The Underestimators: Sawyer, Clarke Claim Zarqawi Death Not 'Major' Blow to Terrorism

Rich Lowry of National Review estimates that killing Zarqawi is the equivalent of eliminating a Haditha every other day, indefinitely.

On the other end of the spectrum, Interviewed this morning on GMA, Richard Clarke - former White House advisor, turned author and bitter Bush-administration critic - scoffed at the significance of the killing of Zarqawi. Host Diane Sawyer was happy to second Clarke's emotion.

Sawyer: "First question has got to be this morning, is it any safer in Iraq and will the war end any sooner?"

Clarke: "Well, unfortunately the answer is no. This man was a terrible man. He was a symbol of terrorism. He was the face of terrorism, the only real name we knew of an insurgent leader in Iraq. But he commanded only a few hundred people out of tens of thousands involved in the insurgency. And so, unfortunately for the loved ones of troops over in Iraq, this is not going to mean a big difference."

Sawyer was only too happy to run with Clarke's lead: "And he was not the one targeting the most American troops. Those are the I.E.D.'S by other terrorists, right?"

Clarke: "That's right. What we can say about Zarqawi is he was responsible for many of the big attacks on things like the U.N. Headquarters, the Red Cross headquarters, the hotels in Jordan and he personally was involved in beheadings. But in terms of what's making life difficult for American troops, these improvised explosive devices by the side of the road, that really wasn't Zarqawi. And it's not going to make a big difference in the insurgency at this point."

Yet more negative spin from Sawyer: "And again, for the Iraqi people, as we pointed out earlier, just this morning there was another car bombing. It was in a marketplace in Iraq, 19 people died, more than 40 were wounded."

And in perhaps the most negative MSM spin yet, Sawyer added this: "So for overall terrorism against the U.S., it's, again, not a major effect."

A real Clarke-GMA love in, with one mutual goal - downplaying the importance of Zarqawi's death.

* Hat tip to Free Republic member weegee.