The most interesting analysis of this hit I have seen was this:

“Dia’a Rashwan, a Cairo-based expert on terrorism and Islamic movements, said al-Masri’s death could hurt morale among al-Qaida’s followers, but it wasn’t a huge loss for the terror group, especially in Afghanistan.”

‘Al-Qaida might be facing setbacks in Iraq, but not in Afghanistan … and any loss will appear (to its fighters) as a triumph against the enemy, not a defeat,’ Rashwan said.”

Okay, so getting your butt blown off while you are having lunch is a “triumph.” Now, maybe this is the front line fighters taking joy in the fact that a REMF got taken out – but probably not.

I would question this “it’s a triumph when we lose” analysis, but I nonetheless think we should give them reasons to celebrate such “triumphs” as much as possible.

After all, the Kamikazes considered it a triumph to dive into a US ship, but it only meant they were losing big time. And the more sane members of the Japanese military knew it, too.

And Wretchard: Perhaps a better example is the cruise missiles and upgraded Pershings we put in Europe in the 80′s, thus ensuring that the diplomacy associated with the INF treaty had a chance to work.