Mission Accomplished

[Theophylact]

Osama bin Laden's, that is. From a New York Times story nearly seven years ago:

''If bin Laden takes over and becomes king of Saudi Arabia, he'd turn off the tap,'' said Roger Diwan, a managing director of the Petroleum Finance Company, a consulting firm in Washington. ''He said at one point that he wants oil to be $144 a barrel'' -- about six times what it sells for now.

[mlee97]

Yep, Bin Laden did accomplish much on his shopping list.

1. He got infidel U.S. soldiers out of Saudi Arabia. (his stated goal in the 911 attacks)
2. He pushed western infidel influence out of the Arabic mainstream and weakened pro-western Mid-Eastern governments.
3. He was a catalyst in destroying the Secular Government of Iraq, his sworn enemy.
4. He has survived.

[The Real Bingo]

The question is what difference it would have made not invading Iraq/Afghanistan. China and India would still be growing like crazy regardless. Iraq's oil has been offline since the invasion basically, but only in the past few months has oil really gotten out of control. The dollar is dropping, and high war debt doesn't help dollar confidence. It's tough to say.

[Chuckiechan]

I don't see it that way.

The biggest issue is the reality the next president faces. Obama has to tell the left what it wants to hear, but he isn't going to leave Iraq. The goal of Iran is to destabilize Iraq, and shut down their oil in order to force up the price.

The Joint Chiefs know this, the intelligence committees know this, and so will Obama when he gets classified briefings.

Osama is basically a side show right now. He's just hunting around for nukes and other unpleasant things for another hit on the USA. Or he's dead. If I was in charge I'd just bury the body and burn it and forever take heat for "not getting bin laden" rather than make him a martyr.

Iran on the other hand, will use oil revenue to start his own private WW3 in the middle east if the US leaves. Iran will rush in to fill the vacuum.