Make no mistake -- when I heard the news late Sunday night that Osama bin Laden was dead, I was pleased.
I was watching TV -- about to go to bed for the night -- when I got the news via text message. I spent the next hour or so watching cable TV news, getting more and more details about the story, while intermittently checking Facebook to see the reaction from many of my friends.
Of course there was jubilation -- most noticeably in the form of the large crowd that gathered in front of the White House, waving flags and exuding all forms of patriotism. Similar scenes played out in communities and on college campuses across the country. The Facebook crowd was pretty ecstatic as well.
I wish I could say I was as joyful as the rest. But I wasn't, and I'm not.
Again, I'm not displeased in the least. Anyone who lived through the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, should absolutely have some sense of gratitude that justice has been served. And I certainly do. I'm just not euphoric about it all.
There are several reasons, really. For starters, right now, my personal radar is focused far more squarely on the abundance of water in our area than on anything having to do with dead terrorist masterminds. Seriously, when it feels like you're never going to see the sun again -- as it did earlier this week -- and when the Mississippi River is inching ever-so-steadily up the levee, it's hard to get too excited about our latest victory in the war on terror.
For area citizens on the verge of losing personal property to floodwaters, it really doesn't matter who U.S. Special Forces killed in Pakistan. Unless we can use his lifeless corpse to help hold back the water, it's just not as much a matter of local concern.
But the rains and floods aren't the only reason I'm not delirious over the Osama bin Laden story. Another reason is that it's hard to be happy over someone's death.
I have little doubt that bin Laden is a bad man. There is no question that he's about a bad a person as has ever walked on this earth. But I'm still not sure that death -- anyone's death -- is something that should be celebrated. At least not in the manner that I've seen on TV the last couple of days.
We should take great solace that justice has been done, to be sure. But I think some of the flag-waving and chest-thumping has been a little over the top. I suspect that folks in at least some areas were looking more for an excuse for a large public party than anything else.
Another reason I'm less than enthused over bin Laden's death because I'm not sure taking him out was the best thing for us in the war against terrorism. I've often thought, in recent years, that a marginalized, yet living, on-the-run Osama bin Laden was better than a dead, martyred one. As long as bin Laden was holed up in a cave (or a mansion) somewhere, I think his ability to inflict harm on the United States was minimized. But as a martyr, he has the power to motivate a whole new wave of attacks and a whole new generation of terrorists.
I understand the importance of justice being served, and I recognize that capturing, and/or killing bin Laden had to be done. But is the United States truly a safer place today because of it? I'm not so sure.
I don't begrudge anyone for any emotions they might be experiencing over the death of Osama bin Laden. It recent years, it seems like there's been fewer national victories to savor. In the decade since the war on terrorism began, bin Laden's death is perhaps the first clear-cut victory our nation has experienced. So if you want to get out and wave the American flag, have at it.
But my own celebration will be a bit more subtle. I am gratified with the sense of closure that his death brings. But the war on terror isn't over, and the threats against our nation's welfare have not subsided.
It brings me comfort to know that the embodiment of evil known as Osama bin Laden is no longer walking the earth. But as for a sense of jubilation, I'm not feeling it.
aweld@blythevillecourier.com