The world is certainly no safer for would be terrorists, and more important for those who would, as Governments or regimes, support them.

As far as the world in general goes? The Universities of Vancouver and Uppsala disagree with you Bill, their studies (2007) indicate that the World is safer today than it was 25 years ago.

As far as Afghanistan was concerned bin Laden became irrelevant in 2001, yet we still had many ridiculing the US Government, US Intelligence Agencies and US Military over their failure to kill or capture their declared Public Enemy No.1 - Those people are not laughing now, and as information trickles out we now know that far from being clueless, inept and incompetent:

1: bin Laden's whereabouts as to area was pinpointed to within 12 miles in 2004.

2: bin Laden's whereabouts wrt the town/city and knowledge of his means of communication was identified and focused in on in 2007.

3: bin Laden's whereabouts as to his exact location was identified in August 2010.

All the result of good, painstaking, patient intelligence work.

The US Security and Intelligence Agencies identified the threat of asymmetric attacks resulting from the formation of an "axis of evil" in 1997 and reported the same to President Bill Clinton. The "Axis of Evil" was misreported in the UK media as being something involving Iraq, Iran & North Korea, whereas the "Axis of Evil" as reported to the President was:

A "rogue state" or regime with an anti-US agenda and access to WMD or WMD materials and/or technology allying itself to an international terrorist group to mount an anonymous attack on the USA that could not be traced back to that "rogue state" or regime.

Actions taken by the USA subsequent to the attacks of 11th September, 2001 sent the message to any would be terrorist group and to any would be "rogue regime" that any "axis of evil" game plan would not work. US action against Iraq in 2003 dissuaded the would be "rogue states".

As far as the fight against terrorism goes the killing of bin Laden WAS a victory, an undeniable "win" for the US that must be galling for its detractors, in this bobad is perfectly correct.

"It's still a barrel of sh%t in the mideast."

When has it been anything else? It is up to the people of the middle-east to sort out. Had the Arabs of the middle-east followed the example set by the people of Israel in 1949 then there would have been no bloodshed. However they did not, they chose to fight, they chose violence as a means to deliver impossible promises to the people they shut up in refugee camps (on land actually owned by the refugees themselves) and kept in deliberate despair and poverty, to be used as political pawns.