My regular readers will probably find it difficult to accept my congratulations to President Obama for killing Osama Bin Laden. It was one of the few things Obama promised during his campaign where I agreed with him. During his campaign he said if he knew Osama was in Pakistan, he promised he would go in and get him. So congratulations to the President on this one.

Conservatives of course are rabidly challenging whether Obama actually gave the order. This week the Internet was abuzz with chatter saying Obama couldn’t decide so CIA Director Leon Panetta forced his hand and gave the order for the assault on Osama’s compound. That kind of unsubstantiated speculation can only harm the efforts of conservatives to unseat Obama. And make no mistake the most important thing here is to make sure Obama is a one-term president.

Liberals are also angry with Obama. Michael Moore moaned that bin Laden’s death was an “execution” and a “conspiracy.” According to Moore, Osama deserved a trial just like any human being. It sounds noble but Moore’s real reason for giving someone like Osama a trial is not to make sure he gets the benefit of our system of justice but to use the court as a forum to criticize America.

Osama bin Laden admitted that he was behind the 9/11 attack. He was a criminal who used borders to hide from his victims. He had no respect for the law or the rights of others. Osama was not a leader of any country. The best that could be said of him is that he was a “leader” of a lawless band of murderous barbarians. It is good that he is dead and it is good that anyone who would emulate him now understands that no matter where they hide, we will get them.

Now the question is does this mean the end of terrorism? Probably not, but it should mean the end of our mission in Afghanistan. It’s time to declare victory on our wars in the Middle East and bring our troops home.

The Muslim world is imploding from Libya to Pakistan. We do not want to get bogged down in the civil unrest and internecine warfare between different factions in the Middle East. In many of these conflicts it is impossible to tell which side is the greater evil – the insurgents or the entrenched dictators.

Our only real interests in the Middle East are their oil and to support Israel. We could solve the oil problem if we had the will to do it and the Israelis have proven they can defend themselves pretty well.

Some would say we need to rebuild Afghanistan. Easy, take away all of the foreign aid we were giving to Pakistan and give some of it to Afghanistan to rebuild their own country. Pakistan, our ally in this endeavor, has obviously been harboring Osama for some time. Pakistan is not our friend.

Since 2002 we have given Pakistan $20 billion dollars in foreign aid. That is nearly equal to the entire annual gross domestic product of Afghanistan. In 2010 alone we gave Pakistan $4 billion in economic aid. If we gave Afghanistan $1 billion a year for the next 10 years, to be spent on housing, education and health care we could substantially improve the quality of life in that desperate place.

Yes, Osama bin Laden is dead. Its time to declare victory in the Middle East and bring our troops home. That includes our troops in Iraq.