fact, already the conventional analysts are saying they don't expect the insurgency to abate one whit. Although they claim to be Christian, the Bushies forget the lesson of the 2nd century writer Tertullian, who wrote, "the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church."

Indeed, according to the Jerusalem Post, Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri has proclaimed al-Zarqawi a martyr. "God bless the prophet of Islam in Iraq, the persistent hero of Islam, the Holy Warriors Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," al-Zawahri said, "who are confronting crusaders and their apostate aids and the merchants of religion."

Not only is there no abatement, but the Al-Qaeda no. 2 is calling for a rejection of a Palestinian referendum and for more violence in Darfur in response to UN intervention. "I call upon every Muslim and everyone who has faith in Sudan, and every fervent Muslim in Darfur to confront the Zionist Crusader plot to occupy the lands of Islam," he said.

Far from solving anything, this new murder dressed up as an act of bravado and bluster, will ensure that "mission accomplished" will be the last thing ever said of Bush's misadventure in Iraq.