Osama bin Laden is dead. Ten years after the tragedy of 9/11, the figurehead of Al Qaida was shot in the head in Pakistan. The amount of euphoria that has poured out of so many Americans is kind of shocking to me. People who don't care about politics or foreign policy were on the streets shouting "USA!" And as this seemingly monumental moment in American history makes me wonder, how important is this news? And what can we learn from it?
What does this ultimately mean? Is the War on Terror over? Can we leave Afghanistan and Iraq? Are we now magically free of danger? The answer to these are obviously No. Directly after the horrific events of 9/11, world opinion was on the U.S.'s side. There was a candlelight vigil in downtown Tehran (Iran) in support of America. This proves that Islam is NOT a monolith. The world saw what radical Islam was capable and rejected it. How we got from that support to the mess that we're in now is due to the ineffective diplomacy (or lack thereof) by the Bush Administration.
Before the Afghan invasion, the Taliban offered to hand over Osama bin Laden to a third party where he could be put on trial. This could have be done without a single soldier setting foot in Afghanistan. This was unacceptable to the Bush Administration. They were using loaded terms such as 'crusade' (which hearkens back to the Christians' Crusades against Muslim 'barbarians'). Bush wanted bin Laden dead and, more importantly, the political benefits of being a wartime President and a conquering hero.
He quickly lost interest in the capture of bin Laden when there wasn't quick success. After bin Laden's escape in the mountains of Tora Bora, resources weren't allocated to finding him. Attention was turned towards convincing the American people of Iraq's involvement in the 9/11 plot. There was NEVER any proof of such connection.
It's important to look at what bin Laden's goals were. He didn't plan to topple the United States with one grandiose act, but to draw them out. In quotes, he made it quite clear what his plan was - draw the U.S. into a ground war in Asia and bleed the economy dry. His plan was to bankrupt us just the way that he and the Mujahadeen defeated the Soviet Union in their invasion of Afghanistan.
We have spent $1.2 Trillion in our wars in the Middle East, along with tax cuts and a Medicare prescription drug plan that were completely unpaid for. It's clear to see that bin Laden's strategy has been successful, as you can see by the harsh austerity proposals that are becoming more and more commonplace. If we continue these wars, the problem will only become worse. It is important to note this - Osama bin Laden has won. He has affected our economy in a near lethal way and we show no signs of wanting to reverse the damage.
I don't mean to sound 'unpatriotic,' but I am not heartened by the news of bin Laden's murder. By answering his display of violence with violence of our own, we proved that we aren't on a moral high ground in relation to terrorists. Thousands of our soldiers are dead and hundreds of thousands of Afghanis and Iraqis are dead. I don't see a winner in this. Death shouldn't be something to be cheered for.
