That hadn't even occurred to me until now, and it's spot on. Nobody wants to go through another Iran hostage situation.

In a perfect world, we could have captured rather than killed bin Laden, obtained as much information as possible to neutralize al Qaeda, then put him on trial at the Hague.

It was never going to happen. Pride would have kept us squabbling about jurisdiction, too many other necks close to home were on the line if he testified, too many inconvenient secrets had to go to the grave with him. Does anyone really think he'd have gotten a fair trial after watching the Saddam show? Rather than closure, it would have been a propaganda nightmare.

We don't have to like it--I know I don't--but that's the reality. It was never going to happen.