Iraq's effects on the region

CNN reports a new leader for Al Qaeda in Iraq:

The sites identified the militant group's new leader as Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, which means "the immigrant," indicating that he -- like Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi -- is not Iraqi.

The Boston Globe:

AMMAN, Jordan -- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's unyielding, lethal anti-Americanism initially won him accolades across the Arab world. But his terror campaign ultimately killed far more Islamic civilians than Americans, turning the wave of early support into a tide of revulsion among many Arab Muslims.

The Washington Post:

But for Abu Haritha, that battle is over. As he sits in this northern city, Lebanon's second-largest, he waits for what he believes will be a more expansive war beyond Iraq, a struggle he casts in the most cataclysmic of terms. In the morning, he jogs; he lifts weights for hours at night. In between, with his cellphone ringing with the Muslim call to prayer, he proselytizes in streets that are growing ever more militant, sprinkled with the black banners that proclaim jihad and occasional slogans celebrating the resistance in Iraq.

"It's an open battle, in any place, at any time," he said, his voice calm. "History has to record that there was resistance."

Asia Times:

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death, though it is a major development related to Iraq, is hardly a reason for a prolonged celebration. That is the message that is emerging from a number of informed sources in Washington and in Iraq's immediate neighborhood.

Jordanian intelligence is claiming that it played a crucial role in bringing an end to Zarqawi's short life (he was Jordanian and wanted in that country for acts of terror) and highly turbulent career.

But the same sources are proffering highly sobering analysis of the depth of anger that currently prevails in Jordan, Iraq and the occupied territories toward the United States and toward Arab regimes that are seen as friends of Washington, and, by extension, toward Jerusalem. That anger needs to be watched in the coming months.