In the cable-news battle over the al-Zarqawi death, CNN has been tops today, by demonstrating real journalistic values—i.e., a little honest detachment and analysis. To its great credit, the network aired an interview with Nir Rosen, author of In the Belly of the Green Bird, in which Rosen made the following points:
The focus on Zarqawi as the ringleader is a “myth” created by the U.S. forces. His killing represents no real turning point. “Unfortunately there is no good news in Iraq. The civil war began there in 2005.” That is the only real dynamic in Iraq: a fight for dominance between Sunni and Shi’a with militias carrying out ethnic cleansing. The civil war throughout Iraq will only intensify. As for the green zone, it is a “theater for people from outside Iraq.”
