Score One For the Drones Posted by Michael Cohen

It can often be a bit unseemly to revel in the death of another person, but in the case of Baitullah Mehsud I think we can make an exception. According to a number of reports, Mehsud, leader of the Pakistan Taliban was killed yesterday . . . in a CIA drone attack.

This was a man who killed hundreds of people, including (it is believed) presidential candidate Benazir Bhutto. As one official said, the world is a safer place without him. Now it's a bit early to assess the political impact of his death, but suffice to say, it hasn't been a good week for the Pakistani Taliban.

And if ever we needed an object lesson in why the drone war is necessary and an essential tool of US counter-terrorism policy this would be it.

UPDATE:

In the interests of full disclosure, Joshua Foust over at Registan is skeptical about the reports of Mehsud's death.