A truly bad man is finally dead and good riddance.  Unfortunately, its difficult to say how much of an impact it will have on events in Iraq.  Most assessments this morning have been pretty sober which is understandable given how many similar corners we've turned in the last four years.  Nor is it really going to be easy to assess the effects of Zarqawi's death given that the Pentagon purposely inflated his role in the ongoing violence to heights not seen probably since Emmanuel Goldstein graced the pages of 1984.  What is clear is the sectarian violence he sought to inflame has taken on a life of its own and truly hampers the prospects for peace, reconciliation and rebuilding. 

Yes, Zarqawi was our boogeyman, at times responsible for everything while more recently painted as inept, but its hard not to also wonder what other evil-mastermind we'd be talking about if we hadn't passed up three clear opportunities to kill Zarqawi back in 2002.  That's a lot of dead Americans and Iraqis racked up for the sake of not undercutting the political rationale for invading Iraq.

Zarqawi is dead, let's hope his replacement isn't worse.