What Does It Mean To Us?

So Osama bin Laden is dead. I was in bed, almost asleep, when my oldest got the alert on her phone and started yelling. I jumped up and sat down at my computer. This was big. Really big.

My mind raced with all kinds of thoughts. Mostly I wondered how this would affect the war on terrorism. I listened to some of what President Obama said and went back to bed but couldn’t sleep for thinking about all of this.

The first thing I’m shaking my head about this morning is bin Laden’s burial at sea. Honestly, I’m not a conspiracy theorist. However, I do know that government and politicians in general sometimes bring on the disbelief of the public at large by their actions. So get ready. There is going to be a segment of the population that does not believe bin Laden is dead—with or without pictures, with or without DNA. It’s already started. My kid is reading Facebook messages to me about him not really being dead as I write this.

While I realize the importance of honoring Muslim burial customs, I don’t think it was the right decision to make. I think it was more important to preserve that body. And? Well, if I have to be so blunt, sound so cruel, where bin Laden is concerned, I’m not really concerned about whether proper custom was followed. News reports say that the U.S. government offered to give custody of the body to the Saudi government but the Saudis refused.

It’s being said that the U.S. decided on burial at sea to make sure that his grave site could not be used as a shrine or be vandalized. And his grave site WOULD become a shrine. Regardless of where his body is now, he is considered a martyr by those who followed him. And just for the record, Muslim burial custom dictates that if it is deemed that an enemy of the dead can dig up or otherwise desecrate the burial site, then you can basically do something else with the body. In order to follow custom as closely as possible—bury him the same day he died—burial at sea was probably the best option.

I saw some very grisly photos of his body and when I looked at his face, I didn’t see the face of a killer. He didn’t look rich. He didn’t look religious. He just looked like a man who had been destroyed by the hatred of war—the hatred he carried in his heart. And then I found out the photo wasn’t even real. Someone revealed two photos used to make the image look that way. More conspiracy theorists. There’s no telling what we’re going to hear in the weeks to come.

So what does his death mean to us? Well, the price of crude oil dropped a couple of bucks. But it won’t stay that way. The market can sometimes be very fickle and go up and down with mood—particularly the mood of westerners. So look for it to go back up again.

And by killing Osama bin Laden is the war on terrorism over? Not by a long shot. There will be retaliations for his death. Terror cells are going to dig in even deeper. I also worry that with no one poised to take over the leadership of al Qaeda, it is going to splinter off into several different groups—all led by hatred-driven hearts and minds. That means that we would have to track all of those differing groups instead of focusing on one. Maybe it’s all the same. How would I know? I’m just Citizen Jane Doe thinking about all of this and worrying. Maybe tracking a dozen mini-al Qaedas is just as easy as tracking one.

What I found really interesting about the operation carried out on the compound in Abbottabad is that the place he was living in is described as a mansion. For years estimates of bin Laden’s worth has ranged from mere millions to tens of millions. Sounds like ten years of spending on weapons and operations designed to kill innocent people hadn’t depleted his fortune. So I guess it’s safe to say tens of millions. Where is his money? Where will it go now? It’s being reported that an adult son was killed in the attack and that his wife and daughters have been taken into custody? They were also supposedly at the compound. Damn, he must have felt really safe where he was—in the city, relatively safe from U.S. airstrikes. Not living in a cave like a grunt and dealing with war but enjoying luxury. And you can’t tell me that the Pakistani government didn’t know exactly where he was either.

But I guess bin Laden didn’t count on the dogged persistence of our intelligence agencies. For the past two years, a trusted courier of bin Laden’s had been followed and watched closely. Finally, word came that bin Laden was in that compound. Navy Seals carried out a presidential order to take him out.

I sit here feeling very grateful that there are those in this world who can do things I can’t. Regardless of how anyone feels about the war, what we think of war in general or the spending and most certainly loss of life, there was a brave and honorable group of men who got the job done for our nation and the families of those who died by the hand of this terrorist. I thank God none of them were injured and so wish I could see their faces. But they will vanish back into the world of black ops, their identities never revealed—and continue to do their job. It takes a special kind of person to live this kind of life. I can’t imagine a higher level of commitment to any cause. I say thank you to them.

My heart is also heavy, yet jubilant, for the families of those whose loved ones were lost in the senseless bombing of the World Trade Center, the families of those who perished in Flight 93, those who lost family in the attack on the USS Cole, and those who lost loved ones in the embassy bombings in Africa. There were countless operations carried out at the behest of bin Laden. I can only hope that bin Laden’s death gives the families some small measure of closure and peace.

The head of the most venomous snake in the world has been severed. We can only pray that its body continues to die.  
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Today I am showcasing the fabulous Desiree Holt's book trailer for DOWNSTROKE! Available at Ellora's Cave. This is Desiree's 100th release from EC. http://jasminejade.com What a milestone! Whoaaaa...I am so lovin' the music for this one. I'm jamming out right here at the comp! You gotta watch this one, folks! Desiree has got it going on and so does Tina with Topaz Promos. Get in touch with Tina if you're looking for a book trailer. She's good! http://topazpromos.com