What Has America Really Accomplished by Killing Bin Laden?

A funny thing happened on the night of May 1st, 2011.

I had only been at home in New Orleans for only about 24 hours when I heard the news on CNN that Osama Bin Laden had been captured and killed by U.S. special forces in Pakistan.

The funny "thing" that happened wasn't the fact that he had been caught after nearly a decade of Bush doctrine and flat-out disinterest in capturing the FBI's most wanted man- rather, it was the feeling I had gotten after President Obama delivered his home-run 'victory' speech.

Before, during, and after the speech, I recall CNN cutting to the gates of the White House and at the former site of the World Trade Center in NYC where people began to form large crowds. Pandemonium ensued as if V-J Day had been reincarnated. The people were jumping up and down waving American flags and climbing light posts and just acting like the world was free from all of the tyranny, hunger, and violence that has stricken this fair planet's inhabitants for so long.

Then a reporter interviewed a random, middle-aged white man and asked him what he felt about the Al Qaeda leader's death.

"THANK JESUS HE'S DEAD," the man exclaimed, sweating profusely and appearing as if he could no longer contain this upwelling of emotion from within. "THANK GOD for this great moment and GOD BLESS AMERICA."

It was as if I had seen this before. It was déjà vu in it's purest, most French sense of the term. Where had I seen this type of massive collective gathering of people celebrating another violent and gory chapter in human history with the added justification of such actions under religious terms?

In the interest of presenting my case as effectively as possible, I am going to post two videos. I am going to ask the reader to at inspect these videos at a general level and tell themselves what differences they see.

Now, I absolutely and unequivocally believe that the attacks on the U.S. were wrong and that bin Laden should have been bought to justice. But just how different are we from these people? Instead of PRAISE GOD, that man may as well have been dressed in traditional Middle Eastern garb exclaiming to Allah. I certainly do not believe it is right to glorify killing of any kind here in America. It just keeps us on the level of these extremists and makes the rest of the world look at us as if we aren't any better.

Furthermore, I do not believe the hands of America have been clean when it comes to relations with the Middle Eastern world. Yes, there is a reason why we have an Al Qaeda on this planet.

Just like the Palestinians are fighting back against Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank- there is a reason, and it isn't because the Islamic faith is fundamentally evil or solely exists to exterminate all Christians from the face of the Earth.

It is only because the West, throughout modern and ancient history, has felt that its needed to stick and keep its hands in the affairs (resources) of the Middle East and Africa for various reasons that probably need not be debated here.

I could only surmise that through his life, Bin Laden wanted this to end. As a matter of fact, I believe the strongest evidence to support this assertion is this quote spoken from the horse's mouth:

America will not live in peace before peace reigns in Palestine, and before all the army of infidels depart the land of Mohammad, peace be upon him.

So you mean to tell me all we had to do was stop Israel from oppressing and treating the Palestinians like the U.S. treated Native Americans and keep our oil-digging armies out of Muslim countries? The U.S. should have never gotten caught up with Israel and AIPAC to begin with...

I wonder how Americans would feel if brown people all across the world thought we weren't fit to control our resources and live on our land and decided to systematically remove or abuse us into molding ourselves to fit their needs.

Cause and effect is such an elementary concept. I don't understand why Americans choose to ignore it. Causality is the single most fundamental driver of world history.

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