Cannoneer No. 4; That’s an excellent question, and I’m glad you asked it.

First, Osama is a symbol. Does anyone really believe that Osama bin Laden is a genius of terrorism? He’s not the one who figured out all the details. He was a money guy and a leader; a mouthpiece. Ayman is every bit as dangerous. There are certainly many others who we have not even heard about. The money would flow without Osama. It’s not his money that they are using now. It’s money that is raised from many people in many ways. Killing him won’t stop al-Qaeda, and it won’t stop what keeps those people phoning in their pledges on the telethons.

But it sure will make us feel happy.

For the Afghans, it would be the biggest disaster since the Russians invaded. Why?

Because we would leave.

Joe Sixpack won’t support continued efforts in Afghanistan once Osama is verifiably dead. Americans are convinced that the mission in Afghanistan is screwed up by virtue of our failure to get Osama in the first few months of the campaign. To Joe and Jill Sixpack, we went to Afghanistan to get Osama and nothing more. The only reason we’re still there, to Joe and the lovely Jill, is because we haven’t gotten his goat-smelling behind yet.

Afghanistan would be abandoned, once more, to that predations of the warlords and the Taliban.

This would suit the ISI quite nicely, by the way. They were early backers of the Taliban. For some reason, a strong and viable Afghanistan on their border does not appear to be considered by Pakistan to be in its best interests. Why they haven’t presented us with Osama’s head in an elegant presentation box is beyond me.

They just don’t know Americans. We will quit at the slightest provocation.

Why is that not good for America?

Because Osama is not really the problem, and because Afghanistan would once again be the petri dish of international terrorism. We’d just have to learn our lesson all over again.

Oh… and next time? They won’t use airliners as cruise missiles. But then, they hadn’t used them that way before. It’ll be something new.

In the meantime, Osama’s head will sure look swell in that elegant presentation box.