Looks like Ayman al-Zawahiri, aka Number 2 in Al Queda is done for. I guess we shouldn't get our hopes too high after Tora Bora, but I've got a better vibe about this one. 200 Al Queda guys ready to fight to the death. GOOD! Since they want to fight to the death - this is the place to take it to them - on their turf, on our terms.

If this proves to be successful, just as much, if not more, credit needs to be given to the diplomatic efforts made by the US and Pakistan to secure support in the tribal areas and to get the Pakastani troops and militias involved - as with the actual military handling of the situation. Pakistan appears to becoming more reliable as opposed to less, which may be the best long development from this particular action - what's become known as the Spring Offensive.

Dying in your hometown after years of hiding, while perhaps somewhat heroic in the eyes of potential future followers, is a hell of a lot less glamorous than ramming a plane into the Twin Towers.

Here's a good article about how Al Queda might not be as tightly run as we think - rather it's a looser organization with more operational autonomous groups.

Quote: "While most Westerners have imagined a tightly coordinated transnational terrorist network headed by Al Qaeda, it seems more likely we face a set of largely autonomous groups and cells pursuing their own regional aims. Yes, some groups — from Ansar al-Islam in Iraq to Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia to Pakistan's Jaish-e-Muhammed — seem to be coordinating strategy and perhaps tactical operations among themselves. But for the most part the factions are swarming on their own initiative — homing in from scattered locations on various targets and then dispersing, only to form new swarms.

While these groups share the motivations and methods of Al Qaeda, it is likely they have had only distant relations with Osama bin Laden and the Sunni salafists around him. In fact, Mr. bin Laden and the Qaeda hardcore should perhaps be viewed as they were in the 1990's, as just one hub of a loosely knit global network of mujahedeen leaders left over from the Soviet-Afghan war. It was only after the F.B.I. began investigating the 1998 American Embassy bombings in Africa that American prosecutors — and the rest of the world — began referring to Al Qaeda as a global terrorist organization. We may be overestimating Mr. bin Laden's reach."

The operational aspect to Al Queda, while important, isn't the most significant factor in the war on terror. This is a war of symbols: freedom/westernism/liberalism/capitalism vs. fundamentalism/death orgies. We did not make this a war of symbols, Al Queda did. One of the ways we will win this war is through symbolic victories: ie, ousting the Taliban, ousting Saddam, capturing and/or killing Al Queda members. Capturing BL or the shiek may not cripple Al Queda operationally, but it'll crush their spirit, their rallying cry, and the symbols of their organization. It will cripple their recruitment and the flow of money so long as it appears they are losing. Al Queda knows this and continues to try to make it look as though the West is faltering. They made a big hit with the Spanish bombing and affecting the elections. They are trying to create as much chaos in Iraq as possible to make it look as though we are coming apart at the cracks. They are exploiting our skepticism and our doubt about our own actions, and trying to sell that they have no doubt, no qualms, and only a spiritual quest.

The fundamental error Al Queda makes is thinking that because we question and debate and are skeptical about our laws and our leaders, is that we are weak. It is the opposite. That is what makes us strong, and rich, and capable. That is why we will win. Fascism fails because it will never capture the spirit of the richest minds, the boldest fighters. Fascism preys on the weak and the scared and the helpless.

So we're fighting this on two fronts and slowly winning. 1) The operational - above, cooperating with the Pakistani's, making deals with tribal leaders who are probably tough to work with, and kicking ass with the best military in this history of the world. 2) Empowering the scared and helpless. We are working to get rid of fascists in Iraq and we can, if the rest of the world will help us, get rid of them. And then we'll move on and get rid of or reform the other fascists in the middle east and then the rest of the world, and then at home. That's how we'll win. And about this, I have no doubt.