The death of Zarqawi couldn’t come at a better time considering the violence we’ve seen in Iraq in recent days. While we must remain sober about the future, Zarqawi’s demise certainly is a shot in the arm of the new Maliki government, in fighting the insurgency in Iraq and the broader war on terror.
But, perhaps, most intriguing is the (early) reporting that Zarqawi’s end came from tips given by associates. This sort of ”actionable intelligence” is critical in prosecuting an insurgency and, perhaps, most importantly shows significant discord in al Qaeda’s ranks.
This means that every al Qaeda, every Sunni, every foreign jihadist insurgent leader will be looking over his shoulder in the days to come instead of concentrating on planning and executing attacks, wondering if there is a traitor in his midst-and his downfall is just around the corner.