James Cavanaugh/atf photo

Dingdong the witch is dead.

Yet the Al Qeada organization remains active and no doubt bent on revenge to show the world it is viable and deadly.

Law-enforcement leaders now have a special challenge: To learn the lessons of history that can help formulate a forward-looking strategy. Don’t count al Qaeda out. Like a wounded cobra, it still may be able to strike out and kill, with the wound only fueling its determination.

Yes, we all remember the attacks on 9/11, and the attacks on the trains of London, Madrid and Moscow. Yes, these were deadly and theatrical attacks we will never forget.

But Al Qaeda has another long-standing tactic of death rarely talked about in law-enforcement command circles: A long history of assassinating leaders. We must be conscious of this and respond if we want to stay ahead of the curve.

One of the seminal events of the modern terrorist era was the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat at the hands of the Muslim brotherhood.