bin Laden is dead... So what?

Thanks to social media, the news of Osama bin Laden's death has spread around the world, even before the major news outlets have had a chance to get the President in front of a microphone.

Well, they win this particular match, anyway.
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I do feel some faint satisfaction that the world's most wanted terrorist finally got what's coming to him, but he seems like more of an afterthought now.  Al-Qaida isn't some monolithic organization that will crumble without the Dark Lord's leadership.  The seeds of Islamist terrorism have been planted in dozens of nations, and those groups will continue to be a threat regardless of how many hydra heads we cut off.


The Taliban has once again begun its spring offensive in Afghanistan, kicking off with a 12 year old suicide bomber in a marketplace.  Lone wolf terrorists still spring up everywhere, a unique threat distinct from the terrorist cells that have splintered off from Al-Qaida.  They've lost a figurehead but possibly gained a martyr.  Time will tell whether this development demoralizes or emboldens them.


Side note: Obama, thanks for reaching out to all Americans in remembrance of 9/11 regardless of "which god we pray to" and implicitly showing that nonbelievers are still outsiders in the eyes of most of the nation.