Bin Laden's death is like a removal of a tumour

But aggressive follow-up therapy will be required to prevent the remaining Al Qaeda cells from metastasising by acquiring more adherents who believe in violence to achieve the 'purification' and empowerment of Islam.

Fortunately, Bin Laden's death comes at the very moment when much of the Islamic world is being convulsed by the treatment that Bin Laden's brand of fanaticism requires: the Arab Spring, with its demands for democratic empowerment (and the absence of demands, at least so far, for the type of Islamic rule that Al Qaeda sought to impose).