BEST. TERRORIST. EVER. That's Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, according to George Will. Or at least he's "the most effective terrorist in history." That seems misguided. Zarqawi's dead. What's more, I'm quite certain that his long-term goal of constructing a pan-Islamic neo-Caliphate or whatever isn't actually going to be achieved. Where's the love for Michael Collins or Haganah-era David Ben-Gurion? They both managed to more-or-less get what they wanted by recognizing that maximum violence and maximum unwillingness to compromise aren't actually the best approach to these questions? Or were they so successful that none dare call it terrorism?
--Matthew Yglesias
