The beginning of the end.

[kentuck]

This is not the end. But we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

No doubt, another leader will try to take Bin Laden's place but no one will be accepted like Osama - unless they can do equal great deeds like those on 9/11.

It is possible and likely that there will be competition to lead al Qaeda. However, since the head of the snake has now been cut off, it will be a fractured group. It will never regain the credibility it had under the leadership of Usama bin Laden.

Intelligence officials around the world will debate what it means to the "war on terror". Will the military give up its newfound power? What happens to Homeland Security? What happens to privacy searches and invasions at airports?

The main reason we befriended Pakistan was because we thought Bin Laden was in Pakistan and we needed their help in finding him. We paid them billions and billions of dollars for their assistance. But now that Osama has been found, Pakistan is no longer of the same value. They can now return to the military dictatorships pre-war on terror. We no longer have the same interest in Pakistan, other than that they are still a nuclear power that threatens India, one of our economic competitors.

The end of the war is beginning. As much as some people may want it to continue, nothing will be the same with Bin Laden gone from the scene. It will take a long time to return to normal but, at least, we now have the chance.

.

[shraby]

1. Another thought, the source of the money financing the

operation just dried up. Bin Laden was very rich and could afford to finance pretty much whatever he wanted to do. His followers are not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. This fact alone should curtail the terrorism plots.

[sharesunited]

9. His wealth did not help him that much when the movement of funds was scrutinized.

In fact, the refuge of his final locus may have been entirely the gifts of admirers.

(Who should be identified and shut down to the extent we are able.)

Any account touching tainted funds was an invitation to freeze and seize.

This is troublesome Bush era police action. But only if viewed within the context of a conservative Presidency with which we vigorously disagree.

It's time to embrace the government of the United States as extending across its 4yr terms of the executive branch.

We struggle over the pointing of the gun every four years. We will do better to embrace some of what we oppose to advance much of what we promote.

And what we promote most of all is the survival of the democratic republic with which we are familiar.

We will co-exist with other forms, unless they offend the conscience.

Then we will kill you in your bed whether or not we think you are reaching for a gun.

[Bonobo]

2. Or the end of the beginning.

Anyway, Osama Bin Laden won't be telling any dark secrets, so that's good.

Too bad he couldn't be put on trial.

I was raised with the understanding that the US goes to war with nations, not ideologies.

I was raised with the understanding that if the US pursued an individual, it was to be for a crime and therefore subject to due process of the law.

I was raised with the understanding the US was above torture and extra-legal assassination.

[leftstreet]

5. +1

[cliffordu]

3. K&R

[SadPanda]

4. As someone who flies two dozen times a year, I just don't get the griping about TSA...

Yes, I understand it is invasive. I understand it might cause you to wait an extra 30 minutes. But here is my bottom line. Everytime I have flown in the last six months I have asked to skip the scanner. Everytime I've been escorted to the side and been given a fairly quick pat down. Yes, sometime a hand covered with a rubber glove has come fairly close to my groin area. A few even touched my balls. Through my pants. Covered by a rubber glove.

But I got on every flight and no one rushed out and attacked anyone. I landed. I got off. I was alive. Isn't that the point?

[kentuck]

7. No.

That's not the point.

[notesdev]

8. Some people are just a bit sensitive about strangers touching their balls

Go figure, right?

[notesdev]

6. Great

So when are we leaving Afghanistan and Iraq and getting rid of the security state we now live in?

[Old and In the Way]

10. A great terrorist needs a weak President.

One that doesn't pay attention to intel and lets his own ambitions cloud his strategic/tactical judgment. Osama had such a President....a doubt Obama would give another terrorist this kind of opportunity to exploit.