The Implications of Bin Laden's Death

When word came out last night that the United States had killed Osama Bin Laden, I had to wait for the President's confirmation of the event:

Afterwards, I found an in-depth chronology of the operation by the Telegraph, see here.

Images began to show up as people in NY, Washington and around the world celebrating. I couldn't watch for long because nearly the entire student body at my university, Bentley University, came out to celebrate, here is some of the videos I took:

After the confirmation I began to think about the implications of his death; they are in fact, very complex. 

Its obvious that Osama Bin Laden's influence over the years was greatly waning as U.S. efforts (alongside with begrudging Pakistani help) to break up the global network he built gained ground. As the crackdown continued, the Al Qaeda's network weakened and it began to rely more on smaller, 1 to 2 person operations strapped with bombs, instead of the bombastic attacks like those in New York, London, Spain, and India. 

His second hand man, Ayman Al Zawahiri is still thought to be alive, however, most analysts realize that few hold the same inspirational power that Bin Laden did. Yet that was probably the deceased leader's greatest strength: inspiration and respect. He's been more of an inspiration to young radical fighters than a financier, fighter, or even organizer.

If just a symbol, is his death important at all? Yes, of course it is, and for good reason. First, his death came at the hands of U.S. Navy Seals, an important signal to the world (but especially Americans) because two wars and 10 years later, the very man who started it all, always seemed to be able to escape the clutches of the U.S. Army. He didn't just die from natural causes, which would have been his eternal act of defiance and escape from his enemies, his death was a result of a direct order by the President to kill. This gives Americans and all those affected by Sept. 11, a feeling of justice for a decade of sacrifice in lives, debt, and political chaos. 

Although an important symbolic death, it does have even larger logistical importance, not for Al Qaeda, but for NATO forces. For years, Bush set the standard of victory: nothing less than dismantling and disrupting the terrorist organization's network but more importantly, killing Osama Bin Laden. With its organization financially stressed, low on people power, and becoming more and more obsolete in regional ideology, the death of Osama was the last criteria for victory. It was the reason were were still in Afghanistan; even Obama has said so. 

It is very convenient, politically and militarily, that Osama's assassination comes as the Obama administration and NATO forces planned on beginning a gradual withdrawal from Afghanistan. With him out of the picture, the U.S. can come out more victorious than with a withdrawal without his murder. This will serve as another reason to call for withdrawal from Afghanistan for more troops to head back home. 

His death is symbolic, but it will lead to real world results, the least of which is a possible retaliation attack against some Western targets. The attack isn't likely to be large-scale given Al Qaeda's new style of operation, however, it can be deadly. The likely targets will be in the Middle East or Pakistan and Afghanistan. This shows that Al Qaeda is not crippled by Osama's death, but not because he wasn't important, because in today's world, more attacks are organized by a few people with a handful of chemicals than the large scale attacks waving Al Qaeda's banners. As I type this, there is a man somewhere planning an attack to hurt people and get their message across; this fight isn't over, but it has progressed. 

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Arab Americans in Dearborn, Michigan Celebrate upon hearing the news!

On a more personal level, Bin Laden's actions have helped destroy the reputation of my faith, helped create Islamophobia, and destroy the lives of too many. I'm glad he is dead and I know that he won't be rewarded for his horrendous acts; Muslims have much reason to rejoice. 

"Simply put, there has been no single person in nearly a millennium and a half of Muslim history who has ever hijacked our beloved religion of Islam more than bin Laden.

Muslims have been the greatest numerical casualties of al Qaeda and bin Laden. The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point released a stunning report that said Muslims have accounted for the vast majority of the total number of casualties from al Qaeda attacks between 2004 and 2008 throughout the world. 

From 2006 to 2008, 98 percent of al Qaeda's victims were from Muslim-majority countries."

With his death is a stab against terrorism, however, we must never forget that we can never diverge our 

attention from the REAL pacifier of terrorism and violence: the democratic uprisings in the Middle East!

I have consistently said that the only way to truly fight terrorism is to promote democracy. We can see today that the uprisings in the Middle East directly contradicts a teaching by Osama Bin Laden, that democracy was comparable to idolatry and worthy of a death sentence.

In its anti-terrorism campaign, the U.S. needs to help the people in Syria, Bahrain, Yemen and more establish democracies so they can voice their concerns; without those channels to express their joy or grief, violence becomes the only option. Democratic reform should always be the foreign policy of the United States, it is always in our best interest. 

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