Could Osama bin Laden's Death Bankrupt al-Qaeda?

From Time:

The telegenic figure of bin Laden was always the main draw. His myth, that of the giant, soft-spoken warrior who gave up palatial luxuries for jihad, resonated with many rich Gulf sheiks who eased their conscience by sending a pile of cash his way. It was easier than picking up an AK-47 and following bin Laden into the snowy Afghan wastes. From Casablanca to Peshawar in Pakistan, young, impressionable Muslims carry photos of bin Laden on their cell phones. They would download his sermons from as-Sahab and extremist websites, whenever he managed to smuggle them out.

Like any private organization, Al Quaeda has assets and in their case almost all of the value was in the form of Goodwill represented by Osama Bin Laden. That’s one of the big risks for organizations whose public face is in the form of a living person.

Osama had become not much more than a figurehead keeping the whole thing together - His tactical value was all but gone. AQ's benefactors (investors) now have to see whether Zawahiri or someone else can keep it from falling apart.

But that doesn't mean these fascist cowards wont be looking for other Muslim murder-for-hire operations that will act as their proxy. The big funders of Al Quaeda need a double tap as well and I'm sure we know who they are.

Osama's Final Moments

The animators in Taiwan give us their version of the operation:

Secret Orders Let Us Kill the Enemy!

Does anyone have a problem with this?

WASHINGTON — The United States military since 2004 has used broad, secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against Al Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, according to senior American officials.

Isn't that exactly what G.W. Bush said we were going to do and everyone was on board with it? We as a country vowed in 2001 that AQ would have no safe haven and that any country that harbored them was our enemy as well. There were "Huzzahs!" all around.

Do we want to wait for another 9/11 plot to come out Syria or Somalia as it did in Afghanistan? Or do we want kill these cowards wherever they are. And is anyone seriously suggesting that these governments didn't know AQ was operating within their borders?

The anti-American leftist media is reporting this revelation as if it's a shocking violation of...something or other. I see it as a comforting confirmation that we're allowing our military to do its job. How long that will last remains to be seen.