One problem of preparing an international affairs post is the damned if you do and damned if you don't situation that follows a major event and the deluge of opinions from the commentariat.
On the one hand you look silly if you ignore the day's major item but on the other hand it is sometimes a stretch to produce something original. Therefore let us limit things to a few comments that I am certain will echo others but may still offer a hint of originality.
Bin Laden's death will undoubtedly bump up President Barack Obama's ratings. It will restore confidence in his ability to make a hard decision. In my opinion the toughest part of the decision was not the go ahead for the mission but leaving Pakistan out of the loop until the last possible moment with the attendant question marks.
The repeated Pakistani protestations that Osama bin Laden was not undercover on Pakistani soil when he was an hour's drive from the capital is vintage Yasser Arafat.
Arafat,when asked in 1995 by the then head of Israeli Military Intelligence Major General Moshe Yaalon, about the whereabouts of Mohammed Def, a top Hamas bomb maker, he replied Mohammed who? This was the beginning of Yaalon's disillusionment with the peace process, as he knew who was sheltering Def. It is not certain that Obama, after receiving similar treatment from the Pakistani establishment, will be less trusting, but in this case America went unilateral without apologies and he deserves commendation.
While Obama deserves credit, this does not make his reelection a lock. He could ask George Bush Sr. about how quickly international glory fades in the light of economic hardship. After operation Desert Storm and the liberation of Kuwait from Saddam Hussein, Bush appeared unbeatable but amidst a faltering economy the voters in the 1992 election decided otherwise.
One dangerous consequence of Bin Laden's execution was that it can provide legitimacy to the type of thinking expressed in an op-ed by Peter Beinart in the Daily Beast proclaiming that the war on terror is over. During the Vietnam War one ironic suggestion by the war's opponents was to have America proclaim victory and then withdraw.
For Beinart, the war on terror was a spurious attempt to recreate the cold war Manichean world and was responsible for Islamophobia in the West and the squandering of resources that brought America to its financial knees. Now that closure has been achieved America can go back to its real business. As George McGovern said upon accepting the Democratic Party nomination in 1972 "Come home America".
It is still too early to predict how Bin Laden's death will play out in the Muslim world. He will undoubtedly be revered in some quarters as a martyr and others will undoubtedly pick up the torch with greater or lesser success. Martyrs have played a major role in religions and political movements and it is the driving force behind Shiite Islam. It is still too early to predict how this element will emd.
However, to equate the death of Bin Laden to the demise of aggressive global Muslim fundamentalism makes as much sense as stating that the royal wedding in Britain restored the United Kingdom to the rank of superpower. It may however shift attention from the loosely organized fundamentalism of Al-Qaeda back to fundamentalism alloyed to state power.
Iran is one reason why the war on terror cannot be abandoned. It will not suffice to send CIA operatives and Navy Seals to pay a courtesy call on Ahmedinejad when the Islamic Republic of Iran combines nuclear weapons with a long range delivery system. If terrorist groups can take shelter under a nuclear umbrella and be financed by petrodollars, the deserved elation following last night's retribution will have been premature.