If, in the late evening on May 1, 2011, you were on the street, within earshot of someone else, watching television, attending a baseball game, you heard it at almost the same time as the rest of America: “We got him; Bin Laden is dead.”
Just about an hour or so later, President Obama addressed the nation, confirming that Bin Laden was killed and his body is in US custody.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The word was on the lips of spectators’ as the Phillies and Mets played in Philadelphia: “Bin Laden is dead,” and then the chants started: U-S-A, U-S-A. This was followed by an announcement of the news over the loudspeakers and was met with a roar from the crowd.
Inside of an hour, Lafayette Park, across from the White House became the focal point of a spontaneous celebration by students and Washington residents.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Times Square, Ground Zero became swollen with more crowds, more chants, flags, song, cheers, tears.
Most of the people in the crowds are young, maybe 18-22. Significantly, these are the young adults, who nearly 10 years ago, experienced, as children, a terrible nightmare. The sights, images, sounds of survivors, first responders, the terrible death and destruction of That Day seared into their young minds (and ours, too) forever. These celebrants were 8-12 when 9/11 happened. Bin Laden became the face of evil for them (and for us, too). He was the boogeyman, the monster under the bed, a personification of the scary, shadowy figure hiding in the corner.
And now, he is dead.
The manifestation of a profoundly impactful event such as this, is likely to result in a salient, tangible effect on everyday life. Particularly in terms of national unity. Nearly four hours after President Obama’s announcement, there remain thousands of people in Times Square, thousands around Ground Zero and thousands in Lafayette Park.
A succinct Facebook status read “Thank you... US and cooperating Intelligence agents, politicians who have supported the continued search, and all my brothers and sisters in the military serving in all places, foreign and domestic, whether ever deployed or not, as well as those who applied for the military and were not able to join, and all of you who support all of them. It took all of us to fight this evil.”
It is not unusual to now fear, or even expect, retribution by whatever is left of al-Qaeda. Having said that, Bin Laden’s death is a very significant blow to organized terrorism.
The most worrisome figures are possible ‘sleeper cells’ of domestic terrorists, either sympathetic to or directly connected with organized terror, could have a pre-existing plan in place in the event that Bin Laden is captured or killed. This sort of ‘mortality signal’ was used for the attacks on 9/11, when Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the ‘Northern Alliance’ in Afghanistan, was assassinated on September 9, 2001.
It’s worth mentioning that the second in command of al-Qaeda (now the de-facto senior leader), Ayman al-Zawahiri, is still alive. To my earlier point, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the ‘mastermind’ of the 9/11 attacks, has stated during his interrogations, that should Bin Laden be killed, a massive, dramatic attack on American soil would take place, involving non-conventional weapons.
I think ultimately, the point should be tempered celebration. The war on terror is not over; other leaders will take Bin Laden’s place. But for now, the boogeyman is dead and some of us can sleep better knowing that.
Posts
0 comments :
Post a Comment