On the Ossassination of Osama Bin Laden

I actually don't really have a lot to say about this topic because I don't have strong feelings towards it either way, but I guess I should write something about it for all two of you readers out there in internet-land.  I mean, I think it would've been better if he was captured alive and taken back to stand trial (preferably in a federal court, not "disappeared" into Guantanamo Bay), but if he was shooting back and he got killed, then in the words of Ivan Drago in the movie Rocky II...

Bin Laden was a radical extremist with a dream to establish a fundamentalist Muslim caliphate in Middle East, and conducted terror attacks on local Arab governments ruled by despots (like Egypt) until his cabal came to the conclusion that in order to topple the corrupt governments of the Arab world and form a pan-Muslim empire, they had to take down the imperial power that was propping up these dictatorships, namely the US.  And to that end, he flew planes into buildings, drove boats into US Navy ships, and plotted and conducted other terrorist acts.

So the fact that he actually is dead now doesn't exactly fill me with grief and i'm definitely not going to get starry-eyed and wax eloquent on how "violence is not the answer," and "make love, not war" or whatever.  But at the same time, the amount of patriotic chest beating that's happening and the throngs of crowds cheering like the US just won the World Cup over the death of a man bothers me.  I think at this time, we as a nation should be reflecting on what impact US foreign policy has on people in the Middle East, and how these terror movements are a response to the US supporting oppressive dictatorships and US imperialism (cultural, economic, or otherwise) and how we can engage and address the Muslim world in a thoughtful, productive way.

Because honestly, it doesn't make sense to declare war on a tactic.

That being said, I think people stateside are reacting a lot more strongly to the news than people out here (at least on this base).  While there are college kids outside of the White House chanting "USA!  USA!" and batting around beach balls, this morning, in the chow hall, people were largely ignoring the television sets blaring "Osama Bin Laden is Dead!!!" and just eating their breakfast.

My conversation with my roomate about this topic kind of went like this:

Me:  "Hey, man.  Did you hear that Osama Bin Laden is dead?"
Him (taking off headphones, because he was watching Battlestar Galactica on his laptop):  "Huh?"
Me:  "Osama Bin Laden is dead."
Him:  "Oh.  really?"
Me:  "Yeah.  It's all over the news."
Him:  "How'd we get him?  Drone strike?"
Me:  "No.  I think a SEAL team went in and whacked him."
Him:  "Oh.  well.  that's cool."
Me:  "yeah."
Him:  "Yeah."

*short pause

Him:  "Does that mean everyone gets to go home now?" *snicker
Me:  "haha."

*Roomate then puts his headphones back on and watches more Battlestar Galactica.