Joyner's take on the news that Mustafa Abu al-Yazid has been killed:
There was a point some years back when it was a running dark joke that al Qaeda must have a lot of “number 3? officials, as so many have been killed. But it’s worth noting that it has now been quite some time since the organization launched a major, successful attack. While the group seems to have no difficulty replacing its foot soldiers, there may be limits to the number of competent planners it can produce, especially when under constant surveillance and assault from U.S. military and intelligence forces. And, yes, this marks the upside of the controversial drone strikes that many of us deride as doing more harm than good because of the propensity for killing non-combatants.
Increasingly, I feel the drone attacks may be our strongest technique against the enemy. As long as civilian casualties are kept as low as humanly possible. They are certainly more promising than an endless counter-insurgency in defense of a corrupt government.