A blog article by Bonniejean Alford (Educator, Activist, World Citizen)
Yesterday an American military action resulted in the death of Osama Bin Laden nearly ten years after his directives caused one of the most devastating attacks on American soil since Pearl Harbor. The actions of 9/11 left thousands dead and millions broken, including myself. We plunged into a war based on speculation and lies. And some (maybe even many) Americans relied on stereotyping and judgement to mistreat innocent Americans who just happen to practice the same religion as Osama Bin Laden.
But they were wrong. The religion Osama Bin Laden led was not truly Islamic. Oh sure, it had its initial foundation in Islam, but he skewed it to meet his own misguided beliefs and desires, disguised as needs, a common plight of extremist religious groups.
As I noted above, 9/11 devastated me. It left me depressed, scared, and dare I admit it, judging Muslims and Arabs. That judgement ended the minute I noted it in myself with recognition that if someone like me that sees equality and acceptance as the most important behavior for humankind can slip due to fear, than who can truly blame those that have never been educated to believe such behaviors as valid.
For me, I simply turned to what I know, education. Since 9/11 I have taken the time to learn all I can about Islam. I know full well that the sect Osama Bin Laden led was a fundamentalist political mess that went against the very wishes of the God he proclaimed to serve.
That’s the problem with extremism. It creates a huge mess. And in this case, the mess Osama Bin Laden created has impacted America, and the world, at such levels that too many have lost sight of justice.
I hope and pray that the intent of the military action was to take Osama Bin Laden alive, to be put on trial, and face his victims, allowing for a restoration of justice and faith. If not, the action was nothing but sanctioned retaliation against a group of people that obviously are not understood.
Fact is, whether the killing was intentional or merely a consequence of the military action, justice has not really been served, revenge, yes, but not justice. And I am left wondering, is anyone even truly concerned about the backlash that this action is going to cause? Sure, they have set the alerts to high, but everyone seems to be too calm and celebratory.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely do have faith in the military to protect us, but shouldn’t they have focused more on serving justice and restoring society before they simply killed the man perceived as to blame for all America’s problems.
Simply put, I predict, sadly, that there will be retaliation by Osama Bin Laden’s minions and I am worried that it will begin a continuous cycle of retaliation, plunging us further into the war(s) we never should have entered into in the first place.
What worries me most is that these minions are not stupid when it comes to violent action. Think about it, they planned a time specific collaborative action with multiple interconnected parts and remained on the run for nearly a decade. This terrorist group should not be assumed disbanded. In fact, quite the contrary. I believe that they will bide their time until they believe we think it is 100% safe. This is when they will strike and do the greatest damage.
Maybe I am being pessimistic. But in truth, I am simply being realistic.
Justice is not an easy thing to come by. Osama Bin Laden, formally public enemy number one, is indeed dead, or so the military tells us. I have seen no body, which they claim to have. And I wonder, if he wasn’t just the face of terrorism and the head of the snake we have just cut off will grow back twice.
Social Evolution Reborn 
There are a few things about this article that get to me.
First, I don’t think we should be worried about a backlash from Al Qaeda. If anything, we should be more worried about relations with Pakistan. He was right there, and we have speculated that he was there for a while now. The Pakistan government said ‘no he wasn’t’, but now we’ve found him there. He wasn’t even hiding in a cave or anything; he was in a compound in the suburbs! It’s hard to believe that they couldn’t have known that he was there.
I both disagree and agree with you’re statement. I do indeed believe that we should be worried about retaliations from Pakistan, but I also believe that we should worry about any retaliation we may get from Al Qaeda. Yes, we may have taken out their figure and they may be weak for a time, but like how this incident could be seen as revenge for 9/11, I believe we may see some revenge coming back at us for this.
Isn’t it possible that he really wasn’t there? If Osama Bin Laden was just chilling in mansion in the capital of the country, people would clearly notice the most wanted man in the world. Also, he and the people associating with him would be speaking either Pashtu, Russian or Arabic… all of which would be completely unfamiliar to the people in that region, causing some sort of questioning. I don’t see how or why he would be in a mansion in a country he’s not from with no money from the royal family, supported by nothing but a “taliban” group of teens from Afghanistan.
I agree with what Jeff said regarding Bin Laden’s residence in the suburbs of Pakistan. It is hard to believe that the Pakistani government did not know that a person of interest like Osama was residing in one of their communities. Information like this one is detected even by smaller branches of government, especially with a face as recognized as Bin Laden’s. We should be careful and skeptical about the relationship held with Pakistan by the United States.
I disagree, our government hasn’t given us one piece of evidence showing that Osama bin laden is actually dead. They claim to not have any pictures of his body because they wanted to obey his religon and discard of his body properly but yet we have a video of Sudan Hussein being hung. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy nut but with the amount of damage he did to the American people they need closure and by simply saying they found him and killed him without proof isn’t giving closure. They could have done that the day after 9/11 happened. Weather he’s dead or not, I don’t think people who lost their lives ones will ever get closure.
I can understand your concern Professor, and I’m curious. The media is portraying his death as a type of justice. It really upsets me when hearing the government say they gave him a proper traditional burial. How does the government know what type of death wishes Osama Bin Laden wanted, not that it even matters, because in no way, shape, or form would It be expected for his wants or demands to be carried out by anyone. For all we know he may have wanted to be caught, and this might be part of another big plan of his. After reading your post I now have a different outlook at the whole situation. The bigger picture and not just his death, he was left uncaught for many years, and during those years I highly doubt he was writing out checks and apology letters to all his victims. I don’t even want to think about what he was planning in these past years. All we can do is pray for our safety and be prepared for the unexpected. Hopefully his death wasn’t the birth of tragedy to come. Unfortunately at this point and time we probably could have had better hopes for our future had he been armed the day he was unarmed and gunned down, his death came way to easy, the hardest part was the hide and seek game played out between him and the entire USA, and for all we know he may have wanted to be caught and his death might have been just another suicide mission and another queue for something tragic. Has retaliation blinded people, justice has not been served, maybe people like war, or classy war as officials are now calling Bin Laden’s death. I was completely speechless when I heard someone refer to Bin Laden as a Pope the other day, how about he was a deranged terrorist who used and abused his own religion to justify his horrific actions. I can’t think of the term that is used when individuals use their race, culture, or religion as a yardstick to justify their actions.
I agree– not only was justice not served, but I believe the American government has locked its people in a confrontation of which we will not soon see the end. Our government should have taken different actions after 9/11, however difficult it may have been, as many times as some may have derided our not fighting as a failure. Directing our resources to something besides war is not inaction. Our government should aim to help people live, not aim to kill them; we should be defending freedom not attacking out of fear. The US may have killed a man, but the idea, the powerful drive of hatred, lives on. In the end it is as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” (1963)
In some ways I think it was better that we finished it now, rather than later. Do you remember when they were going to hold trials for the Guantanimo detainees? They should have held trials, but everyone argued on how justice should be carried out that it never happened.
But it isn’t finished, that’s the thing. That’s the frightening fact that we must acknowledge. We’re going to end up with generations of people on both sides hating and plotting against one another. We could revert back to ancient times and just kill whomever we want whenever they hurt us, but I really don’t think it’d prove to be the better option this time around.
That’s not what I’m saying.
What I am saying is that it’s probably better that he was killed while being captured, rather than having people argue about what to do with him (seedy trial or indefinite imprisonment).
I totally agree with Ciara. It’s going to happen at some point, revenge and retaliation just flows through some peoples’ veins. And seriously? You can’t just expect a huge, extremist, angry terrorist group to just sit back and twiddle their thumbs as America has just killed Osama Bin Laden. I’m sorry, it’s just not realistic.
Regardless of justice being served, many Americans are happy he is dead. Perhaps to many Americans his death is justice being served–they may not see the need for a trial. I agree that in accordance with the American Justice system it probably would have been more credible to have a trial. However, the fact is he needed to be targeted and taken out. Some people actually think we can end the war now. I honestly think this war is way beyond Bin Laden. He was only one aspect of it. This war will continue regardless of his death. It does bother me that no one can clarify and own up to the real reasons and conditions why we are there. The war on terror is the same to me as the war on drugs. It can never end and money is spent and wasted.
I think a poll needs to be taken before we start saying many Americans are happy he’s dead. Just yesterday I heard a bunch of people calling into a radio station asking, “Since when do we celebrate death?”
And as to the comparison to the war on drugs, that is very true: they are both tragically counterproductive efforts.
The ones that celebrate “death” are celebrating a victory. They aren’t looking at it as celebrating death. Bin Laden admitted and took responsibility for his numerous terrorist attacks on the United States. He doesn’t need a trial now that I’ve thought about it more. It’s best that we just took him out like we did.
I think we have to understand the excuse that American government is making to occupy other countries: War on Terror. What Terror are they talking about? Is it one of killing innocent people at their homes and breaking home down over there, where there is inside old women and children? Is it the Terror of torturing children in their first stage of their life? I think that term has been already proven it’s falsehood and the US troops and soldiers themselves proved it. It is clearly known to an open-minded person that this war is only to use up the natural resources that these countries have, such as oil and minerals. However, the US thinks they are smarter than other countries when it occupies these natural resources! But the fact is that the US has increased its debt to other countries, losing their military forces and soldiers, and making the US a target for more terrorism attacks periodically!!
Uhm, ok?? I don’t think I understand what you’re saying. I know the USA has the most powerful military and the best military technology in the world without question. I don’t believe the US thinks its smarter but getting smarter in war means having more awareness–which we have a certain edge on over most countries–due to our military technologies no less. We also are smart because we are aware of their weaknesses. Anyway, yes, this is primarily a war about resources and economics. No, we haven’t lost any soldiers anywhere near in comparison to passed wars. I disagree on that comment and also fully believe that is doesn’t make us anymore weaker to terrorist attacks. People die in a war. Regardless of if it’s women and children. That’s life. Its like a game of chess over there. If we move at the wrong times it could costs us the war and all of our efforts would’ve been in vain. I would rather have my country in control of the good stuff (the resources) than someone else.
Of course the soldiers are less BUT – 90 % of the casualties have been unarmed civilians. So when you say “People die in a war-That’s life” What if the civilians living in the Mid-East said this to you about those who died in 9-11? I take this very seriously because I am Muslim and these are not just random foreign people dying- these are my brothers and sisters in Islam. Because most Americans are occupied in their lives and many are ignorant of world politics they forget that they ARE at war. That’s why its interesting to see that only AFTER 9-11 Americans started to realize that they were under attack but this conflict started WAY before! 9-11 was not the start of terrorism but rather a result of America’s criminal activity in foreign lands which most people do not seem to take into consideration. If there are American troops in Afghanistan and US aid to Israel there will always be fighting and terrorism against this country. If America truly cared for the protection of its citizens they would end its relations with the state of Israel and pull out ALL American troops from the Middle East- this really is the only option for an end and for justice.
I believe that he is not dead. The government finds ways to manipulate Americans in different ways. With all the attention being on Obama regarding his birth certificate and things getting heated concerning that they found a simple way to take attention off of that and on something that everyone will give all their attention to. I don’t believe he is dead because he’s one powerful man that we need and he has many of resources that we need that he owns. If the government says one day he changes his looks so we don’t know how he looks anymore to years later all of a sudden we find him and kill him seems suspicious. Osama owns part of the same oil that the bush family owns, without him we get no answers to a lot of unsolved questions. Why not give him a trial if we supposedly found him, why hurry and kill him, why no actual evidence that we killed him and also why hurry and say you buried his body at sea. I refuse to take their word that they killed this man. They had to come to some agreement secretly to keep this man alive, we owe those people more than they owe us. We are over there fighting because our last president and his father want to be bullies and take what those people own.
I think he’s dead. If the government was going to use his death as a cover, they would have used it earlier, and at a far better time (Katrina, Wall Street collapse, etc).
I agree, I believe that Bin laden is dead. His death is more of a moral victory for the United States than an actual victory over terrorism. It gives relief to the families of victims of 9/11.However, Bin Laden’s death brings a sort of closure that justice has been done.
With President Barack Obama refusing to release pictures of Osama’s death and the Saudi’s burial being conducted at sea by American forces, many people still don’t believe that he is dead. The government did what they have to do to get American people focused off the economy and the other crisis going on. As people we are entitled to believe anything we want to. if he is dead or not we will never know the truth. We are told what to believe and what not to believe.
I mean there is no way of really knowing whether or not he is dead, but I would like to think I can trust our Government enough that when they say he is dead, he is dead. I mean this isn’t China, we don’t have a censored internet where other countries all over the world couldn’t tell us whether or not our own Government was lying to us. There are some secrets but I don’t think this is one of them.
I agree too. As said by Jeff, if government was going to do it, they would of done it earlier. Even though for us common civilians, like Kate said, “there is no way of really knowing whether or not he is dead”, it is more likely that he is dead. As we all know, our information is all came from the mass media, include many things we believed to be facts. However, we can’t know if these are really facts, or mere coverup of the media and the government; all we can do is assume, not prove; to trust, not to test. So if we have believed, trusted, and listened to media for so long, why don’t we just believe in media one more time? Besides, the reports about Bin Laden’s death were fairly detailed in description, include what happened, how he was killed, where he was killed, who killed him, and why he was killed. So I think it is enough for assuming Bin Laden is dead by the amount of detail given about the account happened.
I also believe Bin Laden is dead. There was footage of his death, and there are pictures of his corpse. And quite frankly, it’s about time he died. He killed 3000 people on 9/11, so this is retribution. And it only took the U.S. a trillion dollars and 9 years to kill him! There are many things that the government tells the media to tell us, but I don’t think they would lie about killing the leader of a terrorist group. I don’t see any reason for them to lie about that.
what would be the gain to fake Osama Bin Laden’s death? The government wont release the photos of a dead man because it will give the terrorist something to rally around. Also who cares about Obama’s birth certificate, it is just giving people things to wine about.
I’m not gonna argue with you or Bonniejean— I can’t be 100% sure the man’s dead; I haven’t seen a body either. But I’m not sure proclaiming “We killed Bin Laden!” was just a ploy to take the heat off Obama’s origin story. That seems just as farfetched as anything they might be saying.
I don’t think this claim could be a ploy either. I have checked FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list and Bin Laden was not there. Also, it seems that there never be mentioning about Bin Laden in the news anymore. I have found online that Omar, the former backer of Bin Laden, wanted to make peace with the U.S.. If Bin Laden is still alive, I don’t see the point for Omar to sacrifice so much and then go making peace.
Like Ciara said, I’m not positive. But, like Jeff K and kareemz, I hope that he is dead. What would saying that we kill him do, except make his people angry and want to retaliate? It makes much more sense that he would dead than our government saying something that would just infuriate his followers more.
What has it really changed? He’s dead, he’s alive, what is the difference? Tensions are high and peace is non-existent in the middle east. A face that is responsible and more of our freedoms slowly taken from us.
Going along with what I said about conspiricies, I don’t think he is dead either. Just the mere fact that they won’t release the photographs of his body and keep switching up and changing the facts about the whole thing just seems so sketchy to me.
I think it is more likely to not be a conspiracy of the government. Bin Laden was the number 1 most wanted terrorist for years to the government. That is said, the existence of Bin Laden is a great threat to both the security of the US government and to the security of us civilians. For such a big threat, I don’t see the government in anyway would take it lightly. For instance, I don’t think the government would be dare enough to forge something to try to convince us that Bin Laden is dead and make us to drop our attentions and nerves against Bin Laden. If government people are doing that, they are then going against their roles. Since the job of the government is to secure the safety of its civilians, the fake information about the death of Bin Laden would do the opposite as the civilians would then drop their alerts against Bin Laden. As a result, the fake information would only create more insecurity, and I believe that the government would not want such thing to happen.
I think he can be either dead or alive too. Even though I think he is dead, that doesn’t mean I think him as absolutely dead. I can see why some people believed that he’s dead and some didn’t. One thing is the action of government. Because the government won’t release Bin Laden’s death and burial picture, like Danny said, many people thought it was just a lie from the government as many important clues were covered up. Also, the media played a big role in persuading the majority. Because people put trusts in media, the government was able to convince many through mass media about the death of Bin Laden. However, whether Bin Laden is dead of not, we can’t tell until we see his corpse, which I personally believe to be impossible.
While I personally don’t believe that any justice was served from this act, I do believe that some people consider this to be justice. Today, people consider justice to be getting what they deserved. While yes, I do believe that Osama Bin Laden should have been killed, I also believe that the way in which was did it was unjust. Us killing him for he has done to our people is exactly what the Al Qaeda did to us on 9/11. If we wanted to have justice really served for Bin Laden, I think we should have put him on trial where he almost certainly would have been considered guilty. By stepping up and not resorting to violence, we could have resorted to a higher power and though many people would see this as being weak, I think this just makes us that much more stronger. That we can deal with something without reverting ourselves back to our primitive ways shows just how much stronger we have become as people and a country.
I agree with your statement in saying that people believe justice to be people getting what they deserved. I personally think we should have captured the man and had him await a trial. By going in and killing him, he is ultimately not doing any suffering for all the harm he has caused to others. I could honestly care less about how the man was buried or how his family feels about this. I know that sounds harsh, but he did commit some terrible acts to other families and people around the world. In their eyes it may have been seen as what “God” wanted them to do, but thats not how it plays out in others minds.
Now see, I believe that as long as they did the pre-rituals of his burial in the same way as his religion dictates it, then it shouldn’t matter where he was buried. But since his religion was more of an extreme version of Muslim religion, I don’t necessarily believe we should have done those. Under any other circumstances though, I believe that someone should be buried in the ways of their religion.
Yes, it is totally opinion biased. The people who lost family members in the 9/11 attack are of course going to want to feel closure and for them this could be a form of closure. But for others, like me, we know that this is not the end in the slightest.
Also, isn’t Obama up for reelection soon? Everything seems a bit surreal, and something just isn’t flowing right, or maybe it’s flowing too perfectly, seems like someone is planning a movie. Like Danny Price said, the Government finds many ways to manipulate Americans in different ways.
The way our political system works, he’s been up for reelection since Jan 21st 2009.
Anyway, If they were going to fake it they would have already done so.
I mean it is possible that if they were going to fake it, they would have done it already. But at the same time, wouldn’t they want to wait til the year before he goes up for reelection just so that this “victory” is still fresh in the memory of the voters?
I agree with Suman that they would come around this time of reelection, just because something such as killing one of Americas most wanted will stay in every voters mind as its time to vote. There can be several reason they may have picked this time to all of a sudden ” kill this guy”. Politicians are known for pulling stunts all the time to get what they need, just because he is President makes him no different than anyone else.
I’ve always felt that Americans are seriously being manipulated. I do believe in some conspiracy theories, some seem extremely valid. I mean, I think it’s just so coincidencial that the same week Obama was asked to present his birth certificate, magically Osama Bin Laden was murdered.
I have also put this thought into consideration, it does all seem a little odd to be happening around this time. The fact that Osama is dead and gas prices are now beginning to go down really puts Obama in a better spot since everything was going downhill.
I understand where you are coming from with this blog. I too, have some of the same concerns and feelings as you. I am very scared that our country is going to be retaliated against; we just made a lot of people angry. Unfortunately, Bin Laden has many followers and many people who are behind him, and just because we killed him does not mean we are out of the clear. I really hope that our government really killed him and this is not just made up. I wonder a lot why they didn’t show his body to prove to us that he really is dead. It will be interesting to see what happens in the near future.
I feel the reason they didn’t show pictures of his dead body is because of the high risk of further angering our enemies into retaliating even more. Also it would’ve been in bad taste. There was always potential for another attack on our country perhaps now more so since 9/11. Pictures would send the wrong message as well as being in bad taste. I personally would love to see pictures but I feel if I was in power that it would not be a smart move in the long run–especially at this time.
I completely agree. Showing pictures would be in very bad taste, and I wouldn’t have released them if I were in power either.
I agree as well. I sort of relate it to a closed casket though too, where the body may be too gruesome to show to the family and relatives. These images could have been seen as gruesome and angered his followers even more.
There are plenty of pictures online that depict slain insurgents. Those people’s friends and family have not retaliated yet. However, with a large figure like Bin Laden, I think we should beef up our defense even more.
Showing pictures would just be a way for some people to have closure, that’s all. To some it’s an abomination of an idea, to some, it’s needed to make them feel at ease. It’s all opinion biased.
I believe that Bin Laden’s death was just a way for the US to terrorize Al Queda the way they terrorized us. If you take away a group’s leader, you take away their organization. New Al Queda members will have to step up and become the leaders, causing competition inside of the cell. Hopefully this will lead to mistakes being made by new leadership, which can be capitalized upon by the US military. I think that’s really what the US was going for. However with terrorists, you cant really say anything with absolute certainty. Anyone who is crazy enough to strap a bomb to themselves and run into a crowd of people will not be easily discouraged.
On your main point I won’t disagree, but there has been speculation for some time now that Bin Laden was just a figurehead. It’s being investigated using the computers found in his compound.
I both agree and disagree with the points that you are making. I don’t necessarily believe that taking away the groups leader will take away their organization. I feel that Osama Bin Laden has been on the run for so long that the group itself should have already established some sort of independence in decision making. Also, I feel that it’s possible that he could just be a figure-head taking responsibility for, but not necessarily guiding this group. But, I agree that people who are willing to strap a bomb to themselves are definitely not someone to be taken lightly and surely aren’t discouraged easily.
Apparently, I should have been more clear. What I was mentioning were the misconceptions that the US had and their reasoning for trying to get him in the first place. Personally, I’m not even convinced that Bin Laden had anything to with 9/11.
I agree with you on that. It’s clear that the US had more ulterior motives for kill Bin Laden the way they did. There is no way that they just wanted closure in doing what they did. But what misconceptions are you talking about? Also, I don’t believe that Bin Laden is fully to blame. But, why would someone who had nothing to do with it take full responsibility for something so huge? It sounds a bit farfetched to me.
The misconception I’m referring to is that Killing Osama Bin Laden will disband the Taliban/terrorism in general. I’ve heard that he has never really fully taken responsibility. As far as I know, we received a videotape from a guy with a beard in a turban that looked like Osama Bin Laden, who took responsibility for 9/11. I remember hearing people being skeptical that it was even him. And now with this whole “get rid of his body at sea in less than 24hrs” business, it just seems like no one has ever seen this guy. I guess I just don’t understand why they wouldn’t have brought him back to face his accusers and the rest of the US. More than anything, I think the victims of 9/11 deserved more. Even though I agree that a trial would have been mostly pointless, I think it’s important for the public to see the man get his justice and I think we were robbed of that. That’s the only reason I am skeptical about any of this.
Some people say justice has been served and others say it hasn’t. The main point is that as long as there are American troops, support, or influence illegally occupying Muslim lands: Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine etc. There will never be peace in the Middle East. They don’t hate America because of simply hating America they hate America because everyday America funds and commits crimes against humanity (America’s huge aid & support for the state of Israel) I think Americans are very clueless when it comes to the politics of the Mid-east and for some reason they only know about 9-11 and the aftermath but not the history BEFORE 9-11. They don’t tell you that Osama bin Laden actually fought by the aid of America to fight against the Soviets(when they had a common enemy) or the fact that Osama made proposals to America and even Muslim countries saying to remove troops in order to establish an Islamic state(which most Muslims there actually DO want). All I’m saying is Americans are forgetting that the ones who are in need of justice are those who are living in the war-torn Muslim lands who have sadly been forgotten. Where is their Justice? Since Osama’s death is the Middle East now re-stored or will it be in the near future? The only way America will not feel a backlash is if they remove ALL American troops, influence, and aid throughout the Muslim countries~ this is what basically started the whole conflict in the first place.
First of all, the Middle East has been at war with themselves for religious issues and god knows what since before America was ever a country. Their struggles still continue. We are certainly not the cause of it. I don’t see how Bin Laden’s good intentions and efforts in the passed are even relevant at this point, but I do agree that there are many Americans–many young Americans especially–that are ignorant and not aware enough of politics of the Middle East. The older generations are more aware because they lived through different events that occurred in history. I remember when my substitute 4th grade teacher came from Kuwait and told us about what was happening in Desert Storm, not that it was really relevant for this. Anyway, I agree with one part you wrote, I would personally like to have all American troops out of that region and have nothing to do over there whatsoever. However, I am not educated enough and certainly not and expert on these matters to claim that is the solution to all of the Mid-East’s problems like you so clearly stated.
The idea that Sunnis and Shiites have been fighting for generations after generations is a huge myth. This has only recently been the issue- similar to the myth that Muslims and Jews have always been fighting from the beginning of time. Actually Jews flourished under Islamic rule and many Jews today testify to their co-existing with the past generations of Palestinians. The conflict that the US is guilty for is its support for the state of Israel. This is the longest military occupation in recent history. Like I said previously this was one of Osamas objectives including the removal of all foreign troops in the area. If you know anything about Osama bin Ladens early life you would know that he came from a wealthy Saudi family but decided to leave all of his wealth to live as a man in battle to support the Muslims of a land he is not even from. Don’t take things at face-value. Americas media is most certainly not authentic or reliable. Another example- Americans hated Saddam Hussein so much but whats really funny is that America was the one who provided him with the weaponry he was using to kill off the Kurds living in Northern Iraq. Interesting isn’t it? All im saying is don’t believe everything you hear and study both sides because there is much more to it than what the media is telling you.
I agree Ahmed, I think this point is forgotten much of the time. Even though it is no secret, people “forget” to talk about all of the illegal activities America is involved in with the Middle East. The selling of weapons to Israel and the whole fact that we are still trying to “mediate” between them and Palestine is not our place. It is a hard situation but is it really in our hands to judge the fate of all of these countries?
I completely feel and understand where you are coming from. I do believe as well that there will be a retaliation by his followers. The fact that his body was not seen leads me to believe that they may have brutally killed Osama if they have killed him at all. No justice has been served since he was instantly killed, he should have stood trial.
Who’s got time for trials. I really don’t think they would’ve put Hitler on trial. I don’t see it necessary if the person blatantly admits and takes responsibility for his/her crimes.
Would it really have made a difference if he stood trial? He already had assumed responsibility for all the actions of his group.
I agree with the fact that a trial would not be necessary. It would be a long drawn out process to convict someone of crimes they already admitted to. I don’t condone killing instead of a trial, but in this instance it might have worked out for the better. The truth is that we don’t truly know how/if he was killed and we aren’t going to. It just comes down to believing what the government tells you or not.
I agree that trial wouldn’t make a difference because anyway it goes he will face death. I would only love to see him on trial just to see the fact that they actually captured this guy, this would be proof and make me a believer of what they say. It is easy to up and say you have killed someone who has be hidden for a decade and know one has seen since 9/11. having trial would just be proof that they captured him.
I would definitely agree that a trial would prove his capture and give peace of mind to many Americans that are skeptical. I just don’t think a trial for someone who already admitted to their crimes is worth the time and money it would cost. I do agree that without proof it is harder to believe and it’s tough to fully believe something with no evidence. Unfortunately that’s just how it is in this circumstance.
I agree with you on all points, especially on why his body, or photos of his body, have not been released. But not only do I fear it was because of the way they killed him, but also for what some people may have done to his body once he was dead. He was the head of an organization that has hurt many Americans and many others around the world. I can’t imagine what his body would have looked like after he was killed, nor do I want to.
I can’t be more upset with the way Americans are acting. Alright, I get it, your happy that Osama Bin L?aden is dead. But do you really have to act like a child that’s being handed an ice cream cone? For goodness sakes. It’s NOT just Osama Bin Laden that’s involved in this whole thing. And I don’t know if Americans can EVER feel safe, because we keep retaliating and digging a deeper hole for ourselves. Honestly, I don’t know why I’m even saying ourselves because with the way America is acting, and the way things are currently being controlled, I’m not even proud to be an American. What about all the rest of Al Qaeda? Or even other extremist terrorist groups that now will want to get back at us for killing Bin Laden? It’s just never gonna stop, until America decided to be the bigger country and cut the crap with all these wars and retaliations and murders.
I definitely agree with Kerry; everyone is acting as though the death of Osama will be the end of everything. He does have followers which means that there is more retaliation to come. If we want this war to end, we should’ve found another way of going about this situation. In the end, someone has to change their ways, otherwise, this will never stop.
Exactly, because war always brings more war, but peace means leaving it alone and having much less conflict. When you go and do something big like kill Bin Laden, you should very well expect a backlash.
I also agree because if they did “kill Bin Laden” we should expect someone to step up and take his place. We should expect to recieve retaliation. I just dont believe they killed him, why kill him knowing his people will step up to finish off the terroism to americans because they now feel they have nothing to live for.
I am going to agree with you here Kerry because people in this country are very ignorant. They want to be blind to the fact that we are never going to be 100% safe. As much as everyone wants to celebrate and believe we have the most advanced military, intelligence, pickup trucks, toby keith songs, and a*s kicking there is a lot of terrorism going on in the world right now and all of it cannot be controlled by the United States.
I agree with Kerry’s assertion that war equals more war, and Kate, you are right that Americans have been lulled into a false sense of security. We may have military might and the largest economy in the world; but are we safe from Islamic extremists? I suggest not. The death of Bin Laden signals the beginning of a new era of terrorist activity, not the end. Our “war on terror” has possibly only fostered more hatred, fear, and human rights breaches and our use of force against these terror groups potentially serves to alienate and anger others who themselves may take up terrorist ideologies. Our major problem, as I see it, is that as a nation we have questionable foreign policy: we charge into Iraq and Afghanistan hoping to wipe out Al-Qaeda (or really just to safeguard foreign oil?). What we should be doing is focusing on political solutions in lieu of military force: become a benevolent nation builder giving aid to countries that harbor terrorists, with an end goal of undermining support for terrorist groups.
Retaliation is definitely something to be worried about, but I do not feel like we are more at risk after his death than we were before. Our security is heightened since there is worry of a retaliation and I do not think it will loosen up very quickly. I also believe we will never think it is 100% safe. There is obviously still a risk of retaliation, but I feel like the risk is not any different now than it was before.
The reason that I’m saying that I think the risk is up has nothing to do with security. We could have the best security in the world and still be targeted. It has to do with the fact that it’s all back and forth, and that’s why i think an extremist group will come after us now, because sadly that’s how this world operates.
I’m just saying that I feel there was always a threat and there will always be that same threat as long as these extremist groups exist. I don’t feel that killing their leader puts us at more risk. I think it is a blow to them. I understand that they will want to avenge his death, but personally I just feel that the risk of being attacked is the same.
I do not feel any relief that Osama is dead now. I only worry for the retaliation that may be yet to come. As for proper justice being served, I believe the troops did what they had to do in that time, and killing him, was the right thing to do at that time. I’m sure he was guarded by many armed men and our troops had to defend themselves in order to try and capture him, which was successful, but ended in his death. I don’t see the point in giving him a fair trial, he does not deserve any type of justice, nor does he deserve to live. What was the importance of having a proper burial? Why does he deserve to have anything properly done for him?
I do believe he is dead because I can’t think of any other reason as to why the government would lie about killing an ‘idolized’ figure of terrorists. This would only anger them more to retaliate against us, and our safety should be most important.
As for my judgements towards the Islamic religion and muslim people, I never once categorized muslims as to all being terrorists or incorporating them into the same category as Al Qaeda. Every individual is different, and i feel more educated on the beliefs and ways of Islam now having the class discussions in class. I am grateful for having the opportunity to listen to the discussions of my Muslim classmates, and I thank them for educating me on their religion.
Osama’s death has not affected me in any way. I understand that he was their leader, but there is still a whole group of his followers that have the same beliefs as he did. I think that everyone was so concentrated on having him killed after the tragedy of 9/11 for all these years, that they didn’t consider what would take place after his death. I completely agree with you Bonniejean, a good way of going about this would have been to take Osama alive, put him on trial, facing his victims, allowing for a restoration of justice and faith. This would have made our country look so much better, handling the situation in a better way and possibly putting an end to all of this. Rather than a continuing cycle of retaliation.
I would have to agree with 100%. Yes I suppose his death does make a difference, but it only means the retaliation is going to be at least 10 times worse than it would have been. I think the quote that “the best offense is a good defense” is perfect for this. If we had put more of our efforts into finding ways to defend ourselves and others against the upcoming retaliations rather than putting them into finding and killing Osama, we would be far better off.
We have done A LOT to improve security in the United States since 9/11. I went on vacation at the End of September in 2001 and I’ll never forget being ten years old and seeing at least seven US soldiers in their full get-up, carrying fully automatic m-16s right behind the metal detectors. .
Retaliation could be worse because of this, but at the same time taking out someone at the top of a group like this has to be a blow to them. If we only put our effort into defending ourselves and never made an effort to try to bring the people responsible for 9/11 to justice, they would be able to plan anything in peace. I would rather put pressure on these groups. Taking out leaders is something that would help contribute to breaking these groups up. If we only focus on defending ourselves we are essentially living in fear of these attacks and hoping that our defenses are good enough. It would be like we were just waiting to be attacked.
For me, the death of Osama Bin Laden is a bittersweet one. As previously mentioned, it is long overdue to the tune of almost 10 years. In addition, I find it difficult to celebrate the death of an individual no matter how vile his or her actions were. However, the manner in which this pulled the nation together is striking. It is impressive and is seen anywhere from sporting events to Twitter. In regards to retaliation, I am not all that worried. I’m sure that some sort of attack will be forthcoming within the next few years, but that it won’t be anything more than what may have already been planned.
Although killing one person doesn’t seem to solve the problem, It is a great victory for our country. The mastermind of the worlds largest terrorist attacks was finally put to an end. Many people say that by doing this, they will just retaliate back. But I say, If we do not defend ourselves, then we wouldn’t be the country we are. I think the government has done the right thing by doing this, because it shows that we aren’t going to back down as a country. That is what seperates us from many other countries.
I agree and disagree with your statement justinp5960. I think that yes, killing him was a wonderful accomplishment…amazing actually. BUT I do not agree when you said you believe we are doing the right thing by staying in this war. It’s time to come home. What are we even fighting for anymore? We don’t have a reason to still be there. We’ve accomplished our main goal…we killed him. I think it is time to move on now to bigger and better things. We have other problems that need to be worked out here before we go abroad. We have defended ourselves…they know were powerful…but there are more important things at stake now. The environment is a huge issue and something that the majority of our time needs to go to. Education is a huge issue too. MOVE ON FROM WAR!!!
I agree and disagree with your comment justin. The fact that he is dead is an amazing thing for the US. It’s great that we were able to take him down. But now we have accomplished our goal. We went over there to find him and we did…now it’s time to come home. All other countries know that we are powerful and we don’t back down, but we’ve been there long enough. This is one of the longest wars the United States has ever participated in. Enough is enough. We need to get out of there. Why continue to kill? What is the point?
To be honest, what disturbed me the most about this incident wasn’t that it occurred, but the response most American citizens gave. I remember in the news the day after, they were showing the responses of people at different social events when it was announced. In particular, I remember seeing footage from a baseball game and rock concert, and in both cases the crowd cheered loudly. Osama Bin Laden was a bad man who commanded several atrocities, but I still don’t think anyone should celebrate the killing of another. To liken it to football: you celebrate touchdowns and when your team sacks the opponents quarterback, but you don’t celebrate when the medical team has to take the field to put the guy on a stretcher.
What a great point. Why celebrate the killing of someone when we ourselves are against killing. BonnieJean made this point in class one day when we were talking about the death penalty. It does not make any sense to celebrate death like a bunch of ignorant fools. If our intelligence is working hard to dismantle the Al Quaeda operation/movement and we are making headway then that is something to celebrate, we should not celebrate the end of life.
The actions that took place on 9/11 completely changed the way of life in American society. Unfortunately for Arab Americans, there was a lot of misplaced anger directed at them after theses tragedies. Too often the extremist groups get all of the media coverage, which automatically slants peoples perception in a negative direction without knowing the facts. The United States will never be the same, but hopefully we can come to understand that these events happened due to a few radical members of a religion.
Religious extremist groups make absolutely no sense. They are full of ignorance and hate. All extremist groups are based on doctrine that is human, not divine. There are always going to be people who want to lead and want to have full power and control over a group of people. Be it mental illness or horrific life events, we need to find out what social conditions are causing the acceptance of these extremist ideals on their respective breeding grounds. It could be civil unrest or poor living conditions, it is easy to make an enemy out of anyone when people are unhappy and are not given personal freedom. I think we need to look at these groups with a Sociological Imagination. There is a reason why the people in these groups choose these beliefs and live the extremist lifestyle. There could be factors at home and factors in the culture at large that are cultivating hate and animocity toward the free world. I view these groups as a sort of “lost boys” situation where there are young men who have been abandoned by their familes and government and they want to be involved in something larger than themselves to get revenge. This is obviously just a theory and I don’t necessarily know what I am talking about, but more research definitely needs to be done.
I am not a war or justice expert, but I think that after a long period of time looking for Osama Bin Laden, even when the military work is justified by protecting America against Al Qaeda, there was no need to kill him on the final capture moment. The reason why I believe this is because we can’t make a link between justice and killing. Also, because even being the number one public enemy, the corresponding authority could have taken some intelligence information if he was captured alive. This could have been more satisfactory for the public opinion.
On the other hand, it is hard to believe that thanks to the media, which many times underlines Al Qaeda’s extreme behavior to the Islamic religion, many innocent Muslim people are suffering and facing the effects of prejudice in today’s society.
I would like to believe that Osama Bin Laden is dead because that means his direct influence is gone from the world. I also agree that this is only a small step toward solving America’s problems in the middle-east, His death does not do anything for society but give us some piece of mind. if he was brought to justice he could be used to extract clues as to how to deal with future threats. His death has also brought a sense that there might be some retaliation in the future and this idea is not unrealistic. terrorist groups have proven that they can come back in new and terrible ways despite being over-powered in warfare by the U.S. The problem in the middle-east does not end with Osama’s death, we need to look deeper into the problems of that culture and work together with that society to create a solution free of violence and extremist activism.
Osama bin Laden and the events that will forever be fused to his name are all learning experiences we all must learn wether or not if the U.S. completely twisted and turned it into something else for our own profit and gains but looking at it in another light we all needed to experience the lying from our gonvernments and the unfortunate deaths in order to learn from it and never let it happen again.. You cannot learn from something that you did not know could happen.
I totally agree. I believe the US did the right thing in a way. We needed to show them we weren’t scared and that were the most powerful. Sometimes you have to retaliate to show your justice. We needed our government to lie saying we were fighting for a certain reason because, now hopefully the American people will do something about it next time it happens.
I have to agree with what the military, I believe, they made the right decision by killing Osama bin Laden. I do because if we sent him to trial and prison it would be a waste of everyone’s time and money. I believe that man deserved to die. His actions did effect the Muslim community in the US. I find this disturbing myself. Arabic People are some of the nicest and hard working people I know. Arabics don’t deserve to be judged because of one man and his group’s actions. If we do, so why weren’t White Americans judged and thought of as dangerous after the Oklahoma City bombing. Timothy McVeigh is a white male but yet they weren’t thought of as dangerous to everyone, not every white man was looked at as a terrorist. This is why I believe the mistreatment of the Arabic and Muslim people was wrong from the beginning.
It would have made no difference if they put him on trial or not. They have been looking for him for so long it was bound to happen. I will tell you that being an Arab and being Muslim on top of it, peoples true colors really show. My parents are both very well known in the Arab community and after 9-11 you could just tell by some of the other races acted towards my parents and I. My mom was wearing the scarf in the airport and they put her in a room and searched her and we ended up missing our flight because of the way she was dressed. When returning my mom did not wear the scarf and she was not stopped or anything. I will tell you Islam is a beautiful religion and I am so proud of being Muslim and following the Islamic faith. It’s funny how when a Muslim guy commits a crime, all Muslims are considered bad, but when a white male goes and shoots a school up like at NIU or the Oklahoma city bombing they singled out just the white males. If anyone Muslim committed a crime like that again everyone newspaper and TV would say Muslims outraging again, classifying all Muslims to be bad. Thanks to Osama he has made it very hard for normal Muslim citizens that obey the law and do no harm to society to live. It’s a shame what he has done and caused.
I am sort of agreeing with Mrs. Bonniejean. One thing for sure, after 9/11, many people held stereotype against Islam and Muslims. This stereotype wasn’t illogical, as most of stereotypes were established upon an individual event or an occasional fact. Also, far as I can see, the religion led by Bin Laden could not be called Islam. Even though the religion is based on the Islam, but it has a different norm as Islam. First, the real Islam criticizes the violence, while the religion led by Bin Laden advocate violence (terrorism). Also, the true Islam wouldn’t advocate its supporters to suicide. Because it was known that the god loves all Muslims and the Muslims love the god, the god would not religiously order a Muslim to carry out a suicide bombing, which advocated by the religion of Bin Laden.
The attack on 9/11 was terrible and it definitely sent a shock wave to the United States and it caused many emotions to come out to the public sadness, anger, confusion the list goes on. The people of this nation just wanted order back and to spend their time searching the leader of the the terrorist rather than enforcing the security of the nation. The real problem was people didnt know anything about Isalm faith and what they believe. It is really one of the most violent and strictest religions on the planet. After that being said it still is no excuse for why they did it and the clash of religions we see everyday. Ever since 2001 I have learned a great deal about Isalm faith and why they did the things they did.
I agree that 9/11 was a terrible thing that happened to us and devastated the U.S. Indeed, I would have preferred that he would be captured rather than killed, but at least he didn’t escape (again). But I am not so sure about how bad the retaliation will be. Terrorists do not operate as well without a leader. And if the military took out Osama Bin Laden, they can probably subdue whoever comes after him. Also, people need to realize that it is the actions of the Islamic citizens of the U.S. that matter. It doesn’t matter what religion one believes in, but rather the actions they perform.
I can honestly agree that it would have been preferred if he was captured instead of killed. Just for the opportunity it would present to learn more of the reasoning behind the attack and into the minds of the those responsible. Unfortunately, I do not believe that their mission was to capture him, it could have been out of anger that the mission was done in such a manner, to where he was killed. For the sake of the citizens who share his parts of his religion, I have a sincere spot for them because of the many looks they received or mistreatments. Along with Bonnijean, I have had to catch myself when a bit of fear would worm its way into my mind. It’s unfortunate but that it is reality in America now, and I don’t think it will change anytime soon.
Even though I do agree with many of your points in this article, and I know that everybody deserves a fair trial… If Osama Bin Laden was in our custody alive imagine the danger we could have placed ourselves in with that. His followers could have easily done anything to find where he is and force us to give him up. I believe the military did the right thing and I whole heartedly stand behind them. Even if we had the opportunity to talk to him he would not explain his reasons why or tell us anything for that matter. The tragedy America has gone through as a whole would leave many people rising against Bin Laden as well which could create even more chaos in our country when we were in a time of despair. I do agree with the points that it has instilled fear in our country and the stereotypes left to those practicing around the same religion are unfortunate and need to be stopped but the truth is, they probably never will.
I DO believe that a retaliation is soon to come and being planned as I type this, I just hope that we can stop it before it happens this time. I believe we are even more in danger with Obama being re-elected because the military, in which we strongly need, is not something that is as important to Obama as it was to Mitt Romney. We need to protect our country and its people and with the devastations that 9/11 caused I certainly hope nothing like that will ever happen again!!
Agree with your point. If we would have taken Bin Laden prisoner we would just have gotten our soldiers kidnapped to ask for an exchange. That would have only prolonged the war and the dissatisfaction of American citizens. I hope nothing else happens and that we will have peace (at least for a while) but I know this is very unlikely. I guess the only thing we can wish for is no more terrorist attack with innocent civilians as targets.
This was very well written piece, and it opened my eyes to things I had no idea about. I had no idea about his religion and how he practiced it, it was very interesting. Although I was only in the 5th grade when the attack on 9/11 happened, I still remember everything about that day and the emotions of everyone around me. That’s how big of an impact this day had. I have to say, sadly, that after Bin Laden was killed I felt the same sense of fear of a retaliation. After the horrific event that happened on 9/11, who were we to think that there would not be some form of revenge?
I totally see where your fear came from and it is based on logical basis. I was also young when this occurred and it was terrifying. I remember thinking that the third world war was upon us and that we would be bombarded. I think these were terrible times for human beings all around the world specially because of the uncertainty this brought to the world.
To start, there are a few points in this article I agree with, one if which is concerning the treatment of Middle Eastern people after 9/11. They received treatment in America that was biased, terrible, and founded on false pretenses. Judging all people of Islamic faith on the actions of the Al Queda is like judging people of Christian faith on the actions of Westboro Baptist Church; the actions of the few do not represent the whole. However, I disagree with Bonniejean’s stance towards Osama’s death. I believe the military made the proper call when they ended his life (or Osama could very well still be living, however the common man will never hear from him again). Keeping him in custody would serve as fuel for countless terrorist attacks for the sake of his freedom resulting in heavy casualties. His death also served as a message towards other terrorist groups representing America’s harsh decision towards terrorist leaders/organizations.
I agree with Noah, we do not know what the reasons were for the killing of Osama Bin Laden. We do not know if it was an accident while trying to take him prisoner or if it was an intentional killing. Either way I think it was for the best.
What would have been better? Keeping him in jail for the rest of his life? Pay for his needs with taxpayer money? Would that have brought justice? Would it have been fairer that way?
I think it gets to the point where we cannot get Justice. How would a government begin looking for true justice in a scenario like this one?
This was undoubtedly a great victory for the United States. We finally caught the person that we had been hunting for a decade. I cannot say what was the right thing to do for sure. I believe that killing him was a good option, because all of the others were not as good.
9/11 was without a doubt a very shocking experience for millions of people. This led to a lot of prejudism to citizens of Arabic descent all around the world, specially in the US. It is completely wrong to judge a person and even more so a group of people based on what a minor part of members of that group decide to do, so we must keep that in mind, before judging others for decisions they didn’t take.
When Pearl Harbor was attacked, we knew exactly who did it and how to react. We have not had problems ever since, are trading partners, and allies. That was 1941 with antiquated intelligence and technology by today’s standards. When the Boston Marathon bombing happened, we knew their names, had footage, and knew where to find them. After this horrible day of 9/11 that nobody will ever forget, one cannot help and wonder. How could this happen? Why was this handled this way? We started a war on terror that rages on to this day. At the expense of bankrupting us and destroying sovereign nations. Is the world a better place with the way we have handeled things?
Terrorism, War, and Religion. Three words that I love to have a discussion about. I agree yay, Osama Bin Laden is dead, where was the justice and what about retaliation. The justice I personally think was served appropriately. The acts that Bin Laden committed do not deem him the right to live anymore. Some might say he deserves to rot in prison. What happens if he escapes or better yet runs the whole operation from inside the prison as he rots away, it has been done before. It was right to deal with him swiftly. It is just like in physics with every action there is a reaction. Terrorism is an idea, not a person. We can’t wage war on it. What I think is if we continue down this path of the war on terror, we will see this retaliation. We should be trying to make amends.
Osama did what he did just like every other military leader in history. He manipulated people for his own good and his means of obtaining power. Obviously 9/11 left many upset about everything seeing as though it was the first attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor. In the end what he did was what he thought was the best idea compared to what everyone else in the world wanted. The horrors seen in his life made him do what he did and i believe everyone that was following him is glad he is gone due to how absurdly crazy he was. He is gone and there is no repercussions from a mad man’s death. It was celebrated just like Mussolini, Hitler, Czar Nicholas, etc. Military powers rise and fall all the time. This is no different.
9/11 was one of the scariest things that our generation may ever see. I’m sure everyone can tell you exactly where they were on 9/11. I have to say though, after the killing of osama I don’t feel any better or safe. In a way I don’t even feel like justice was achieved. We looked for this man for so long hoping that we would have peace after and feel safer. That is not something I think we can ever really find. What we are looking for I don’t think can be found by simply looking for and killing one man. I do understand why we went after him but I don’t think that in the end it was really worth the people and money that we lost. Even going after him and risking more lives makes him win even more then he even did in a way.
Touching on the subject of extremism and racial profiling, I think you said it perfectly: it creates a mess. Judging others based on their religion and race due to the fact that someone else of that other gender or race did something horrifically bad, is very ignorant. If the men who hit the Twin Towers happened to be Catholic or Jewish or Hindu…this would be a different story. Unfortunately, this event caused a lot of fear in the citizens of the United States, including myself. The bad part of fear is the potential paranoia and pointing of fingers. We wanted to find the people who did this so badly that anyone of middle eastern decent automatically became the enemy. This does not fix wars. This causes them. This terrorist attack was not caused by Americans, so why are we blaming our own people? I am sure you do not realize that they too were probably scared and many Islamic people possibly died that day, too.
I remember this day very well. I was completely in shock as I saw the planes fly into the twin towers over and over again on the news. I could not imagine what was going through the citizens heads as they realized what was going on around them. They were people of all ethnicities and backgrounds. Unfortunately, this day made Muslims and Arabs public enemy number one. It is sad to see how the media has perpetuated the stereotype and instilled fear in Americans. We must realize that no one was discriminated against in this attack. All races were affected the same and we all suffered as a country together. Our government needs to fix their foreign relations and help promote a more peaceful future.
I was too young when the events of 9/11 happened. I believe it wasn’t until 6 years later when I was in 6th grade that I remember the 9/11 presentation we had in school. What I remember seeing in school was the video of the plane crashing into the building. At first I thought that it looked like in the movies, but then it hit me, this wasn’t a movie. It was actual people dying. Where I used to live was mostly composed of Hispanics and I never really go to experience any other cultural diversity until I moved and attended college. I don’t like blaming people if I don’t know them or how they act so I found it weird how there was so many people blaming muslims. It wasn’t until college that I got the cultural diversity and realized that how cruel the people blaming the muslims were. We cannot judge an entire religion based on a select few. Otherwise Americans would be considered selfish attention seekers who love to eat nothing more than pure grease.
The assasination of Osama Bin Laden had always been a fascination to my mind. Only because it is just crazy to see how the world reacted to it. The assasination was so sudden and random it sparked a national monumental day. I agree that assasination may have not been the best way to take care of things but it was said that there was fire fight, personally I think in that situation the U.S. Millitary wouldn’t be certain about keeping him alive. It may be true that we don’t have any evidence of his death but it is also true that we as citizens of the United States have faith, trust, and love for the people that fight for our country. I remember walking into school the morning of when he was killed. It was very erratic and kids were chanting “WE GOT HIM! WE GOT HIM!” Not to mention I was only in 7th grade. The reaction that took place in my school may have differed from reactions that happened elsewhere, or to other people. Which would be an example of Mills Sociology Imagination (micro and macro theory). Anythingthat takes place affects the wider society and individuals and in this case the wider society is the United States and its allies.