Death of the `Slaughtering Sheikh'

When Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the world’s most-wanted men, was killed in an air-raid Wednesday evening, the U.S. military finally celebrated the accomplishment of a major goal. But what does his death mean for the war? How will it affect the escalating violence between Shi’as and Sunnis in Iraq or the emergence of a stable national government? And should it matter to Americans on the home front? Beliefnet Islam editor Dilshad D. Ali spoke about this with religion scholar

, a professor of Islamic studies and the history of religion at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. and editor of Macmillan Reference USA Encyclopedia’s “Islam and the Muslim World.”

Take the example of Saddam Hussein’s two sons. Common sense tells us that when Saddam Hussein’s two sons were found killed; it didn’t really affect the progress of the war or the resistance to the American presence there. So I think it’s really hard to say how [the death of al-Zarqawi] is going to affect the war. He is certainly a central figure. He represented the presence of Al-Qaeda--or a branch of it--in Iraq. Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden say they will go forth and be stronger even after this, but it’s all talk at this point.< p> We really don’t know what’s going to happen with the resistance movement in Iraq and the various organizations and networks that operate within it. And sometimes what you see on the surface isn’t the way it works underneath.

So it remains to be seen. It’s certainly a significant event. It means a lot in Washington, D.C. to have gotten him out. But probably far more important is going to be the other people involved in the network that were also killed, and the material that is left behind. It’s going to be very important to the military to learn all they can from that material.

I’m not sure that it will matter. In a day or so, ordinary readers, consumers of the news—will forget about al-Zarqawi. With the people in this country, the focus is on the buzzword of “terrorism.” There’s very little focus on the resistance, and what’s happening in Iraq and elsewhere as resistance to occupation. That slant just doesn’t get told. So long as the story is about terrorism, it’ll be a blip. Ordinary consumers of the news will take an interest and believe that al-Zarqawi’s death will be a turning point in the war. But a week from now we’ll have forgotten about it.

Absolutely. But the conflict with Iraq will wage on. I think the homegrown resistance may lessen. Zarqawi was an outsider. He came to represent those freedom fighters that went into Iraq to conduct their vision of Islam, and his death will benefit homegrown resistance. But far more important to Iraqis will be the civil war that is developing between the Shi’as and the Sunnis. And of course Zarqawi represented this. It’s been interesting to see that the strongest reaction has come from the Shi’as.

Al-Zarqawi made several strong anti-Shi’a statements along the way. He’s been a major player, both in terms of operations and in terms of his leaders and public statements in fomenting that strife between Shi’as and Sunnis. By exacerbating secretarian strife, it was a way of destabilizing any attempt to form a government.

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