It was a Tuesday morning in September when everything began. It was a day that was to change America forever. Soon, parents would see their children off to war. Fathers would kiss their newborn daughters goodbye, and some for the last time as they went to levy justice on those who were responsible for murdering almost 3,000 Americans. For 10 years America paid a heavy price, as we sought to extinguish any further threat to our safety. Then came Abbottabad.
Sunday's operation in Abbottabad proved America will continually seek justice no matter how much time passes and we'll deliver that justice with a SEAL team in the middle of the night in your living room if that's what it takes. Osama bin Laden, the face of radical Islam, is now dead and there is surely cause for jubilation, if not celebration. Yet his death does not mean an end to terrorism or to the broader war on terror. So what exactly does it mean in the grand scheme of things? Will radical Islam wane now that their poster boy is dead?
It depends on who you ask. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the answer is no, as they have indicated they are at a ""heightened state of vigilance"" due to the possible backlash from irate terrorist cells. If you ask members of the terrorist organization Hamas, the killing of the ""Arab holy warrior,"" as they recently referred to him as in a Reuters.com statement condemning the operation, is in fact justification for more hatred of America. Still, if you ask the members of what has become known as the Arab Spring, they will probably say that Osama's death was just another nail in the coffin of the old Arab world, one which was dominated by despots and religious tyrants.
Yet, the prevailing theme is people won't stop hating America just because Osama bin Laden is no longer around. A better question would be to ask how this event will impact the U.S.'s role in the region, and specifically how it will impact its relationship with Pakistan, who apparently missed Osama's luxury mansion 40 miles away from Islamabad.
While former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was happy to see bin Laden gone, he did express his frustration to The Washington Times that the attack on Pakistani soil was a ""violation of our sovereignty."" He went on to say that ""If two organizations [are] conducting an operation against a common enemy, there has to be trust and confidence in each other."" The former head of Pakistan is exactly right. There needs to be ""trust"" between two wartime allies. The problem is that Pakistan has time and again given no indication there is any reason that we can ""trust"" them. After all, the most wanted man alive wasn't living in a cave deep inside the mountains, he was hanging out in a mansion in a city with a heavy military presence.
Finally, some have criticized those who took to the streets immediately following word that bin Laden had been killed. Their concern lies with the fact that celebrating in the streets could fuel more anti-American sentiment in the world. My question is why would celebrating the death of such an evil man fuel more anti-American sentiment? After all, this wasn't just a victory for America, but also a victory for the world. That is, unless you agreed with bin Laden's objectives, in which case I would ask why would you care what such people thought anyway? Indeed those who believe reserved satisfaction is the proper response given the circumstances are certainly justified in their viewpoint, but worrying about hurting the feelings of those who hate us anyway is no reason not to celebrate.
So how does one make sense of what happened at Abbottabad? What are the implications of such a historic event? These questions and many more will be answered in the coming weeks and months. No matter what the answers are however one thing is certain—America secured a great victory by eliminating the world's most infamous terrorist. To some the death comes as cause for celebration, to others it is a reminder that although we may have won a battle, the war is far from over. Either way you look at it, however, American exceptionalism has been proven again.
Matt Payne is a junior majoring in Chinese and economics. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
