Taking out Bin Liner - even more costly than we thought?

As pointed out by others in the blogosphere (I first saw it a couple of days ago on Max Farquar) and now the mainstream media, it turns out that on top of everything else - money, equipment, time, effort, lives - spent on getting the bastard who, inasmuch as he probably gave the go ahead to the people who actually thought of it, was responsible for 9/11, the US must add the dollar cost and any strategic value of an apparently secret helicopter that they wrecked in the process and failed to thoroughly destroy before they left. And which may even now be on its way to China if the operation sufficiently pissed off the sovereign nation on whose soil it took place.

It has become clear that US special forces used a previously unseen stealth helicopter for the mission in order to evade Pakistani radar or being heard on the final approach to the home of the al-Qaeda terrorist.
The American troops used thermite grenades to destroy the helicopter’s main body but its rear section was left intact and taken away by the Pakistani military soon after the night raid on Monday. It is feared that if Islamabad refuses a request from Washington for the return of the tail section that the issue could turn into a diplomatic rift.
Relations are already fraught after the Seal Team Six raid entered Pakistan airspace apparently without permission and after the government was accused in some quarters of “harbouring” bin Laden.
[...]
One of the aircraft crashed during the raid after it is thought the engines developed a problem. Experts believe that the shape and design of the aircraft is similar to that of the RAH 66 Comanche helicopter, a project that was scrapped after $7 billion [£4.26 billion] was spent on eight prototypes.
However, it now appears that the Americans might have adapted some of the technology and bolted it on to a Blackhawk. The modified tail boom would have reduced noise and appears to be covered in a hi-tech material used on stealth fighters.
Peter Felstead, the editor of Jane’s Defence Weekly, said analysts had carefully studied the pictures and concluded that it was a “stealth helicopter that we have not seen before”. “The Americans will be extremely keen to get the wreckage back but there will also be real concerns about the technology finding its way to China,” he said. “This kind of technology would be extremely useful to them at this point.”
Pakistan has a well-established military relationship with China, working jointly on the JF17 Thunder fighter project. The Chinese have exclusive access to a naval port.
The People’s Liberation Army is in the early stages of developing an attack helicopter that would benefit significantly from stealth technology...

I'm not the slightest bit sorry the bastard's dead. Not the slightest bit. But seriously, was it really worth all that? Was the West, was even America, that badly hurt on September 11th that we needed to lose so much freedom and to spend so much money and so many lives getting the man - arguably the bogeymen - behind it? Was it worth well over a trillion dollars, thousands of allied lives, years of effort, loss of liberty, damage to international relations and now to cap it all the possible loss of military technology so secret that nobody knew about it and everyone is now speculating as to exactly what the hell it is, was it worth all that to waste one old man who was possibly suffering from diseased kidneys anyway?

Though I always thought the Iraq nonsense was a wasteful red herring ten years ago I was all for going into Afghanistan and getting Bin Liner. Almost certainly it could have been done differently but the way it's panned out... on balance I think America should have locked its cockpit doors and mourned its dead and shrugged Bin Liner off as beneath contempt and not worthy of attention, because in hindsight I don't think the prick was worth the cost. And now even if he is roasting somewhere warm I'm sure the thought that secret American technology could fall into Chinese hands would cheer whatever passes for the cunt's soul enormously.

'Kinell!