To really get at "Mission Accomplished" we have to get off oil

[Taverner]

Yesterday it was late and I first heard that Osama Bin Laden, scion of the rich Saudi Construction company that built the stadium that surrounds Mecca, was killed in a targeted military operation that morning. This is, in my opinion, how the war on terror should have been fraught since day one. Send in commandos, kill the targets and leave everyone else alone.

But understand this doesn't change a whole lot. Killing OBL is only like chopping off the head of the Hydra, where three more will grow in its place. But that really doesn't mean so much either. Hate will always be with us, but al Queda itself is in its death throes.

Al Queda, if it even still exists, is toothless and crippled. From the sound of it, OBL wasn't exactly directing anything at his compound. As the talking heads said, it was pretty much just him and his bodyguards at that compound yesterday morning.

It is ghoulish at best for folks to be cheering in the streets outside the White House. Not too different than the Palestinians dancing in the streets when 9/11 happened. We definitely can't take the stance that we're better than them now.

HOWEVER, even though I am against the Death Penalty, there was no such hope of capturing OBL alive. Anyone who read his writings knew he wasn't going out like that. Why? When you can die as a martyr and have all those virgins?

I'm glad he's dead, but its time to stop the celebration of more death.

For those who think they feel safer, think again. Like the Hydra, you cut off one head and another three pop out.

As long as we are addicted to oil, expect to face Bin Ladens. The Saudi Kingdom was in all respects in the stone age when they discovered oil. They went from stone age to computer age in 50 short years. Just like when a teenager becomes a rock star and has all that money, drugs and sex around - the Saudis were no different, believing they could start about some worldwide caliphate of regression.

If we are truly interested in National Security, we have to get off oil. Not just 'foreign oil' but oil, period. We need a renewable resource to become the standard. Then and only then can we afford to ignore the caliphate-minded Saudis, and let them go back to the rubble from whence they came.