Thoughts on:

The Death of Bin Laden

When the World Trade Centre was struck in the United States back in the year 2001, I was only 13; waking up from my slumber, accidentally catching CNN replays the footage over and over again. I was in shock and disbelief, oblivious from all the other struggles that were happening around the world. At that point of time, I thought the world was well...at peace.

Refreshing my tweets over and over again in hope of something interesting would come up for me to pass time in lecture, little did I expect the news of Osama’s death would pop up. The manhunt has finally ended. As I scanned through the short report on the assault and his subsequent death, more and more tweets came in, reporting US citizens chanting “U.S.A, U.S.A” in front of the white house, celebration taking place on the streets, American flags raised, and people rejoiced, celebrating the victory against the man who caused much grieve over the past decade.

J. Gary Wise, a writer at ESPN, had his say on his blog about the death of Osama bin Laden and it was thought provoking. There is a hint of disdain on his views of the celebrating Americans, citing that his fellow Americans are celebrating more death as we speak; at hindsight, I had to agree with him, but after dwelling on the issue, I now draw different conclusions.



"And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child's embrace. Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts.” –Barrack Obama

From different walks of life, the victims that had fallen into the path of the unstoppable destruction were only the beginning of the tragic tale. As the rest of their families are left behind: partners who had lost their significant others, children who lost their parent and grandparents who had to see their children go before them; I have no words to describe the pain of their lost. Those were times of sorrow, and at the same time, anger at the ones who were responsible.

Since then, the manhunt had begun, and it took ten years to have finally caught up with Bin Laden. From the perspective of the ones affected by the attack, it is unreasonable to not expect some flag waving and chanting. For the victims, this is a moment of victory, a moment of justice toward the man who had caused the death of many and the pain of many more. And even I, who am an unaffected party, smiled to myself and thought, “Finally!”

But celebrating a justice served is not equivalent to celebrating the death of a man. I had hoped he is brought to justice in front of international court instead of taking a bullet to the brain. And I seriously doubt Americans would be mellow if he was caught instead of being killed in a fire fight. After all, death is a cheap way to go out after committing such atrocities.

Since the events of 9/11, Al Qaeda’s influence had grown and its leader had misled many others into believing the Koran calls for extermination of infidels. Osama Bin Laden, had successfully cement a false ideology into the heads of these extremists; thus, in the grand scheme of things, the significance of Bin Laden’s death might have little deterrence over those who are going to carry out his legacy.

Furthermore, had there been succession planning within the ranks of Al-Qaeda, a new leader would now head the terror group, which I’m sure fuelled with emotions of unjust and anger upon the death of their leader. Personally, I am not buoyed to believe that this is the end of the struggle against terrorism, but rather a closure for those affected.

(While there are sources that suggest that the mobility and activity of Al-Qaeda would be severely impacted as Bin Laden was the major fund provider, the truth of that remains to be seen.)