By Amber Dahlin
Osama bin Laden’s death has brought about an onslaught of news, from celebrations and suspicion to its implications for the Middle East, the U.S., and the war against al Qaeda. I hope to synthesize some ideas for moving forward and bring to light some of the less mainstream reactions and perspectives.
All over the internet are poignant photos of Americans celebrating after Obama’s announcement last Sunday. They appall and sadden me immensely. The president said in his speech that night that “[bin Laden’s] demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.” Welcoming this event is one thing; but I see no dignity in the uproarious parties that ensued.
When I look at those pictures, I see huge smiles, jumps of joy–what seems to be genuine happiness. Obviously, that happiness goes at least a little beyond the moment of bin Laden’s death (I hope). But therein lies the problem. Perhaps to those celebrating, his death represents reparations made and justice done: finally, the thousands of deaths in New York on 9/11 and around the world since then have been requited! But so much more than that is at hand. Osama bin Laden may not be around anymore, but the fear that his mission incited certainly is. Hatred of the West is not dead, and hatred toward the Middle East and toward Muslims which comes out of the West continues to dump boulders in the road to peace and understanding, continues to fog our view of the world and its global community.
I recognize the increased security of having Osama bin Laden off of the playing field, even if his ever-so-secret asylum in Pakistan put him more in the dugout. In an organization like al-Qaeda, even an absconder seems to have easy access to the controls. But the movement’s loss of its leader doesn’t mean the loss of the movement. In other words, bin Laden’s assassination doesn’t end the problems; it doesn’t end the terror and it doesn’t end the so-called war on terror. Bin Laden’s political execution shouldn’t signify progress. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., often quoted for his honorable discernment, said, “Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.” Progress comes not from endings but from beginnings and from the actual moving onward.
In an opinion piece for the Christian Science Monitor, NYU’s professor Jonathan Zimmerman called the celebrations anti-American. The U.S. has been in a position of huge global power for much of its history. Remember Spiderman? With great power comes great responsibility. Zimmerman writes that by celebrating we put our guard down. This week’s celebrations have been paralleled to the provocative footage of Palestinians celebrating after 9/11. Granted, Americans are celebrating the death of a militant extremist, not of thousands of civilians, and not to mention that footage of Palestinians from 2001 may in fact have been borrowed from an entirely unrelated event. But imagine how those pictures look to the international community. Is that the message we want to be broadcasting? Or shouldn’t we be showing that dignity by taking the opportunity to acknowledge the deaths that have occurred throughout the past decade…?
In an interview on Democracy Now, author Jeremy Scahill said of the operation, “it shows that President Obama has really continued and doubled down on the Bush administration policy of targeted assassination leading the way in terms of America’s response to al Qaeda and to people it designates as so-called terrorists.” I say instead that peace-building should be leading the way.
Euphrates Institute founder Janessa Gans Wilder reminds us that the majority on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is made up of moderates, which places extremists in the margins. So too in the wars that the U.S. is waging in the Middle East: the more we work off of the middle ground, the further extremism is marginalized. Eliminating those involved in suicide bombings may lessen future violence, but can it ever completely defeat it? Just as killing bin Laden didn’t kill his ideology, killing other so-called terrorists won’t end the violence. Instead, we should build up that middle ground to replace the extremist quest, encouraging a world of tolerance and dialogue instead of global misunderstanding and violence.
What I’ve been reading:
“Bin Laden is Dead, Obama Says” on nytimes.com
“Reactions: Bin Laden’s Death? on english.aljazeera.com
“What’s Next for Al Qaeda?” on cnn.com
John Nichol’s blog “Obama’s Political Coup” on thenation.com
“Osama’s Death a Good Career Move,” “The Death of Osama and the Return to Reality,” and “After Osama: Stop Feeding the Beast” on english.aljazeera.com
Robert Fisk’s May 3 article independent.co.uk
“After Bin Laden” and Jonathan Zimmerman’s opinion piece on csmonitor.com
“Is it Wrong to Celebrate Bin Laden’s Death? on npr.org
And “Obama and Bush: Two Very Different Wars on theatlantic.com
What I’ve been watching:
“10 Years too Long” and “Jeremy Scahill on Killing of Bin Laden” on Democracynow.org
Mona Eltahawy and Hebah Ahmed on the release of bin Laden’s death photos on youtube.com
May 12, 2011 at 10:20 am, Amber said:
Along with the onslaught of news regarding bin Laden has come a flood of opinions on all of the issues involved. Here are some of my opinions, and we welcome comments with yours!