Archive: Opinions

The assault on Osama Bin Laden's home ended one of the longest international manhunts in modern history. For nearly 20 years, Bin Laden has been the mastermind behind a host of attacks including the bombing of the USS Cole, the Embassy Bombing in Kenya, and the 9-11attacks against the United States. Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama have placed the capture of Bin Laden as the highest priority in the war against terror.

With deliberate speed and pin point accuracy, our Special Forces entered the Bin Laden compound inside Pakistan, killed him, and then removed his body for burial at sea. Remarkably, the US Navy Seals, the Special Forces involved in the operation, did not suffer any losses.

For the United States, her western allies, and many nations in Middle East, the death of Osama Bin Laden marks the end of one chapter in the War on Terror. Soldiers from many countries have sacrificed their lives in this war, and the death of Bin Laden signifies a real triumph. More importantly, the death of Bin Laden brings some healing to those who lost loved ones in terrorist attacks around the world.

Innocent bystanders became victims of Al Qaeda's terror as well. Osama Bin Laden carefully chose his targets in order to inflict as much pain and suffering as possible without regard to age, race, nationality or politics. The United States suffered an incredible loss of life on one day in September 2001, but other nations have suffered similar losses including those in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Some people believe Osama Bin Laden should have been captured and brought to justice. I believe that the Navy Seals, under the direct command of President Obama and the US military, carried out a justified killing. Unlike an ordinary criminal who might be able to be brought to justice, the case of Bin Laden is an exception. There was no way of knowing if he was armed, booby trapped, or had explosives hidden along paths or near the compound walls. No one knew if he had body guards waiting in ambush or if his wives were prepared to sacrifice their lives in order to save his. To risk more lives in an attempt to capture him would have been poor judgment, and might have compromised the entire mission.

We have eliminated an individual whose world view threatened human civilization. Bin Laden dreamed of a global Islamic caliphate, defined and ruled through his distorted view of Islam and history. He viewed the west as his enemy and that included every man, woman and child not simply politicians and military combatants. He also despised most Arab secular and religious leaders and hoped to have them eliminated as well. He looked upon millions of Arabs as treacherous and unfaithful. There was no escape for anyone he deemed a threat to his goal of global domination.

With the death of Bin Laden, the Al Qaeda movement has suffered a terrible loss. To his followers, he represented a special position, an anointed status that many demagogues claim to possess through their ruthlessness, hatred, and propagandistic rhetoric. He was their supreme leader. He was the "messiah" that would lead them to victory, and for a while, it seemed as if he was invincible. Yet like so many who pursue a policy of global domination, his hegemonic ambition was his downfall, blinded by his misguided belief that he was protected by a supreme deity, whose bidding he was following.

With Bin Laden's death and burial at sea, a renewed sense of hope has entered the global community. President Obama acted with great restraint and calm throughout the days and weeks following the successful mission. This was not a moment of revenge or a time to gloat, and most Americans understood this. Celebrations were brief and limited. The families who lost loved ones offered up their thanks to the President and the Navy Seals for bringing some closure to the reign of terror that has gone unchecked for nearly two decades.

There will be others who will try to assume Bin Laden's position as leader of the Al Qaeda movement, but they will not succeed. Like all tyrants, they will fail as well. My hope is for a gradual and peaceful change in the Middle East that will bring freedom, prosperity, and economic security to the citizenry who suffered from Osama Bin Laden and his terror as much as we in America. And that is to the point.

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