Israel analysts have very different opinions on how Zarqawi’s death is going to affect Al Qaeda than the experts that the mainstream media have been finding:
Amatzia Baram, an expert on Iraq at Haifa University, said, “The death of Zarqawi signals the beginning of the end of the al-Qaida organization and of Sunni rebellion in Iraq.” According to Baram, who has advised the White House on Iraq, the end of the rebellion and victory in the war on terror is still a number of years down the road, and there will still be heavy casualties. But, he said, the end was in sight.
“The blow that al-Qaida took today is a heavy one, but not mortal,” Baram said. “We are talking about a very important symbol who had great influence on the insurgents’ morale. They received their inspiration from him.”
But there’s even more of an upside.
Regarding the ripple effect of his death on the terrorism Israel faces, one diplomatic source in Jerusalem said this will set back al-Qaida’s efforts to make inroads here. The organization’s energy will now have to be spent to a large degree on bouncing back from this blow, on finding a successor, on protecting the organization, rather than on setting up branches here.
They say he was behind the launching of rockets from Lebanon as well. Sucks to be him right now, hey?