Anxious to vilify the president and even the war on terror at any cost, a growing number of leftists have gone out of their way to lessen the importance of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Some have painted Zarqawi as little more than a figurehead in the war against terror in Iraq, Such a comparison would be like dismissing Hitler as no more important than an SS Captain.

Contrary to such suggestions, al-Zarqawi played a critical role in the growth of violence in Iraq. Now the left and the media have jumped on a single isolated report that US troops beat Zarqawi after they arrived at the ruins of the safe house where Zarqawi and company were held up.

According to these reports, when US troops arrived, Zarqawi was injured but alive and these troops proceeded to beat and batter Zarqawi until he died of his injuries. There is no evidence or corroboration of this account, simply conjecture, which is as good as fact to the average leftist. Now the smear campaign will begin as the loyal opposition must insure that Bush’s pole numbers remain low. If the left was smart they would leave Bush’s sinking poll numbers up to him, he has managed to torpedo his reputation on his own.

These accounts of Zarqawi’s death come from an Iraqi man identified simply as Muhammad, a neighbor, which means he obviously has no axe to grind and is purely objective in his account of the events.

Even if, by some leap of the imagination, the accounts of Zarqawi’s death are accurate, a rational person would breathe a collective sigh and move on with life. A mass murderer and terrorist is dead…end of story.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C76601D9-F56C-4732-8A86-FDE8D867C7CD.htm