The world is well-rid of the most hated and hunted man since Adolf Hitler: Terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, the architect behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks on American soil nearly a decade ago, was shot and killed by American forces in a daring mission inside the Pakistani border from Afganistan. And without haste, Bin Laden was buried at sea.
Despite a never-ending manhunt for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that claimed more than 3,000 American lives with hijacked planes out of Boston's Logan International used as missiles into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon as well as a fourth plane that crashed in a Pennsylvania field when brave American passengers fought back against their hijackers, Obama eluded capture until Sunday, April 30.
Bin Laden was finally found in a million-dollar mansion. He refused the offer to surrender to the Special Ops team -- Navy SEALS -- and was shot to death. That heroic mission was ordered by President Obama based on our intelligence operatives. Obama called former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to inform them he had given the order to carry out the mission.
Undoubtedly, Bin Laden's death will become a martydom rallying cry for continued accts of terrorism against innocent people, not only in the United States, but around the world. Bin Laden was not the first Islamic extremist and he won't be the last as history has shown us.
Obama, Bush and Clinton understood why taking him out was so vital to our way of life. Like Obama, Bush and Clinton would have done the same thing.
“Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader. He was a mass murderer of Muslims,” Obama said. “So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.”
And a review of headlines throughout the world shows most agree. Our SEALS and Special Ops Teams won this battle, but not the war.
At President Bush’s home in Texas, supporters left flowers and signs of appreciation. CBS in Dallas reports, “Thank you President Bush,” read one sign left on the gate outside the street leading to the secluded Bush residence. “This momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001,” said Bush, in a statement Sunday night, after Obama called to inform the nation’s 43rd president of the terrorist leader’s death. “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done.” It is likely that Osama bin Laden is the most hated man since Germany’s Hitler.
World leaders spoke of relief and expectation that the dollar would gain on the news of bin Laden’s demise. British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday, "Osama bin Laden was responsible for the worst terrorist atrocities the world has seen - for 9/11 and for so many attacks, which have cost thousands of lives, many of them British.” The Arab world seems conflicted. "The death of Osama is coming at a very interesting time. The perfect time, when Al Qaeda is in eclipse and the sentiments of freedom are rising," said Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi commentator and independent analyst.
The U.S. State Department has already issued travel advisories for any Americans living in areas with "enhanced potential for anti-American violence."
Reuters News Service reportsed: “... while some hoped his death may terminate al Qaeda, many others believe that al Qaeda franchises across the world would continue campaigns against the United States."
Among Bin Laden supporters quoted in media across the globe was Egyptian Sameh Bakry, a Suez Canal employee: "I am not happy at the news. Osama was seeking justice. He was taking revenge on the Americans and what they did to Arabs, his death to me is martyrdom, I see him (as) a martyr."
Taking out Bin Laden is but one chapter -- albeit a big one -- that is neither the beginning nor the end of the War on Terror.
The beginning of 20th century Muslim extremist terrorist acts that continue more than a decade into the new century, the creation of Isra, The beginning of the modern resistance to Muslim terrorists is probably the action of the United Nations in making Israel a state on May 14, 1948. Israel was invaded by five Arab states the next day. The Israeli Defense League was formed shortly thereafter and in 1949 armistice agreements were signed with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Think back to 1972 and the Olympics in Munich. Palestinian terrorists stormed the quarters of the Israeli Olympic team. Eleven Israeli athletes were executed. Muammar Qaddafi enthusiastically welcomed them back to Libya with heroes’ funerals. The Achille Lauro was attacked in October 1985 by Palestinian terrorists. They held 400 people hostage, killed American tourist Leon Klinghofer and tossed his body overboard. PanAm 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. It wasn’t until this February that Libya's former justice minister Mustafa Abdul Jalil claimed that Muammar Gaddafi had personally ordered the Lockerbie bombing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103 “It was Friday, February 26, 1993, and Middle Eastern terrorism had arrived on American soil—with a bang.” That is the headline from the FBI Government News Stores webpage regarding the first bombing of the trade centers. 6 people died; more than a thousand suffered injuries. http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2008/february/tradebom_022608 According to the United Nations Information Service a representative of Paraguay told the General Assembly on October 4, 2001 that “’Terrorism on Agenda since 1972, but answer cannot wait another 30 years, as the UN began its third day of debate on measures to eliminate international terrorism.’ “He said that since the twenty-seventh session of the Assembly in 1972, the item on measures to eliminate terrorism had constantly, but also timidly, been on its agenda.
Only since the 11 September tragedy, had a consensus been reached on the urgency of action. Any time lost in strengthening the legal framework to combat the problem would be an opportunity for terrorists to strengthen their own network. The Assembly, he said, must go beyond mere statements of condemnation and solidarity, and pledge to fulfil its moral, legal and political obligation to construct a legacy of democracy, peace and security.” http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2001/ga9924.html The American Taliban John Phillip Walker Lindh was radicalized as a youth and was captured as an enemy combatant during the United States' 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. He is now serving a 20-year prison sentence in connection with his participation in Afghanistan's Taliban army. He was captured during the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi, a violent Taliban prison uprising where American CIA officer Johnny "Mike" Spann was killed. Lindh received training at Al-Farouq, a training camp associated with Al-Qaeda and located in Afghanistan. There, he attended a lecture by Osama bin Laden before the September 11, 2001 attacks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Walker_Lindh No longer content with blowing up buildings, planes and ships, the terrorists got very personal. On January 23, 2002, Wall Street Journal Bureau Chief David Pearl was kidnapped militant group calling itself The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty. "We give you one more day if America will not meet our demands we will kill Daniel. Then this cycle will continue and no American journalist could enter Pakistan."
Nine days later his body was recovered. On May 12, 2004 American Nick Berg was captured and beheaded by Al Quaeda. CBS News reported: The video bore the title "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering an American." It was unclear whether al-Zarqawi — an associate of Osama bin Laden believed behind the wave of suicide bombings in Iraq — was shown in the video or simply ordered the execution. Al-Zarqawi also is sought in the assassination of a U.S. diplomat in Jordan in 2002. Then came September 11, 2001. I don’t believe there is an American anywhere who does not remember exactly what they were doing when the World Trade Center was targeted by hijacked airplanes on that date. It is fitting that Osama bid Laden, author of this and many other terrorist acts, was killed just 10 years shy of the anniversary of that horrible event. He and the nameless Palestinians, Al Quada and Taliban members bear the responsibility for most of the heinous attacks since 1972. In the ten year period since 9/11 we have seen heightened “Homeland Security” with intense scrutiny at airports around the world as well as our own. We cannot bring the most innocent containers of shampoo or a pair of scissors aboard. We are subject to nearly naked body scanning. But are we safer? Maybe not. Homegrown terrorists like the Ft. Hood major who gunned down his compatriots or the shoe bomber who failed to light is shoe on fire in the hopes of bringing down another airplane will probably always be with us. Naturally, terrorist groups are foaming at the mouth with plans for revenge and it’s probably going to get ugly in Pakistan, especially since there had to be a high level of cooperation from the Pakistani government. On October 12, 2000 Commander Kirk Lippold was the skipper of the USS Cole when it was bombed as it refueled in Aden harbor. The attack was organized and directed by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist organization.
In June 2001, an al-Qaeda recruitment video featuring bin Laden boasted about the attack and encouraged similar attacks. It is fitting that Commander Lippold comment on the ongoing concerns regarding terrorism. He cautions the death of bin Laden should not be viewed as mission accomplished. "It's not signaling the end and it shouldn't signal a withdrawal from Afghanistan.
We must continue to be engaged in that part of the world to keep our nation safe," said Lippold. I’m one who thinks we need to finish what we started. That means hardening our resolve, finding the killers and making sure they are rendered harmless.
We spend billions in “foreign aid” in the Middle East. Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has been less than helpful in this effort. It’s time to get a return on that investment. If it means we leave and allow anarchy and chaos, perhaps that should be thoroughly considered. White House spinners are already joyfully proclaiming the news that this didn’t happen on George Bush’s watch as if that made up for the haphazard foreign policy of the current President. But at least it’s over and the world has received the message that America never gives up and never gives in. But will the death of Osama help Obama? I don’t see a long term gain because America faces subversion at home from Mr. Obama and Congress who refuse to address the spending and debt issues that could easily be the end of America. div>NSBNews.net, also known as VolusiaNews.net, provides Volusia County 24 / 7 Internet newspaper coverage, 100% free with breaking news, news of record and investigative reports from New Smyrna Beach, FL, for a 21st-century digital world.