It is a fitting epitaph not only for Zarqawi, but for all the Zarqawis who have been plaguing the Middle East. Unfortunately, too many intellectuals and non-intellectuals succumb to the fashionable temptation of glorifying thugs like Zarqawi as "resistance" fighters and martyrs. As long as they claim to be fighting the mythical "Zionist Imperialism" it doesn't matter how many they kill. Jeff Weintraubasks "Who Mourns Zarqawi?. Not many, but some do. Zarqawi, as it happens, specialized in killing other Muslims, so he is less subject to canonization than some other scum of similar nature. However, even Zarqawi has his fans. The Hamas movement supposedly issued a statement mourning Zarqawi. The statement, received by Reuters said:

"With hearts full of faith, Hamas commends brother-fighter Abu Musab ... who was martyred at the hands of the savage crusade campaign which targets the Arab homeland, starting in Iraq

Hamas officials then denied issuing the statement, but went on to praise Zarqawi anyhow. According to Reuters:

Sami Abu-Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said on Friday that "Hamas did not issue any statement in this regard."

He also said that Hamas "reiterates its supportive position to all liberation movements and foremost the Iraqi liberation movement, for which Zarqawi was one of the symbols in the face of the American occupation."

There was no reason to mourn Zarqawi, however, according to some.

Sheikh Omar Bakri, a top pro al-Qaeda jihadist preacher who is based in Lebanon, and who has a number of disciples in Britain, was quoted by one of his followers on the UK-based Muntadaa internet forum as saying that al-Zarqawi is now being 'married' to virgins in heaven, the fate he said awaited 'martyrs' of Islam.

"It is a good news Alhamdulilaah (thank God), his wedding start as shaheed (martyr), and his deputy confirm the news," read a statement attributed to Bakri

Bakri was also quoted as vowing that "the jihad will continue," and expressed gratitude that al-Zarqawi "was not arrested."

Another member of the forum posted a statement by The Media Wing of al-Qaeda in Iraq, which read: "We confirm the martyrdom of our mujahid (holy fighter) Sheikh Allah willing, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on the land of the two rivers (Iraq)."

Zarqawi's death will not change as much in Iraq as is hoped, because he was not so important in life as he was made to seem. An Atlantic Monthly article written before his death notes:

“Even then—and even more so now—Zarqawi was not the main force in the insurgency,” the former Jordanian intelligence official, who has studied al-Zarqawi for a decade, told me. “To establish himself, he carried out the Muhammad Hakim operation, and the attack against the UN. Both of them gained a lot of support for him—with the tribes, with Saddam’s army and other remnants of his regime. They made Zarqawi the symbol of the resistance in Iraq, but not the leader. And he never has been.”

He continued, “The Americans have been patently stupid in all of this. They’ve blown Zarqawi so out of proportion that, of course, his prestige has grown. And as a result, sleeper cells from all over Europe are coming to join him now.” He paused for a moment, then said, “Your government is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Western and Israeli diplomats to whom I spoke shared this view—and this past April, The Washington Post reported on Pentagon documents that detailed a U.S. military propaganda campaign to inflate al-Zarqawi’s importance. Then, the following month, the military appeared to attempt to reverse field and portray al-Zarqawi as an incompetent who could not even handle a gun. But by then his image in the Muslim world was set.

The Atlantic Monthly article by Mary Weaver concludes:

Before leaving Amman, three months before al-Zarqawi’s death, I had asked the high-level Jordanian intelligence official with whom I met whether al-Zarqawi, in his view, was a potential challenger to Osama bin Laden.

“Not at all,” he replied. “Zarqawi had the ambition to become what he has, but whatever happens, even if he becomes the most popular figure in Iraq, he can never go against the symbolism that bin Laden represents. If Zarqawi is captured or killed tomorrow, the Iraqi insurgency will go on. There is no such thing as ‘Zarqawism.’ What Zarqawi is will die with him. Bin Laden, on the other hand, is an ideological thinker. He created the concept of al-Qaeda and all of its offshoots. He feels he’s achieved his goal.” He paused for a moment, then said, “Osama bin Laden is like Karl Marx. Both created an ideology. Marxism still flourished well after Marx’s death. And whether bin Laden is killed, or simply dies of natural causes, al-Qaedaism will survive him.”

Apparently, he was wrong. Zarqawi, like Bonnie and Clyde or Dillinger or many another bad guy killed by the law, didn't need an ideology to create a legacy. In the Middle East, any thug and murderer can sanctify his madness by claiming to fight "Zionist imperialism."

Ami Isseroff