[Grumplestiltskin]

I'd been thinking about this long before I read Mr. Kuhner's piece in the Washington Times.

My take: Osama bin Laden will become Islam's John Brown.

The World Trade Center attack in 2001 will be embraced by the Islamic world as their version of the Harper's Ferry raid -- a defining and "igniting" moment in their struggle against the infidels. And on which side of history did Mr. Brown end up?

Bin Laden may indeed be dead, but to Islam, "his truth is marching on".

Whether we like it or not.

And I don't.

Just sayin'....

[pnh102]

So the logical conclusion is to just let anyone who slaughters Americans live and go unpunished? That’s crazy.

[pawdoggie]

“Osama bin Laden won?” Might be true...if you believe in three round fights, fought in kid gloves with Marquess of Queensbury rules. Personally, I have a little more faith in the US, and (even) in Western Civilization.

[Leaning Right]

Excellent, if uncomfortable, article. Well worth reading.

And I have to agree with the article in every respect. Things would have turned out much better if Bush had ruthlessly smashed AQ back in 2002 and given the special forces free reign to capture OBL at that time.

Now the genie is very much out of the bottle. And I fear that the West does not have the resolve needed to reverse this.

[Marty62]

The problem with this is that the Islamofascist are members of the Cult called Islam. Cults have a difficult time surviving the demise of the objected of their adulation. It doesn’t matter if the “God-Man” is hands on are only a figure head, the loss can be devastating.When not if Zawahiri gets blow away, who will lead. The jerk in Yemen, hardly.

“When you buy into something that seems to explain everything, you can soon be coaxed into doing almost anything ”
—Marc Sageman

[Samizdat]

Mark Twain aka Samuel Clemons said it best: “Don’t try to teach a pig to sing...you’ll waste your time and annoy the pig.” And I might add...spin your wheels.

[BFM]

Bin Laden did nothing more than lubricate the wheels of destiny.

We have been on track for these events to occur for decades, what with population growth in the world being what it is, especially in the muslim world.

[Hoplite]

Nonsense. Bin Laden and Al Qaeda didn't offer a constructive vision of anything, and weren't able, under Bin Laden's leadership, to accomplish anything other than destruction and death. The Sunni awakening in Iraq was proof enough that Bin Laden's larger vision isn't shared by his co-religionists.

As far as Bin Laden achieving his goals (his *original* goals, the ones he was espousing before he realized they might not be so easy to achieve) I don't see how that can be scored any way other than thusly:

1. US out of Saudi Arabia: Fail.
2. End US support for Israel: Fail.
3. Remove US friendly regimes from the middle east: Fail.

[RedMDer]

WooHoo!

[gandalftb]

We need to define what UBL may or may not have won, battles or wars, the fight ain't over.

UBL won some battles and made some attacks. UBL wanted to draw us into Afghanistan to drain our blood and treasure, he is still winning at that.

But in every other way UBL lost or is losing. jihadists lost Iraq, never toppled the House of Saud, are bystanders to the Arab Spring, and nearly all of their leadership is either dead or broke.

UBL and his Jihadists never learned the essentials of leadership of any group: You must offer a better vision of the future than your alternative.

UBL also revealed himself and his jihadists as dictators with their constant need for enemies as an organizing tool. Islamists eventually will all see that tactic as the sign of a failed strategy.

[tanknetter]

All we need to do is convince the Muslim world that Osama's martyr's reward in the afterlife looks like this:

[Species8472]

Anyone who has experienced “enhanced screening” on the way to catch an airline flight knows exactly who won........