A Victory for Civilization

That's how Mona Charen describes Wednesday's successful airstrike on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi:

...what a difference a successful military mission makes. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (it is pleasant to reflect that we will no longer have to hear this repellent name) is dead, along with a few of his lieutenants. In the hours after the "safe house" was demolished, at least 17 raids were carried out in greater Baghdad, reportedly based on information gleaned from computers and other materials captured in the Zarqawi hideout. It was, according to Gen. William B. Caldwell, "a treasure trove."...The price of oil as well as the price of gold fell on news of his death -- evidence that an agent of chaos is gone.

But some on the Left maybe a little depressed:

Before Zarqawi's execution, the vultures were circling. The Council of Europe, the continent's official human rights watchdog group, issued a report declaring it a scandal that Poland and Romania seem to have cooperated with the CIA in jailing terrorists captured in Afghanistan. Translation: It is morally repugnant for the United States to defend itself, and any European who cooperates in the effort is tainted. The American press was gearing up for a gigantic hanky twist over Haditha. And the likes of The New York Times' Bob Herbert were blaming America for the violence in Iraq. "Why should ordinary citizens (good people, religious people, patriots) consider their role in -- and responsibility for -- the thunderous, unending carnage?"

Why? For a concept the Left cannot grasp: victory over the terrorists!