A bit more than a week ago I was working on sewing Elliott some light blocking curtains. (A must with summer's long days coming soon.) I saw a couple posts on facebook saying Osama Bin Laden had been killed. Of course, my ole' journalist mind went crazy! OMG! Turn on the TV, watch obsessively, think of all the possible implications, holy cow! "Big news!" was the big thought in my head.
The second wave of thoughts were political. I was excited for Obama to have such a great military win under his belt. With all the talk about how inexperienced he is, how he would be ineffective in the war, didn't have enough history and clout, "Well," I thought. "This shows all the naysayers where they can shove it!" My feelings about Obama were further solidified when I listened to his speech. The time they took in executing the maneuver showed pragmatism that I don't think this country has seen in a long time. It showed that careful thought and evaluation went into the decision as to when/how to strike. I appreciated his nod to the S.E.A.L.S., saying they performed professionally. So good to hear after all the embarrassing debacles since the "War on Terror" began.
Then the celebrations began. The celebratory facebook posts and the hundreds (thousands?) of people cheering, dancing and celebrating outside the White House. My first thought was, "Wow. I really hope this gloating doesn't come back to bite us in the ass." Really. I've always been wary of this kind of celebration... especially when the job (in this case, the "War on Terror") is clearly not wrapped up. it's still a intensely complicated matter. I have no doubt that there was some sort of plan in place in case this happened. Relations with Pakistan are dicy right now... it's delicate.
Many friends were admonishing the celebrations, saying celebrating a killing is barbaric and shouldn't be happening. I agree with them. Like my Grandma Sally said to me, if we flipped the situation and it was people celebrating the death of a soldier in Iraq, for instance, we (Americans) would consider them barbaric. It's not different for us over here.
But for me, my concerns were more about what these celebrations will say down the road. Are we going to look like fools? How will it play out politically?
I hope, hope, hope that the killing of Osama Bin Laden means a brighter and less violent and scary future. But deep down I know that's just Pollyanna and I'm sure our world will see more challenges.
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