It's being reported that terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is dead. He was killed in targeted a US air strike.

Killing is always wrong. Always. I've never supported the death penalty even for a bastard like al-Zarqawi. I certainly don't support pre-emptive killing without any form of trial. It may be justice but it's not civilised. And the worst thing of all is that, however targeted the strike, some innocent people are likely to have been killed.

All that said, I'm glad he's dead. Very glad. May he rot in hell like the cowardly dog he was.

Obviously I'm disappointed with myself for feeling that way, but there it is. I'd rather he'd been tried and left to spend the rest of his natural life in jail. But his death is the next best thing. Good riddance, even if it does go against my principles to think that way.

The real sadness is that this probably won't help the situation in Iraq. Al-Zarqawi had little local support. Many people believe that he was basically just a murderous thug with far less influence than claimed. So we're not likely to see an end to the violence and killing.

If anything, al-Zarqawi's death is simply going to increase the cycle of violence.

But I still can't help being happy about it.

Tags: zarqawi al-zarqawi Iraq