The ghost of Osama bin Laden !

It seems that the ghost of Osama bin Laden will continually haunt the world of Islam as long as his followers seek revenge by creating the death of fellow Muslims.  Two suicide bombers blew themselves up amongst a group of cadets at an Afghanistan police academy.  What precisely did that achieve ?

The raid by US Seals inside Pakistan brought to an end a long running saga.   Osama thought that he was invincible.  The raid proved that he was not.  One by one the al Qaeda leaders are being hunted down and killed.  In some instances that is by a Hellfire missile launched from a drone, and in others it is because of security leaks that lead to ambush.

New leaders emerge to replace those killed, but this is a war that can never have a successful end for either party.  At best, al Qaeda can keep drawing blood by terrorist action in American cities and on Americans abroad, but this is something that the broad population will learn to live with - just as they have learned to live with the delays and inconvenience of security at airports.

People die every day from car accidents - food poisoning - house fires.   Death from a terrorist attack is only different - because it is unusual.    Once it becomes usual it simply morphs into the background of risk we take every day when we walk outside our front door.

What is doing the al Qaeda cause the most harm is the indiscriminate killing of fellow Muslims, either because they belong to a rival sect or because they are not flag  carrying adherents to the al Qaeda cause.    The dead all have mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers - and by this action the terrorists are recruiting a huge army opposed to their tactics.

It seems that we will have to go on taking losses from terrorist actions until their dedication runs out of steam.    Already change is sweeping through the Muslim world and the appeal is not for theocracy - but for democracy and freedom of personal choice.    Just as the oppression of Communism eventually was rejected by the people subjected to it's tyrrany, religious terrorism must surely also run it's course.

Then - perhaps - the ghost of Osama bin Laden can be laid to rest !