Stardate 20011227.1544

(On Screen): bin Laden, bin Laden, who's got the bin Laden? Is he under this shell? Is he the center card or the one on the left with the crimped corner? Put your money down, folks.

I'm actually glad that we haven't found him. This was was never actually about bin Laden; it was about al Qaeda and the other groups like it which planned on attacking the US or its interests. And if we actually do end up capturing or killing bin Laden and have undeniable proof of his fate, then there will be a lot of people who say, "OK, you got what you want. Are you happy? Now stop all this war nonsense."

That would be a mistake, because there is much yet to do which has nothing whatever to do with catching and punishing bin Laden. Even if we do catch him or find a body, that doesn't mean that this war is over. This was just the first stage.

al Qaeda still exists; it's severely weakened and decapitated, but parts of its organization still operate in many places in the world, and by cutting off its head many of those groups will splinter and become independent. They are not as dangerous as the original organization but they can't be ignored. There is still an Islamist guerrilla war going on in the Philippines. There is unrest in Indonesia. There are still Palestinian terrorist groups. There's the problem in Kashmir. And there are other things (coughSaddamcough). There needs to be fundamental change in Saudi Arabia, one way or the other (they've got to stop financing this mischief). We've only begun. It's been a good beginning, but still only a beginning.