Good Begets Good

Many people have stated - correctly - that the killing last week of Al-Zarqawi is not the end of the war against terrorism in Iraq. But many people don't realize just how large of a step it really is, not only because of his death but what US and Iraqi forces gained from his death:

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said 140 military operation were carried out since Zarqawi's death and 32 insurgents were killed and 178 detained. He said 11 raids were directly connected to intelligence gleaned from Zarqawi's death.

Normally, when fighting terror, even when one cell is found out little information is gained. Those who control the cell quickly shut off any contact with the cell, and the link to the greater terrorist network is gone. But when capturing or killing a higher-up, the terrorists have a much harder time disengaging themselves from one another. Those in the cells can't completely shut themselves off from those above them, or they would lose their source of resources. The US and Iraqi forces are able to carry out a 'top-down' approach to attacking the cells, each time gathering further information on the levels below the one they've just raided. Hopefully, they also find information such as they did here, information Caldwell called a "treasure trove."