It isn’t just a matter of personal impact – the announcement that terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden has been killed brought all sorts of reactions from Americans, from relatives of 9-11 victims to elected officials.
“Everyone knew someone who died on 9-11,” said one New Yorker, “or knew someone who knew someone who died.”
I have to admit, I don’t. Probably, I’m not the only one in the US either. It was a reaction from the New York perspective. All Americans were outraged by the terrorist attack, the degree of outrage is influenced by the perspective.
Even the newspapers had varying points of view. “We Got Him!” declared the Tulsa World, while the national daily USA Today laid the claim squarely with the president, tagging the death-headline with “says Obama.”
Time also affects reactions.
It has been nearly a decade since the bin Laden assault on US soil. Some of the young men and women seen cheering in front of the White House had to have been in elementary school when the twin towers went down.
News anchors Sunday night – to a man – repeated how life in the US had changed ‘forever’ as a result of the events of September 11th, but younger citizens have grown up in that environment and know nothing else. It’s like trying to imagine a time before television: a novel thought for a moment or two, and then the thought goes away.
Some things are different as a result of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. I used to enjoy taking a trip by airline. There was always a certain excitement, almost like riding an amusement park roller coaster. For me, it has been replaced by an emotion nearing dread – not for my personal safety, but because of the cattle-in-the-corral shuffling toward a demeaning and embarrassing inspection process. I’m always singled out to remove shoes and clothing for a pat-down.
I understand the reasons. I just don’t like them. The death of Osama bin Laden gives me no personal closure, and while it is satisfying to have him out of the terrorist equation, it is disappointing that it took the most powerful nation on earth a decade to accomplish the task. It is a little like Jean Val Jean in Les Miserables and the relentless tracking of his pursuer – except Victor Hugo’s criminal only stole a loaf of bread. When the final confrontation finally occurs, it is almost anti-climactic.
Stories will continue to come out of it. How did Pakistan know nothing about the world’s number one terror-mastermind living in a military-entrenched city, far from the Afghanistan border? What actually happened during the assault? Who was involved?
What will change?
Very little, I imagine. Those involved in bin Laden’s network will want their revenge.
Attacks will continue against western countries whose citizens wonder whether – at the time of his death – Osama bin Laden was welcomed into the hereafter as a martyr for the cause, or as the Christian theology would have it: condemned to Hell for eternity.
