On Bin Laden’s Death

It’s possible some radicals will lash out at us, but it’s not like they’ve been holding back until now. I suspect we get hit with whatever they have as soon as they have it already.

Word of bin Laden’s death reached me through AOL IM. I am the last person using that, right? My friend Bob (next to the last person on IM) was the sender.

10:49 PM bob: bin laden dead

It had 100% of the information, but came off as a non sequitur to me.

10:50 PM me: what?

There’s a hard hitting follow-up!

Here’s the sad truth in all this. It hardly makes any difference at all.

Sure you want to bring the perp to justice, but it’s difficult to believe bin Laden still had any kind of day-to-day power. His number one job was not being found. Running a movement is the antithesis of how he had to live.

It’s possible some radicals will lash out at us, but it’s not like they’ve been holding back until now. I suspect we get hit with whatever they have as soon as they have it already.

These were not good times for bin Laden. It must have upset him to see the popular uprisings like Egypt and Libya that have marked this spring. The protesters were secular, not religious. They wanted democracy and modernity not a return to a way of life more suitable for the seventh century.

Maybe someday terrorism will go away. Unfortunately the threat of terrorism never will.

A few years ago a friend showed me a photo of her brother. Behind him were rugged hills that match the landscape of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Though of Irish descent he wore a long dark beard and the traditional clothing of the region.

No one knew what her brother did there. She certainly didn’t. We all had our suspicions.

I sent her a text message tonight: “Tell your brother thanks.”

13 thoughts on “On Bin Laden’s Death”

  1. Bin Laden may or may not have had any real power. I don’t know.

    But he’s at the very least he was a figurehead of some significant importance. The man behind the 9/11 attacks.

    Ayman al-Zawahiri now replaces bin Laden. It’d be interesting to see what sort of real power he wields.

    Bin Laden may be dead, but it’s not the end of this. Unfortunately.

  2. Geoff,
    I think you may be wrong about the importance of the event. The effect on the American psyche will, I think, be significant. You and I are both old enough to remember feeling proud about the position of the US on the world stage. The confidence that we could succeed. Haven’t felt that way for awhile.

    Very glad to have you back on the tube. 🙂

  3. bin Laden has been dead for many years now. And 9/11 was an inside job. Bush/Cheney are responsible for THAT attack! Do research on “False Flag”. It’s unbelievable what the US Government are capable of doing.

    1. Yay Dawnie! Unfortunately the government assumes us all to be a bunch of blind sheep, and you know what’s sad? We are.

  4. My husband just told me the news this morning and my reply was “ok so what are they going to do to us now and when”.

  5. I think this is a bug day for Americans, but I think it’s symbolic. I agree he was too busy hiding he couldn’t have been much of a leader but that’s not really what it’s about. And Nancy – I said the same thing…. Now what? Now I’m waiting for their response. I would love to say great we can come home! But we can’t because I’m afraid it will get worse now before it gets better.

  6. While we have dealt a blow to Al-Qaeda and other similar organization, this fight/war/conflict is far from over. As Nancy and others have said, the other shoe is waiting to drop now.

  7. It will be no later than tomorrow, possibly today, that the Right Wingnuts claim that Obambi gets no credit for this. He’s not a legitimate president, according to them.

  8. I know I’ll get emails about this but this is my view on OBL… what he did was wrong, he had to be stopped and it has cost the USA dearly in lives and tears… but, we do not need to brag & boast – we don’t need to show videos and film footage of inside his house, blood-stained rugs, etc. God will judge him now — and we don’t need to poke the sleeping bears. We did what we set out to do and MANY THANKS to all who serve & have served so we have the freedoms we have. We did not like the bragging & celebrating they did on TV when our towers went down in NYC – we should walk a higher ground.

  9. I am not sure I ever remember a crowd at the White House gate as there was last night. The cheering and singing the National Anthem had to have an effect on the people that were there and the people that watched and listened on TV. That is way I have an American flag out in front of my house…..

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