Well, he jolly well should be pleased because those 72 virgins he's been yearning for just took a big step closer towards him! His boss, Hakimullah Mehsud, who has real cause to be 'hacked off', just got zapped by a US drone so (yet another) sudden vacancy has occurred at the top of the Pakistan Taliban and thus young Khan Said now has the chance 'to pull on the No. 9 shirt'. Well, actually, it doesn't have a No. 9 printed on it, just a big target symbol! Well, good luck with that, then, Mr. Khan!
Of course, it raises the question of the inherent rights and wrongs of the USA zapping foreign nationals, and sometimes their own citizens, in foreign lands with whom they have, ostensibly, diplomatic relations. It is, I think, one of those questions not susceptible to an absolute over-arching law but more a question of taking each decision on a case-by-case basis. If someone is hiding in the Pashtun hills and plotting a mass killing in America and the host government is incapable, or unwilling, to do anything about it then there is no case to answer from a legal/moral perspective. However, no action in the world of strategy and politics stands alone. There are always and everwhere - ramifications! As outsiders, we can never know the full story, sometimes not even when the history books are written. In our democracies, we voted the rascals in and we must trust them as far as we can until we get our due chance to turf them out.
In the meantime, Mr. Khan, congratulations and, er, enjoy!
