As I contemplate the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, I refuse to celebrate this moment as a victory.  To celebrate any death would be to reduce myself to the level of the terrorists who killed my sister on 9/11.  Instead, I am trying to hold in my heart the families of those who Zarqawi killed.  I hope they are able to celebrate the lives of the loved ones they lost and renounce further violent retribution.

While Zarqawi was undeniably a cruel, hateful and violent man, I am mindful that the Iraqi society he infiltrated and turned into a place of wanton civilian killing was made a fertile ground for terrorist organizing by the presence of our military.  Our world would, I believe, have been far better served if Zarqawi had been captured and tried in a court of law.  Justice can break the cycles of violence that terrorism and revenge killings produce.  Since that will not happen in Zarqawi’s case, let us hope that people on all sides of the conflict in Iraq ­ all Iraqis and all foreigners ­ seize this moment to find other ways to eliminate the circumstances that breed terrorism.

Terry Kay Rockefeller
Sister of Laura Rockefeller, killed WTC 9/11