al-Zarqawi: The Big Play
June 10,2006

“Three things can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them ain’t good”

- Woody Hayes, Ohio State’s legendary Football Coach

 

The world is holding its breath. What will be the long-term impact of al-Zarqawi’s demise?

Many speculate that the only reason we got him is that his followers are tiring and want to move on. Let’s hope. Only time will tell if al-Zarqawi’s influence was the driving force of the insurgency.

Since we PurpleThinkers are a cynical lot, we like to look at the domestic fall-out from such news. Bush’s reaction was refreshingly measured, and the Democrats’ refreshingly absent. Everyone’s waiting to grasp onto some sign that al-Zarqawi’s death is a turning point.

Woody Hayes was famous for “3-yards and a cloud of dust.” He would grind the ball down the field and avoided the spectacular play. He also believed that depending on the big play was a sign of weakness. In Woody’s mind, you can never sustain team performance to internal or external expectations with a big play mentality.

The same can be said of this spectacular play in Iraq. Three things can happen -- the violence escalates, declines, or stays the same.

The Democrats will claim an Iraq failure with renewed enthusiasm in two of the three cases. The pressure is now enormous for there to be a marked decline in insurgent activity. The public will even tolerate a grace-period of violence escalation while insurgents take revenge for the killing. But, if the violence does not considerably decline in the next month, all hell breaks loose.

That’s why Bush has suddenly lost the cowboy swagger. His advisors are stronger now, and have made it clear that the mid-term elections this fall are at stake. The last Republican strong-suit is the war on terror. Until now, they could sell slow and steady progress. The Democrats and the media will not let that fly now. We PurpleThinkers see the headlines – “Al-Qaeda’s Top Man in Iraq is Dead – Why the Killing Continues.”

Karl Rove better get to work now. We suggest he call a trips right 99juicer stall pattern on 3.

Ready, break!

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