Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead!

No, unfortunately, not Ann Coulter. Although she is truly a witch, having gone on national TV recently to promote her most recent book, in which she claims that the 9/11 widows are "self obsessed" and celebrity-seeking "broads" who are "enjoying" their husbands' deaths "so much." She also refers to the widows as "witches" and asks, "how do we know their husbands weren't planning to divorce these harpies?" and suggests they pose in Playboy as soon as they can, before their looks go.

No, it's Zarqawi, the bogeyman of Iraq. If he didn't exist, we'd have to invent him. Which, actually, we sort of did. While the US was in control of Northern Iraq, he lived and operated in our zone (not in Saddam's). He was an al Qaeda wanna-be, no more. The US had several opportunities to take him out, but didn't, as it would have undermined the Bush administration's rationale for war. So he was allowed to exist.

How many lives could have been saved if we had taken him out in 2002? But it was not politically expedient. So thousands had to die, and Bush got his war.

And now it won't make much of a difference. Why?

First of all, al Qaeda is not a top-down organization. It is cells that vaguely cooperate towards a common goal. Killing one member, even if the titular leader, won't make much of a difference, as Israel learned with Hamas. If anything, it will urge them on to greater violence.

Second, most of the fighting and killing in Iraq is not being done by al Qaeda, but by home grown militias and death squads (Thank You, Mr. Negroponte). This will not affect their plans or action the least bit.

Just like the killing of Saddam's sons.

Just like the capture of Saddam.

It's like chopping the head off of the hydra.