Was it worth it?

Hey, did you hear that Osama bin Ladin was killed? Yeah. Me too. Every single person I know has popped up with an opinion on this. They run the gamut from "killing is wrong, love your enemy" to "hell, yes! shoot some more terrorists." Therefore, it's only fair that I throw my thoughts onto the bonfire of responses.

First of all, I totally get the immediate "let's blow something of theirs up" response to 9/11 that began this odyssey ten years ago. But while I understand it, I have never agreed with it. I'm not some peacenik who never wants to acknowledge violence as a solution. If I weren't such a physical wimp, I'd find the idea of punching (the right) someone cathartic at times. Realistically, though, a manhunt for a single guy who "masterminded" the attack on the United States was woefully ill-considered and doomed to short-term failure and huge costs to us.
Politically, the response in 2001 was necessary, and the ultimate "get" Sunday of this pissant commander of suicide bombers and disgruntled virgin-seekers is major, major flag-waving points. ("Who's not an American, now, TeaPartiers?!?") And you can argue the morality of it all you like. Quote Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, Bob Marley, and/or Clint Eastwood. Is killing another human being wrong? Is killing a killer wrong? If I knew the answer to that one, I would be doing better than this puny blog.
What you cannot argue is that despite this very real check mark on the To Do List, America still has a long way to go before things in Afghanistan are through. So while the wealthiest 1% of Americans slowly squeeze the middle class out of existence, and the beloved land of the free and home of the brave becomes a banana republic with poverty rates rising more rapidly here than in any South American country, and our politicians and media wrangle over whether a "certificate of live birth" is the same as a "certification of birth," and Congress votes to take all that money that you've paid in taxes and use it to provide corporations a tax break on the $5 BILLION PROFIT they made last year while denying you medical coverage for something as simple as a cavity at the dentist, while all that is happening, our bright young men and women are still risking their lives half-way around the world in a war that has no ending.
The hunt for Osama bin Ladin seems well on its way to a true pyrrhic victory.