That's It?

I recently discovered that the Washington Post's national and homeland security correspondent has a blog called Early Warning. I was looking over his recent posts and in his post from October 7, William Arkin writes:

I had earlier filed away a statement that former State Department and CIA counter-terrorism pooh-bah Cofer Black made at the International Association of Prosecutors conference in Washington on August 11. Black said that since 9/11, the United States and its allies have killed or detained more than 3,000 terrorists in more than 100 countries.

"I am able to report to you that more than one-half of al-Qaeda's top leadership has been killed or captured," he said.

That's it? Ten plots, 3,000 terrorists, more than one-half the leadership? I know these numbers are intended to convey that the war on terrorism has been a success. To me though, it just conveys how stuck the Bush administration is in a go-nowhere-fight-forever-kill-the-terrorists-one-at-a-time strategy.

(Emphasis mine)

What does he mean, "That's it?"!?! As if that is some sort of insignificant accomplishment! What an asinine comment to say something like, "That's it?"! And then he says it "conveys how stuck the Bush administration is in a go-nowhere-fight-forever-kill-the-terrorists-one-at-a-time strategy".

Well, for one, it's not like the terrorists are all in one place, so a kill-the-terrorists-all-at-once strategy isn't very feasible. But, please enlighten us, Gen. Arkin (Armchair Ret.) as to what your brilliant alternative might be. If you haven't noticed, the Global War on Terror isn't just a problem for the Bush administration, or its supporters. We're all in it. And personally, I do sleep a little better knowing 10 plots have been stopped and that 3,000 of the plotters have been killed or captured. That's a few thousand dead Americans we didn't have to bury. And that's not insignificant. If you don't get that, then I guess you're just "stuck on stupid."