I actually laughed out loud when I read this.

Barack Obama suggested last night that removing Osama bin Laden from the battlefield was no longer essential and that America's security goals could be achieved merely by keeping al-Qaeda "on the run".

"My preference obviously would be to capture or kill him," he said. "But if we have so tightened the noose that he's in a cave somewhere and can't even communicate with his operatives then we will meet our goal of protecting America."

The closer he gets to his own chair in the oval office, the more like George W. Bush he sounds. During the debates with McCain, His hopeychanginess was somewhat more aggressive.

"We will kill bin Laden. We will crush Al Qaeda."

I don't really mind actually, but it is damned funny.

Let me be perfectly clear--there is very little that we've done in Afghanistan to account for al Qaeda's sorry state these days. What really took out al Qaeda's legs was their defeat in Iraq. Having come off as the "weak horse", al Qaeda's prestige was badly undermined in the Islamic world. no Jihadi is going to join al Qaeda if he's serious about restoring the Caliphate. The prospects are so much better with the Taliban or perhaps Hezbollah.

I guess you know what that means, right?

Iraq was the right war after all. We got a two-fer: Saddam and al Qaeda in the game bag.