Abu Madness

So. Abu Musab al–Zarqawi's a goner. We've certainly been flooded with images and reports of his death in recent days. This is probably very good news. It's certainly going to do a number on al–Qaeda's morale and (a key reason behind all the publicity) probably bring Bush's approval rating out of the gutter. There is another problem though which Zarqawi's death highlights fairly well. Since there aren't any WMDs and Bush won't admit to going in there for oil, he's still plugging his War on Terror. I really want to know how you can fight a war against an ideology, a tactic that utilizes human emotion to cause panic and destruction from within. It all seems very silly. It's about the same (some would argue it is exactly the same) as trying to eradicate a religion through force. 4000 years plus, seems to be a pretty good record for a religion that's been enslaved, abused, and hunted by a variety of bullies throughout the millenia. Maybe Bush thinks that because Islam is still the youngest of the western world's three major religions he'll have an easier time dealing with it, but I honestly don't think he's that stupid. And after all, he isn't specifically targeting Muslims. Just their fundies. (Why Christian fundies are given free reign is another issue for me to get worked up about on a later date.)

Anyway, the problem is that now Zarqawi's been replaced and they're already vowing revenge and we're already vowing prevenge on their revenge. The War on Terror is ultimately futile. Their leaders are not only replaceable but since they're playing this up as Christian West vs Muslim East, each leader we kill is only going to become a martyr for the cause, an example of a life well served in defense of their land and their religion. I suppose all my whining about this is also futile since I really don't have any idea what situation would yield the best outcome. Leaving would be foolish because then we'd be replacing Hussein's regime with a theocracy we don't like any more than it's governmental predecessor. If we stay, we'll continue the slow, arduous fight against a foe we can't beat.

P.S. I didn't mean for this to be much longer than a few sentences bitching about the war. Guess I got a little carried away.