The King is Dead; Long Live the King

Black velvet and that little boy smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that'll bring you to your knees
Black velvet if you please
--Black Velvet, Alannah Myles

The only correct actions are those
that demand no explanation and no apology
--Red Auerbach

You do not wake up one morning a bad person.
It happens by a thousand tiny surrenders
of self-respect to self-interest
--Robert Brault
_____________________

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Elvis has left the building

Osama bin Laden is still dead, but not forgotten.

Take the Haqqani net, one-time U.S. ally against the Soviet Union, now BFF (kinda) with Afghanistan and the Taliban against the new invaders, the U.S. Still crazy after all these years and still conducting significant operations signifying their position as top warlords.

President Obama et. al are loathe to call the Haqqani's terrorists, preferring the kinder and gentler islamist, militarist and anti-goverment fighter. The Haqqanis are also hit men, war profiteers (cheek by jowl along with the U.S. contractors), pirates and a protection racket. Considering the robust entrenchment of the Haqqanis, one must arrive at the following:

• -- The PWOT is NOT Counterinsurgency

• -- The PWOT IS a civil war

• -- There is never a shortage of volunteers for combat duty in Afghanistan

The Haqqani network has been trained in Madrassas in Afghanistan and (primarily) Pakistan for at least 35 years. This means that old grads are now the fathers and possibly grandfathers of the youngest inductees. These members don't even need a G.I. Bill to motivate them, for their ardor arises from the project of ejecting the colonialists and establishing strict Muslim law.

Accepting the three points above, what benefit then killing OBL? Did killing Jesus put a stop to the new religion of Christianity? Killing bad men may be what good men believe to be good, but that moral issue should not be the barometer of the success of U.S. military actions.