The United States took one step closer to the end of the war on terror late on Sunday night. At approximately 11:40pm EST, after the news stations had been speculating for over half an hour, President Obama gave a speech confirming the death of al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
A small gathering outside of the White House turned into an all-out celebrating with American flags flying through the air and chants of “USA! USA!” Mostly local university students, no doubt, but it still sent a message to the mood around the country.
According to reports, bin Laden was killed in a mansion about 30 miles from Islamabad. Helicopters flew in and rained in gunfire for almost 40 minutes before killing bin Laden with two shots to the head. 22 people in the mansion were killed or captured, including one thought to be one of bin Laden’s sons. Another woman was claimed to have been used as a shield.
No U.S. troops were killed in the operation and the soldiers took care to avoid civilian casualties.
While bin Laden had a host of followers and retaliation shouldn’t be overlooked, it was still a step in the right direction to ending the war on terror. bin Laden was the figure-head of al-Qaida and topped the FBI’s Most Wanted list for almost 10 years. While small victories against Taliban forces in Pakistan and Afghanistan were won, nothing as immense as this had happened before.
Some say they won’t celebrate a death, no matter whose it is. But I think what people are celebrating here is the end of suffering for thousands of people and the elimination of a major threat. The American people now have justice; the people who lost loved ones in the September 11th attacks do as well. Celebrations in Washington, D.C. and at ground zero in Manhattan are to be expected.
That isn’t to say we’ve finished the job completely. There’s still a good amount of work to be done and the threat level is still high. There are still plenty of bin Laden’s followers and supporters out there posing a threat to U.S. national security. But if it’s an “us vs. them” dynamic, I’d say score one for America.
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