The Death of an Outlaw

The life and death of al-Zarqawi confronts us with the reality of Islamist terrorism. The Islamist terrorist movement is not composed of people espousing one unified political, religious, and military dogma and doctrine. The terrorist is often a social miscreant seeking an outlet for his frustration with society through murder.

Some would continue to maintain the mistaken notion that there is one unified terrorist military organization that can be defeated by conventional methods. Others would have us believe that the terrorist is reacting to some form of oppression that never existed in the life of the terrorist, an expressed oppression that is a subterfuge camouflaging murderous intentions and proclivities. Both views romanticize the terrorist as someone he is not.

The face of the dead al-Zarqawi has been plastered across the news. It is reminiscent of Wild West days when the bodies of notorious outlaws who had been gunned down were put on display on the main streets of towns and photographed for all to see. The image is apt.