This is how it should be done. The Bush Administration derided the “police work” approach to rolling up Al Qaeda, but–of course–police work is precisely what it takes in many cases. (In war zones, like Waziristan, more kinetic tactics, like the use of armed Predator drones, is also appropriate.) One hopes that with less public melodrama, less Presidential bloodlust rhetoric, there will be more events like this arrest of a major Al Qaeda operative–and even though they’ll be reported in the back pages, the damage to the terrorist network will be extensive.