Reasons not to celebrate al-Zarqawi's death

Hume's Ghost makes some interesting points (I've picked out two below) in a worthwhile article about why he's not particpating in the celebration (not to mention the claims of: Gotcha!) surrounding the killing of al-Zarqawi.

In the video you will notice that President Bush says that Al-Zarqawi has been brought to justice. He has not been brought to justice, he was killed. This may have been, and for all I know, most probably was the only way to stop the horrors being committed by al-Zarqawi, but killing him has nothing to do with justice. Bringing him to justice would have meant having him stand trial for his crimes against humanity, holding him accountable before a court of law. That is the concept of justice that the civilized world has adopted. The other is punitive and vengeful - the Biblical conception of justice - and we know that for much of time that the Biblical conception of justice dominated Western society, society was not just, but unjust.

[...]

Before the invasion of Iraq the United States had the opportunity to take out al-Zarqawi but chose not to because it was felt that eliminating him would undermine the case for invading Iraq. In essence, it was more important to be able to achieve a war with Iraq, as an adjunct of the "war on terror," than it was to stop al-Zarqawi.

With that in mind, I believe that consideration of the cost that the "victory" of al-Zarqawi's death was purchased is pertinent to whether or not this is something worth celebrating.

I consider the following the costs of achieving al-Zarqawi's death now, as opposed to before the invasion of Iraq:

- World opinion turned against the United States
- The legitimacy of the UN and international law was undermined by the invasion, making it more likely that other nations might also adopt the principle of unilateral preventative strikes.
- We have departed from fifty plus years of diplomacy where collective security was the emphasis. The go-it alone attitude we have adopted shifts the burden of global security onto ourselves, forcing us to devote more resources towards the military while diverting those resources away from other societal needs.
- As a concomitant of the above three points, the US has squandered the opportunity that the overwhelming support and sympathy the world offered the US in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks provided. The goodwill and sentiment could have been used to push for greater international efforts to secure lose nuclear materials ( such as Russia's) so that terrorists will not have easy access to the material in the first place.
- The invasion of an oil rich Middle Eastern country with troop commitments until at least 2009 reinforces Muslims worst fears about the US.
- Our military has been "stretched thin" by simultaneous deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan (also see here).
- The war in Iraq has cost over 200 billion dollars, and the final costs could end up at around a trillion dollars, at a time when we are projected for a ten year trillion dollar deficit.
- Global terrorist activity has increased since the invasion.
- The invasion turned Iraq into the "global center of suicide terrorism."
- The invasion generated terrorists.
- While our attention and resources have been diverted to Iraq, a nation that had no nuclear program, both North Korea and Iran have moved forward on their actual nuclear programs.
- The coast guard has gone underfunded, and our borders and ports remain unsecure.
- 2,708 soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq, and "at least 18,254 U.S. troops have been wounded in action." A conservative estimate of the number of Iraqi dead is a little over 38,000.

These are the reasons I do not celebrate al-Zarqawi's death. I am glad that he is gone, I hope that his death will signal a turning point in Iraq, and I hope that this will help bring an end to the insurgency. But I do not feel that celebrating is in order. And that is what unsettles me about the video and the game of "gotcha." It is glib, insulting, and petty over a matter that should not be partisan.