A couple of months ago I wrote that it was really time for the US to bring the whole sordid Afghanistan adventure to an end by closing the myth. Well now is the time for President Obama to do it, with his report that bin Laden, or at least the latest incarnation of bin Laden, is dead, since many of us have been all but convinced that the real bin Laden died in December of 2001. Since then and even before then, we saw various bin Ladens of differing size, shape and even age being conveninently found in home videos on vacant Afghan shelves by US personnel, or popping up in mysterious videos winding up on al Jazeera's doorstep for media distribution.
So now Obama has the opportunity to end this Central Asian misadventure based on little more than sacred mythology about 911, Grand Vizier bin Laden, SMERSH-like al Qaeda and the battle against Cosmic Evil. Indeed, now we have a classic denouement to close this mythology properly, the Grand Vizier slain at the hands of the Navy Seals, and Light Triumphant to boot. So take this and run with it, Mr. President, as a really legitimate reason to shut down the quagmire in Afghanistan. Declare victory and start to bring the troops home. Otherwise, we will be at war there forever.
Here is Obama's speech on the death of bin Laden:
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