I really don't get the whole hype thing here.
Al Zarqawi = 1 bad man.
It's not as if anyone's going to surrender; if anything, the bad guys are more annoyed than ever. Plus, inevitably some new weirdo is going to get his job and things will keep happening.
The only effective violent way to deal with terrorists is to make terrorism unthinkable. If a terrorist shoots a child, we'd have to shoot a school full of children. If a terrorist bombs a house, we'd have to level a city. If a terrorist uses a chemical weapon, we'd have to gas their families.
That's it, full stop. That's the only violent way you could even begin to stem the tide of violence emanating from these distorted people. Simply playing tit-for-tat isn't gonna do a single thing, as the UK found out with the IRA after decades of violence, including a guilty until proven innocent scheme, etc.
Honestly, if you think this death is going to make the slightest bit of difference your head is somewhere in the clouds with the fairies and leprechauns.
I know, I know, jingoists love to glorify anything and everything nasty that happens to an enemy, grasping at the straws and declaring that they've won before the war has even started, but seriously, wake up.
This is a "war", we are told. It's not a fairy story. Sleighing the dragon will not defeat the minions, because the minions will keep on coming forever and ever more.
The world knows that such conflicts have no end through violence. If you honestly think otherwise, you'd probably best talk to the mother of one of the 186 children killed in Beslan not two years ago as part of a bloody conflict between one force and another, neither of which will ever compromise, back down, seek peace or anything.
And for what? Some fable of how the nobles defeated the savages? Pride? Patriotism? You try selling that propaganda to the mother who cradled her daughter as she died with the words "help me" on her lips.
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Rich::