The Zarqawi Debates

I haven't been paying as close attention to the news / blogosphere lately--hanging out with family and playing tennis has been occupying my time here in Tokyo--but a recent visit to Baghdad Burning yielded this outlook on Zarqawi's death:

How do I feel? To hell with Zarqawi (or Zayrkawi as Bush calls him). He was an American creation- he came along with them- they don't need him anymore, apparently. His influence was greatly exaggerated but he was the justification for every single family they killed through military strikes and troops. It was WMD at first, then it was Saddam, then it was Zarqawi. Who will it be now? Who will be the new excuse for killing and detaining Iraqis? Or is it that an excuse is no longer needed- they have freedom to do what they want. The slaughter in Haditha months ago proved that. "They don't need him anymore," our elderly neighbor waved the news away like he was shooing flies, "They have fifty Zarqawis in government."

Such a stark contrast to the buoyant optimism shown by the mainstream media. On the New York Times blog Day to Day in Iraq, an Iraqi also in Baghdad writes the following:

Iraqis have been congratulating each other ever since the news of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi’s death was announced. My mother spoke with her two brothers in Baghdad right after a friend called her with the news. A couple of days later, I called another uncle in Baghdad to congratulate him. He was happy, and said that people were celebrating even more than when Saddam was captured. The reason for that, explained Huda, a cousin’s wife in Cleveland, was Zarqawi’s overt appeals to Sunnis to kill Shias. My take on that is that through Zarqawi’s open incitement to kill Shias and the bid for a civil war, Iraqis had to look their racism in the eye – and what they’ve seen, they haven’t liked. The bearer of that message, had to be destroyed.

I guess the point is no one perspective can capture everyone's opinion and outlook. I appreciate the multifaceted coverage offered by blogs and the media, I really do. But sometimes don't you wish things could just be black, white, and simple? (I know, I know, I better be careful, lest I start to sound like the President: "You're either with us or against us...")