My letter to the CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corporation) on Zarqawi

Subject: PLEASE don't exaggerate Al-Zarqawi's importance

I know this is being treated as a "major event", especially in the United States, but don't kid yourselves.

Al-Zarqawi was never a big player in the events in Iraq. He was NOT an Al Qaeda insider. Nor did he ever have a large following other than a symbolic one. His importance was overblown to the point of absudity.

Al-Zarqawi was nothing more than a crank, a religious conspiracy nut along the lines of Timothy McVeigh or David Koresh. Zarqawi advocated not only fighting the US, but also all Shia in Iraq and the country of Iran as well.

But that didn't stop the US government and media from trying to portray him as the chief architect of the Iraqi war resistance.

It is well known that Zarqawi was the object of many so-called "psy-ops" that were attempting to tie Iraq to the 9/11 attacks.
In doing this, the US could retroactively justify their invasion of Iraq. I'll even provide a link from the WP:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/09/AR2006040900890.html

And another reason for demonizing Zarqawi was as a distraction for not finding Osama bin Laden. This, in the eyes of many, is a monumental failing on the Bush Administration's part. In response, Bush has all but ignored OBL and wanted the focus to be on a more acheivable goal.

Hence, the undeserved importance of a relatively minor figure - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Please don't attribute any more significance to this event than it deserves.