Mixed feelings
Osama Bin Laden is dead. At the hands of Navy SEALs.
On one hand, he is gone. The focus of a bloody conflict and many deaths and injuries over the previous 9+ years is no longer alive. Hopefully our soldiers serving in the Middle East can wind down their participation and come home before anyone else is lost.
On the other hand, have we just made him a martyr? Will there now be massive reprisals against Americans, aka the Great Satan, infidels, unbelievers? Will someone else immediately rise to the leadership of this terrorist group and continue their activities? Is this too eye-for-an-eye? Should he have been captured to stand trial? But would there then have been threatened terrorist attacks if he was not immediately freed? Rescue attempts?
I was very pleased to hear, though, that the president called former presidents Bush and Clinton with the news before making it public. I think that was a very thoughtful thing to do.
On one hand, he is gone. The focus of a bloody conflict and many deaths and injuries over the previous 9+ years is no longer alive. Hopefully our soldiers serving in the Middle East can wind down their participation and come home before anyone else is lost.
On the other hand, have we just made him a martyr? Will there now be massive reprisals against Americans, aka the Great Satan, infidels, unbelievers? Will someone else immediately rise to the leadership of this terrorist group and continue their activities? Is this too eye-for-an-eye? Should he have been captured to stand trial? But would there then have been threatened terrorist attacks if he was not immediately freed? Rescue attempts?
I was very pleased to hear, though, that the president called former presidents Bush and Clinton with the news before making it public. I think that was a very thoughtful thing to do.