Bin Laden is dead. This is no longer news. No longer a cause for celebration in the streets of America. No longer a cause for mourning in some quarters. So what does the death of Osama Bin Laden mean now that the first emotions have passed? Is liberty more prevalent? Is radicalism in decline?
He killed civilians. He killed athiests, agnostics, Christians, Jews, and Muslims. He represented a wildly different brand of Islam than the Islam of my Muslim friends. He was a father, a brother, a son. He is gone. Yes, a killer has gone to his grave. A treasure of intelligence bearing on national security has gone to his grave. A warrior, in my opinion, a sorely misguided warrior, has gone to his grave. A father, brother, and son has gone to his grave.
Banksy, a Bristol graffiti artist, said, "...you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time." UBL has only died once. I wonder when he will die for the second time.
