Bin Laden: Why it matters
Terrorism did not die last night. Nor did heightened security, airport feel ups, or warrantless wire-tapping. All that really died yesterday was an evil man and a few of his henchmen.
What really happened yesterday was closure - but not the closure of which you're probably thinking. Sure, the closure of avenging the attacks on the WTC is there. But the other closure is just as important, maybe more so:
A promise made to us by our government has finally been kept.
That promise wasn't kept by the president who made it. That president used the horrifying images of 9/11 as an excuse to lie to us and forward the oil imperialism agenda with which he arrived in office. That president couldn't be bothered to finish the job he started because he was too busy telling us how it was "Mission Accomplished" at the goal posts he'd been moving - and even then was wrong. That president specifically stated that Bin Laden wasn't a priority.
But the promise was still out there. And I think more than a few of us were beginning to wonder if Osama bin Laden was going to become the Middle East version of Castro, presidency after presidency hoping that the bastard would just die already. President after president lacking the wherewithal to keep the promise they'd inherited.
That didn't happen. Instead, it was only one president - the one who made the promise - who failed to keep it. President Obama took up that challenge, focused the resources needed on the problem, and fulfilled the promise.
So when you see Americans dancing in the street, realize that it's not just bloodlust over the death of one man, no matter how evil and hated he was. Realize that most of us understand that this is not the end of terrorism, and that in fact there may be retaliation arising from bin Laden's death. Realize that we are well aware of the divisions that still exist within our country and the world, and that we aren't foolish enough to think they are gone. We know it's all still there.
But we will still celebrate that a promise made to us during a generations-defining moment of grief has finally been fulfilled.
What really happened yesterday was closure - but not the closure of which you're probably thinking. Sure, the closure of avenging the attacks on the WTC is there. But the other closure is just as important, maybe more so:
A promise made to us by our government has finally been kept.
That promise wasn't kept by the president who made it. That president used the horrifying images of 9/11 as an excuse to lie to us and forward the oil imperialism agenda with which he arrived in office. That president couldn't be bothered to finish the job he started because he was too busy telling us how it was "Mission Accomplished" at the goal posts he'd been moving - and even then was wrong. That president specifically stated that Bin Laden wasn't a priority.
But the promise was still out there. And I think more than a few of us were beginning to wonder if Osama bin Laden was going to become the Middle East version of Castro, presidency after presidency hoping that the bastard would just die already. President after president lacking the wherewithal to keep the promise they'd inherited.
That didn't happen. Instead, it was only one president - the one who made the promise - who failed to keep it. President Obama took up that challenge, focused the resources needed on the problem, and fulfilled the promise.
So when you see Americans dancing in the street, realize that it's not just bloodlust over the death of one man, no matter how evil and hated he was. Realize that most of us understand that this is not the end of terrorism, and that in fact there may be retaliation arising from bin Laden's death. Realize that we are well aware of the divisions that still exist within our country and the world, and that we aren't foolish enough to think they are gone. We know it's all still there.
But we will still celebrate that a promise made to us during a generations-defining moment of grief has finally been fulfilled.