Say Goodbye To A Psychopath

I cannot lie. Seeing Abu al-Zarqawi's pale, white, blood-stained, very dead face all over the news today is bringing a smile to my face. I remember how angry it made me to see pictures of this coward, this former street thug, in his dark fatigues and hand-made "Al Qaeda in Iraq" sign, raising a long sword to take the life of innocent people, like Nick Berg, who were in Iraq for altruistic reasons. I have been waiting a long time for karma to come full circle and rain shit down on this pig. I'm happy today.

A sadistic psychopath, Zarqawi used the most primitive, gruesome means to carry out his executions. After reciting a boring tirade against the United States and the West, he and his followers would mercilessly torture, and then behead, their bound, helpless victims. They videotaped the whole, grotesque scene, including the victims' death throes, and then posted video clips of same on the Internet for the entire world to see. The whole thing was a sick combination of the medieval and modern. It got so bad, that even Osama had to tell this lunatic to tone it down, because his high profile murders were alienating Muslims who might otherwise sympathize with Al Qaeda's Islamist goals. It is widely believed that Zarqawi's unpopularity is the reason why he adopted a lower profile over the last year or so and went underground to work on fanning the flames of an Iraqi civil war. Apparently, his profile wasn't low enough.

This day was long, long overdue. I hope that the death of Zarqawi and his "spiritual advisor" brings some semblance of solace to the families of the victims who died at his hands. Kudos to the U.S. military for taking out the garbage. And to the Iraqis who reported where this cockroach was hiding. Without them, we would never have found him. I think it's safe to say that Zarqawi's death is further evidence that Iraqis want their country back. By that I mean, they want everyone out: Al Qaeda, Islamists, the United States, Iran, and Syria. Get the fuck out! I hope we accommodate them soon.

The only sad part of today is that in the United States we now have to watch Republicans and Democrats jockey for political position on this good news. From the stench in the air, I can already smell the consultants, who already are hard at work spinning Zarqawi's death in their paying clients' favor.

Bush, of course, needed this good news quite badly. Right now, he is a thirsty, sunburned trekker, crawling slowly on his knees through the hot, baking desert of a Presidency gone badly awry. His famous confidence and "swagger" are shattered, and his friends are now far and few between. His own party is keeping its distance from him. Zarqawi's death isn't going to change much. It's just a sip of water on the dry, parched lips of our lonely desert traveler. The war is still a mess, and unfortunately, because of this, it will probably get worse. (So far, 25 people have been killed in Baghdad today.) The vultures are still circling.

But the Democrats are even more pathetic. I can't wait to see what their take on this is. I wonder how many of them are actually disappointed deep down because they are worried about what impact this fantastic news is going to have on their own political fortunes in November. It's like when Saddam was caught. "Things were going so damn well, why did this have to happen now?" "How much of a boost do you think the Republicans are going to get out of this?" I can just hear it now.

Third party, anyone?