Iraq's top terrorist is dead, but who and what will follow?

0 Comments | USA TODAY, June, 2006

Americans awoke Thursday to a rare piece of hopeful news from Iraq: A U.S. air strike had killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most notorious al-Qaeda terrorist there.

What does it mean?

On an emotional level, there's no doubt: It's a huge relief. One of the most despicable terrorists ever to walk this planet, a psychopath responsible for the deaths of thousands, is gone. Zarqawi made beheadings of Westerners a trademark. He decapitated American engineer Nicholas Berg, then posted a video of it on the Internet. He committed atrocities against Shiites to provoke sectarian war between them and his fellow Sunnis. He even attacked fellow Jordanian Muslims who he thought had become too Westernized.

Depriving al-Qaeda in Iraq of its brutal, charismatic leader is a...