American newspapers seemed to host the same message and image today as news of the death of Al Qaeda leader and terrorist bomber Osama bin Laden came to light.
President Barack Obama called a late night press conference in the East Room of the White House on May first. For hours, news of the death of bin Laden was being reported on all major networks; they all contained the same message. Mr. Obama later came to the East Room to confirm the report of the leader’s death in Pakistan.
Bin Laden was found in a custom-built eight thousand square foot compound forty miles north of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. This was an obvious surprise to most who thought he was hidden in Waziristan, a rugged, desolate Pakistan-Afghan border state. Waziristan is considered one of the most deadly areas in the world-playing host to numerous Al-Qaeda and Taliban networks. Leon Panetta, current director of the CIA, stated, “Bin Laden is dead, Al Qaeda is not.” Colin Powell, former secretary of state under the Bush administration, stated, “They {Al Qaeda} have lost their intellectual head, their visionary leader, but he wasn’t active, he was isolated.” According to the president, “Last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to Bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground, and finally last week I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action.” He continued giving more details about the operation itself, confirming that a small US force consisting of Navy SEALS entered the compound and spent forty minutes clearing the compound. They eventually found the body of a man who looked like Bin Laden and evacuated the body and the SEAL team on two helicopters.
This is no indication that the war on terror is over. As dawn broke over the Arab world, there is no doubt most were happy about Bin Laden dying. US intelligence believes Al Qaeda needs to make a statement saying, “We’re still here” and that is why the F.B.I. has issued Bravo level warnings (highest it’s been since 9/11) for its overseas embassies and consulates and recommends no Americans go into open spaces in Arabic countries for possible outbreaks of violence. The US has implemented heightened security measures in its major cities, and recommended limited air travel for the time being.
With scary threats, many believe this is the symbolic end to a chapter in terrorism. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the developer of the controversial ground zero mosque, offered his piece on Eliot Spitzer’s “In The Arena” Monday stating, “It is too costly to be in bad business with America.” Terrorist attacks will not prevent leaders from promoting trade and friendly relations with the West. It has been a rocky nine years, trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands deaths, but it seems this symbolic turning point might be the final sunset for the Islamic extremists undermining the free and peaceful nations of the Middle East.
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