May 2, 2011 Damage done, lives on
Osama is dead. The damage he (and we) did lives on and we can hardly step beyond our front doors without seeing it. This Front Porch Republic piece by Russell Arben Fox says it better than I can:
But what I didn’t realize until much later was that the pre-occupation we had with that threat was itself a perhaps even deeper threat to the American way of life…a way that, whatever else we all disagree upon, really shouldn’tbe a life conditioned by endless low-level wars, and the costly divides in American life they give rise to. We did that to ourselves, but Osama gave us the pretext for doing so, and for that, I guess he deserved what he finally,finally, got. If only I could believe that a well-executed firefight could rid us of all the civic and international damage he has left in his wake. - FPR
A new threat, a new attack, a new counter measure, less freedom, and no more safety. These prospects among other things keep me from anything like a celebratory mood.
(Brad)
Reader Comments (14)
Well said Brad. I have been watching the news coverage, and also fear that the "we won! We got him!" celebrations on the streets may add salt to the wound of the extremists and how / when they may decide to retaliate.
It will not end terrorism. It will not make us any safer. But it may send a message to the terrorists: we will hunt you down no matter how long it takes. Number one is gone. Who's next?
It's not as if we can suddendly go back to pre 9/11 travel days just because Bin Laden is gone.
Osama is dead...can I have my tweezers back?
I also greatly miss things like the right to "freely" move around the US as a citizen without a full body scan or more invasive body grope. As consumers and taxpayers, our ability to afford and enjoy "life, liberty and the pursuit of happines" is diminished with each new security measure companies and government agencies enact. I also feel awful for peaceful, law abiding Muslims (and those from India who are often confused with middle easterners) in the western world. Particularly, those who have suffered prejudices and death due to ignorance and harsh jingoism.
ObL, his entire family, his followers, and even other countries that supported him, were well aware that there could be dire consequences for his actions. Otherwise, why bother hiding and misdirecting at all? Also rooted in Judeo-Christian ethics: is the notion of weighing the morality, or morbidity, of the celebrations in our nation (and around the world) over the killing of ObL. When doing so, we must also review and weigh the obviously morbid directed assault upon thousands of innocent lives, the loss of freedoms and trust (which may take a long time to regain or may never return.)
In view of this larger context, I find myself questioning the egos and motives of those who decry the celebratory release of emotion. There are as many different "Christian" notions of killing/death as there are types of christian religons around the world. Narrowly held religious moral high ground, is just as dangerous as over exuberance. The terrorist/extremists who planned 9/11 have their own vehemently held views of morality, religon, right and wrong. I do believe that modesty and humility are under valued virtues in this day and age. If the celebrations degenerate into something else, then I'll worry. For now, I see no value in categorically disparaging the varied emotional output from a hugely diverse people as somehow "wrong."
I for one, am unable to celebrate bin Laden's killing. I am more concerned and fearful for a loved one who will be traveling half away around the world shortly on a business trip. Finally, I am still mourning all the individuals and ideals sacrificed and lost, for the sake of ObL and his followers' belief system.
The cost to the the economy in terms of TSA salaries and equipment and to travellers in discomfort and inconvenience is obvious. The Iraq war might have happened eventually anyway, but we would not be bearing the cost of a war in Afghanistan without him. An economist has estimated the total drag on the economy at 2.5 trillion dollars.
And the costs do not stop there. American has become a nation that practices torture, spies on its own citizens, and imprisons its own citizens and others without trial. And it has become a nation whose first reaction is chest-thumping swagger rather than sober reflection on justice finally done and on the memory of those for whom justice was done.
I do not, here, go into whether the wars, travel security measures, interrogation techniques, detentions, and expenditures were or were not necessary in the face of Mr. bin Laden's actions and those of the ones he inspired, necessary to prevent even greater losses. I am only pondering that, whether the United States and the world have been defeated by him or whether we are on our way to restoring a level of security we once took for granted, he has cost us a _lot_.
Gary Williams
Forces of repression in the US Government, just as elsewhere, are quick to seize on any pretext to deny freedoms and arbitrarily ordain sweepingly totalitarian laws and regulations (burdensome at best and made useless by political correctness's refusal to honestly identify the true enemy you are 'protecting' against), and that is Osama's only measurable success. Otherwise he's a privileged life of inherited wealth, utterly wasted by an ideology of hate. Our worst enemy is not outside terrorists (evil as they are) but totalitarian-minded bureaucrats at home--of which there's no shortage.
Celebrating his death is healthy and natural; he declared himself our enemy, vowed our destruction, murdered thousands of innocents. A useful message to his followers, if we stand fast and don't succumb to self-doubt and misguided appeasement (neither of which is a weakness of our adversaries).
But beware of those in power who 'never let a good crisis go to waste'.