Mike Levin: “I join my colleagues in first thanking the men and women of our military services who were responsible for the myriad of…”

“I join my colleagues in first thanking the men and women of our military services who were responsible for the myriad of actions that were taken years ago that led to the ultimate elimination of such a vicious terrorist as Zarqawi. We also thank the men and women of our military services who are serving multiple tours of duty in arduous and dangerous locations with great personal sacrifice and great disruption in their lives and those of their family members. The killing of Zarqawi is very welcome news. It is not the panacea for addressing the extreme levels of violence in Iraq or for solving the large number of vexing issues--and the President has acknowledged as much-- but it is an important step and one that will reduce the influence of al-Qaida in Iraq. He was responsible for a number of spectacular terrorist attacks that produced a large number of casualties and grizzly murders of kidnap victims. Zarqawi, while not the dominant part of the insurgency but a part of it, needed to be attacked and needed to be addressed. The insurgency, however, primarily is made up of disaffected Iraqi Sunnis. Zarqawi played a role in stirring up ethnic conflict between the Sunnis and the Shiites. Much of the violence relating to that conflict is traced to the reaction of Shiite militias to the Sunni insurgency and to, of course, their reaction to the Shiite militias. Our security forces need to confront those militias and the other armed groups.…”