What should we do with Zarqawi's body (and what happens to the rest of the insurgents KIA)?
The New Republic (free registration required) has a nice article looking at the subtle dilemma of what to do with Zarqawi's body. They point out that if we return it to Jordan or his family, there will likely be a huge funeral with lots of people and media coverage that would end up being a nice PR spectacle in favor of Zarqawi's supporters and others who share his message and intents. It would also end up making a shrine out of his grave. The alternative, though, is to bury him in Iraq in an unmarked grave (I suppose there is a third alternative of burying him in a different country altogether. The final alternatives of throwing the body in the trash or leaving it to decompose or whatever is only to be proposed by idiots and morons, whom I'll allow to self-identify with such sentiments).
But that's the rub. Civilized behavior dictates that we return the body, just as we expect those who kill our people to return theirs. So we'd be violating our rules of decency, morality, and civilized behavior if we don't send it back. But if we do, we'd be handing the insurgency and Al Qaeda-inspired forces a rather substantial victory of sorts.
I'd like to see the US hand the body over to Iraq to make the decision, and then I'd like to see Iraq bury the body in Iraq wherever they bury the other bodies of insurgents. But then I realized that I don't know what they do with dead insurgent bodies. If their identities are known, are they shipped home or returned to families? Are dead bodies even recovered, or do Coalition forces just let them lay? If there are protocols in place for what to do with bodies (there have to be, as some are bound to have died in captivity or in the hospital), where does Zarqawi fit in? If anyone knows, please let me know.