The war continues.

I've got a lot of thoughts on this, the morning after Barack Obama's big announcement that the U.S. military has found and killed Osama Bin Laden. I'm having a lot of trouble organizing them and processing them, but I have them.

When 9/11 happened, it was a huge blow to the American psyche. Never had we experienced such a devastating act of random terrorism on our soil. We were angry and confused and saddened, and looking for someone to blame. Fortunately, Al Qaeda had a mastermind, Osama Bin Laden, and he became the face of evil for most Americans. I think any American citizen who was alive and cognizant on 9/11 would agree that Osama was evil and needed to be stopped, though we may have disagreed about the best way to go about that. As such, I think every American citizen is thankful today that Osama Bin Laden is no longer in the picture, that that particular act of violence has been in some way avenged. 

But I'm conflicted, for so many reasons. Even in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, I remember watching news programs and listening to pundits and journalists and President Bush spit angrily into the cameras and swear that we would find and kill Osama Bin Laden and end this terrorism - we would fight a war against terror. And I thought, "How do you DO that? How do you fight a war against an intangible concept like terrorism?" I don't think, in the past ten years, a true and clear victory has been made in "the war against terrorism." Terror, by its very nature, is random and unpredictable. Therefore, you cannot fight it. You can avenge previous acts of terror. You can protect yourself as much as possible on your own soil. But you can't fight a war against it, because it's not a physical object you can blow up. There will always be evil people in the world who want to destroy one another, or us. To think anything else is naive, in my opinion.

So here we are in 2011 after searching for OBL for ten years - and President Obama, in the midst of a very rocky term and with the help of U.S. military and intelligence, was able to find and eliminate him. My first reaction was, "GO BARRY!" Because really, this is a good thing for him as president. All the people who've said "What has Barack Obama done in this term?" will have less ability to say that now. He stopped Osama Bin Laden. Kudos. I'd argue he's done quite a lot of other things in the past few years as well, though not as many as we may have liked - but I blame Congress and the Senate for that in many ways, and it's an entirely different post for a different rainy day. Today, no one can say Barack Obama is all talk and no action. And I'm thankful for that. And today, an evil man has been stopped. I'm thankful for that too. 

But do I think the war on terror has been won? No. No, I do not. Because just as I thought in 2001, I still don't think you can fight terror with guns. I don't think eliminating Osama Bin Laden makes us safer than we were two weeks or two months or two years ago. Right now, somewhere in the world, some other evil mastermind is hatching a plan to hurt us, along with probably hundreds of other evil masterminds hatching plots to hurt other people around the planet. I'm not trying to be depressing or cynical, it's just LIFE. Good and evil, yin and yang. It's out there. I also don't much like dwelling on that, or living my life in fear, so I don't. I haven't been afraid since 9/11 and I don't intend to start any time soon.

And the false patriotism on display last night outside the White House and today on the cover of countless newspapers and magazines? It upsets me. Though I am glad that OBL is gone, I never like to see people celebrating the death of another human being. It just feels funny. Shouldn't it be more reverent, somehow? Should we really be waving flags, singing the national anthem, setting off fireworks and partying in the streets because we killed a man? Should we be buying copies of magazines or checking out websites with photos of his corpse? Maybe we should...but something about it turns my stomach. I think back to 9/11, when we saw footage of people celebrating in the streets of Afghanistan and Iraq as our twin towers burned to the ground, and thousands of Americans were shocked and outraged that anyone could celebrate in that way. I wonder, today, how the people of Afghanistan and Iraq felt watching the coverage of us dancing in the streets last night, or at various points throughout the past ten years as we've celebrated our "victories" in Iraq and Afghanistan. It all seems so senseless, and I don't feel any safer today than I did ten years ago. It feels like nothing has changed, except I can't hang out with family at their gate before a flight anymore. I wish we could have brought Osama to justice through a fair trial, rather than just by killing him.

So I'm conflicted today. I am proud of our president, and I'm happy the world is rid of an evil man. I'm thankful for our military and all the men and women who fight every day to keep our country safe. But I'm not happy to see my fellow Americans celebrate in the way they're celebrating, or hear commentary about how we've emerged victorious in our war against terror or the Taliban. I'm interested in how this will play out politically, and what it means for our country going forward in our dealings with the Taliban and other terror organizations and in Pakistan. There's so much mess still to clean up, so much work to be done...I just don't know how much celebration I can muster.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject. 

Comments

[Carolyn]

Oh. My. GAWD, Mama. Could not have said this better myself. I absolutely agree with you on every single point you've made. I am struggling with this - on the one hand, I'm very happy/relieved that we brought down such a fucktard... on the other, I am being realistic here and am worried that acts of terrorism will only increase tenfold in the immediate future, because AQ will view Bin Laden's death as a revenge crusade against us.

And yes, the display in front of the White House last night? Stoopid.

I was thinking to myself while driving into work this morning, as the local radio stations blasted patriotic music during talk show breaks, "When did we become a nation that unequivocally rejoices in the death of another human? Granted, he's an evil beast, but we are no better than terrorists if we find peace, comfort and happiness in death."

It's just effed up, all around. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to feel about this.

[Leslie]

You might want to check out Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer for some good info and history on bin Laden and the Taliban. Al Qaeda will be in shambles without bin Laden's money and political connections. And for all the American blood he's shed in the U.S. mainland, I might have done a little dance, too, especially if my child had died in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon or Flight 93.

[Chris]

Well I certainly don't think capturing UBL would be the victory for Obama that eliminating him has been. From what I understand, this was put together as a kill mission, and frankly that's a much better option from a political stance.

Look at all the lumps Obama's taken over KSM and think about how much worse it would've been for bin Laden. Where do you keep him? Where (or do you) put him on trial? There's also the very real possibility of overseas Americans being taken hostage in an attempt to trade for his freedom.

Regarding how to fight terrorism, I think yesterday was the perfect example. Good intel, spec ops, and a few spooks. I think terrorism is completely fightable (word?), it's just that Big Army hasn't been the right tool for the job.

Special Forces soldiers are uniquely trained on the local language and culture of the area, and are trained to work by, with, and through local population in order to do their business. I mean the locals know who's who, and it's that ability to understand them and gain their trust that makes all the difference in fighting an unconventional warfare campaign.

I mean if you look at checkpoints in Iraq as an example, soldiers would use "our" hand signal to tell Iraqis to stop (arm out with fingers extended and palm facing toward the individual or group), however that means "welcome" to them. Think of how many civilians died (and the rage and distrust it created in the local population) because our conventional troops didn't have any cultural training and understanding of their AO.

Now that's a whole conversation in its own right and conventional troops now receive some cultural training (still not to the level of SF), but it's really too little too late for a population that is largely distrustful of them.

But back to the original subject, that's really the key to defeating terrorism - working the local population in order to gain trust and gather intel and then use a small force in a direct action mission.

As far as the reaction to the killing of UBL, I can understand that, I suppose. I didn't feel the need to go run around in a crowd and wave my flag. I just sat here on my couch and thought about what it meant for everyone in service, and I really just felt relieved for them and the family members of the fallen.

I remember when I was at Fort Benning for infantry school and how excited everyone would be when we'd get word that WMD had possibly been found over in Iraq. Not because WMD is a good thing or whatever, but because we needed to believe that we were doing the right thing.

To me, yesterday's events provide closure for a lot of people, especially for those who've been a part of OEF, but even the Iraq campaign, too. I feel like had we never captured or killed bin Laden, our veterans and families of the fallen would always feel that their sacrifices had been in vain. They just need to believe that we're doing the right thing, you know?

It was personally rewarding (?) in a sense, too. I was injured in training, which cut my time in the Army short, so I didn't get to deploy with my unit. Since then I've felt guilty for not going with them, betrayed because there was no WMD in Iraq and because we've been staying in A-stan while knowing full well bin Laden wasn't there (I mean everyone knew he was in Pakistan - just not that deep, but that's another story), then feeling guilty about feeling betrayed because I never had to sacrifice the way my friends in service did.

So in a lot of ways, I was just very relieved to get the news. I completely agree that UBL is basically just a symbol and that AQ Central isn't anywhere near the threat it was a decade ago, but I'm just glad that finally we can say our fallen and wounded warriors didn't sacrifice in vain, and I also think it's a model for how we need to pursue terrorism going forward, as paramilitary and SF missions and not using conventional occupation forces.

[Badpie24]

There will always be war and always be terrorism. This is how is has been for thousands of years. Nothing is ever going to change that.

I for one am in the "fuck yeah" camp when it comes to his death. Very rarely do crimes such as his gain even a small measure of closure in the grand scheme of things. Is it a very small victory? Yes. Is it a victory nonetheless - I think so.

You say you're upset that people are celebrating and maybe it is in poor taste to do so so openly, but if as you say this war is still ongoing, which it is, then enjoying victory over one battle won is important I think.

As for there always being other threats. Of course there is. There always will be. Doesn't mean that taking one out is any less awesome for everyone and the world in general. I mean I haven't heard anyone actually say "we won the war on terror." No one has said that. That would be stupid.

[Tucker]

Well written...

-T