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Get Out With a Win
by David E. Meadows , 2005

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED AT MILITARY.COM, June 30, 2006

Regardless of how the majority of Americans feel about whether we should have invaded Iraq or not, we are fighting our war against terrorism in that country. In my January 2006 OPED ‘Can’t Quit’ the piece pointed out that for America to plan an acceptable exit strategy at the end of this Iraqi tunnel, a ‘position of strength' victory was needed against the terrorist elements in Iraq. The victory must be of such magnitude that it left little room for false perceptions by Islamic extremists, Allies, and the Moslem world.

The killing of Al-Zarqawi is that victory. Some will say the killing of Al-Zarqawi means little because another Al Qaeda leader will rise up and take his place so terrorism will continue. That argument lacks veracity for it fails to recognize the killing Al-Zarqawi as a defining opportunity in the Iraqi conflict.

Military victory is mostly a culmination of tactical successes guided by a strategic conclusion. The killing Al-Zarqawi is a strategic victory in a tactical action where America, Allies, and the new Iraqi government are reaping benefits.

The killing of Al-Zarqawi has given the American military and U.S. administration the position of strength in which they can start thinking-discussing the reduction of military strength in Iraq.

The killing has given the new Iraqi government a position of strength. Within minutes of announcing the death of this madman, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki filled the contentious cabinet posts of Defense and Interior. He named a Sunni Moslem as Minister of Defense and a Shia Moslem as Minister of Interior. The Sunnis make up the majority of the Iraqi insurgents. It also gave him a position of strength from which he was able to put out a hand to the Iraqi insurgents without it being viewed as a sign of weakness. He was able to offer them a way to join a united Iraqi government through amnesty and conciliatory talks.

The killing of Al-Zarqawi improved the Iraqi public perception of its fledging Iraqi military and police. American, Allied, and Iraqi military forces are rapidly piling up additional victories created by this pagan’s death. They have killed or capture hundreds of Al Qaeda terrorists in the days following Al-Zarqawi’s much-deserved killing, much like rolling up a dirty carpet and tossing it out the window.

The bombings and killings continue as Al Qaeda uses suicide and car bombs to terrorize the Iraqi people, but beneath these terrorist actions is the unraveling of the conflict that supports them. The mutilation and horrendous killing of the two American soldiers by the new leader of Al Qaeda only harden the resolve of the American military and forged stronger ties between the American and the Iraqi military. The terrorists are about to be evicted and don’t even know it.

The knockout blow to Al Qaeda in Iraq is coming. And, that blow will be when the insurgent forces accept the offer by Prime Minister Al-Maliki of reconciliation. As many as 11 of the insurgency groups have started talks with the Iraqi government. With the exception of the fanatics of the insurgent groups, the vast majority knows they can never win this war. The Iraqi people are on the verge of pulling themselves out of this quasi-civil war to chart a new course for their country; one of peace, stability, and security.

A ceasefire with the insurgents will be the next step toward stabilizing Iraq followed by an agreement that brings the insurgent groups under the new Iraqi government. This ceasefire and reconciliation will create a hostile environment for these foreign terrorists and Al Qaeda will once again be searching for a failed state such as Somalia for their new base of operations.

Iraq is at a critical strategic junction for its future. The path taken is predicated on both the American and Iraqi administrations seizing the correct military and political actions. In the past month there have been many positive accomplishments that forecast a better tomorrow in Iraq, but ahead of are many opportunities for failure. These opportunities must be seized and strategically exploited for a stable Iraq. If they slip by unrecognized, there is grave risk that everything accomplished by killing Al-Zarqawi may evaporate and we will find ourselves once again in the quagmire of a failed state.

A man in life who did so much to destabilize and terrorize Iraq has in death done so much more for setting in motion the wheels of bringing stability and security to this new democratic nation. The world needs more dead Al Zarqawis.

Osama, you’re next. I suspect most likely before the November elections.

David E. Meadows / SixthFleet.Com David E. Meadows Washington D.C. E-Mail readermail@SixthFleet.Com