Back of the Envelope

I certainly hope this is true:

Al Qaeda in Iraq has been virtually wiped out by the loss of an address book. The death of al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi was not as important as the capture of his address book and other planning documents in the wake of the June 7th bombing. U.S. troops are trained to quickly search for names and addresses when they stage a raid, pass that data on to a special intelligence cell, which then quickly sorts out which of the addresses should be raided immediately, before the enemy there can be warned that their identity has been compromised. More information is obtained in those raids, and that generates more raids. So far, the June 7th strike has led to over 500 more raids. There have been so many raids, that there are not enough U.S. troops to handle it, and over 30 percent of the raids have been carried by Iraqi troops or police, with no U.S. involvement. Nearly a thousand terrorist suspects have been killed or captured. The amount of information captured has overwhelmed intelligence organizations in Iraq, and more translators and analysts are assisting, via satellite link, from the United States and other locations.
...
Zarqawi considered al Qaeda's situation in Iraq as "bleak." The most worrisome development was the growing number of trained Iraqi soldiers and police. These were able to easily spot the foreigners who made up so much of al Qaeda's strength. Moreover, more police and soldiers in an area meant some local civilians would feel safe enough to report al Qaeda activity. The result of all this is that there are far fewer foreign Arabs in Iraq fighting for al Qaeda. The terrorist organization has basically been taken over anti-government Sunni Arabs. That made the capture of Zarqawi even more valuable, as his address book contained a who's who of the anti-government Sunni Arab forces. This group has been hurt badly by last week's raids.

We won't really know how successful these raids have been for months, and we see whether we've really crippled their abilities to conduct attacks. Even so, it sounds like Zarqawi's death has proved to be more of a victory than I dared hope.

Of course, you don't need me to tell you that. It's being played all over the Internet: Instapundit, The Corner, Dean Esmay, and Captain Ed are all over this. This is definitely good news for Iraq and the war on terror. Of course, some of al Qaeda considers it good news as well. Information about his location was leaked by his associates. Zarqawi was becoming a liability, instigating problems with Hezbollah and Iran (which is al Qaeda's main state supporter these days), and alienating Iraq's population with his killing of civilians and especially Shi'ites. It would have been better for al Qaeda if his death had looked like a suicide attack, but being killed by US forces is better than nothing. From our perspective, it would have been better to capture him, interrogate him, try him, and then execute him. Even so, killing him has a number of beneficial effects. It doesn't destroy, but it does harm the terrorist network in Iraq, doubly so as we got not just Zarqawi but a number of his top aides. It's also a psychological boost to both Iraq and the US, which has grown weary of this war with a steady (though small) stream of casualties and few clear victories. Zarqawi's death also provided a positive backdrop for the Iraqi Prime minister, al-Maliki, to announce the new appointments which complete his cabinet.

Not everyone is celebrating Zarqawi's death. Michael Berg, the father of beheaded civilian Nick Berg, is not happy at all:

I'm sorry when any human being dies...and I feel bad for that. His death will reignite yet another wave of revenge. It's an endless cycle as long as people use violence to fight violence...When Nick was killed I felt that I had nothing left to lose...I was not a risk-taking person, but I've done things that have endangered me. I have been shot at...Every time we kill an Iraqi...we are creating a large number of people who are going to want vengeance. When are we ever gonna learn that that doesn't work?

I can't say I agree with Michael Berg, as I believe Zarqawi's death does more to end the "cycle of violence" than his life, but his words got me thinking. As a Christian, I'm supposed to be praying for my enemies and blessing those who persecute me. Is it right for me to celebrate anyone's death, even someone as evil as Zarqawi? Much better for him, and for me, if he had come to repentance, to recognize the evil of his own deeds and reform. Consider Paul as an example of what a reformed sinner can accomplish. However, he was a murderer, daily assisting in the killing of men, women, and children, trying to incite a civil war which would have killed thousands, maybe millions, more. It is right and just that I celebrate that such evil has been stopped. That Zarqawi no longer has a chance to repent is a price lighter than the thousands of others whose chances he cut short.