Questioning Osama bin Laden’s death

A decade after four men hijacked a commercial jetliner and redirected the flight into the World Trade Center in the heart of New York City, the mastermind and face associated with all forms of terrorism for the past 10 years, America’s target number one, Osama bin Laden, is dead.

He was killed in a raid carried out by U.S. special operations forces, outside of the Pakistani capital on May 1. After President Obama announced the death of bin Laden, American citizens rejoiced in the streets, singing the “Star Spangled Banner” and chanting “U.S.A, U.S.A.”

It’s a huge relief for many Americans to know that bin Laden no longer has any control over the terrorist factions within Al-Qaeda. But the death of one man doesn’t bring back the lives of the 2,996 people killed during the World Trade Center attack, or the 4,421 military casualties involved in Operation Enduring Freedom.

I wish I could take part in the celebration, but I can’t. That’s not to say that I’m not relieved to know that bin Laden is dead — I am. But it’s difficult to fathom that it’s taken 10 years to accomplish this mission, and at least half a dozen others, that have cost American lives, money and respect.

So many different American operations took place in the Middle East over the past 10 years that when the president announced the death of bin Laden, I’d almost forgotten we were still looking for him. Since 2007, there have been over 200 military operations in the Middle East, and from 2003 to 2007 there were over 350. Between 2003 and 2009, 160,000 troops were in and out of Iraq. But it took six Navy SEAL operatives and one helicopter to eliminate bin Laden.

Can we say that Operation Enduring Freedom has been a victory for the United States? On top of a military death toll of nearly 5,000, an uncounted number of civilian casualties and a deficit of nearly three trillion dollars, what has America gained by pursuing terrorism? By all appearances, a debt, a dead dictator, a slain terrorist faction leader and international infamy as the world police.

After the last bullet is fired, and the final nail is put in the coffin of the Iraq war and U.S. military forces return home, I think too many questions will be left unanswered for us to determine the real outcome of the war on terrorism.

Bin Laden declared a holy war upon the U.S. — a jihad, where killing non-believers or infidels is a justifiable act. President George W. Bush initiated his campaign against the terrible 9/11 attacks on the moral high ground of standing up to face “evil.” But what is evil?

When ethical labels are put aside, this war cannot be determined by right and wrong, because defining it requires a moral principle. No matter the answer to such a lofty question, the main thing that matters is the fallout. The real question is: If we didn’t win then who did?

In August of 1998, President Bill Clinton approved the launch of a Tomahawk missile aimed at an Al-Qaeda training facility outside of Afghanistan. In 2001, an air strike was deployed in the mountainous region of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan. Numerous international reports have claimed that typhoid or liver disease had killed bin Laden over the past seven or eight years. But until the beginning of this month, there was no evidence proving that he had died.

According to the Pentagon, the body of bin Laden was buried at sea. Although numerous reports claim the certainty of his death, including a national address from Obama, the Al Jazeera website reports that bin Laden’s fourth son, Omar Bin Laden, hasn’t seen conclusive evidence of his father’s death.

Omar bin Laden revealed that he intends to seek legal action against the U.S. military regarding the shooting of his unarmed father, who by Omar’s account, was executed. Bin Laden’s family was not present at his funeral due to stringent burial rules, according to Muslim tradition. The fact that his burial was not witnessed has caused further suspicion from his family.

Bin Laden has been directly and indirectly involved with over 30 reported terrorist operations since 1992. The list of attacks includes: hotels, a Shia shrine, synagogues, U.S. consulate buildings, a night club, government buildings, the World Trade Center and embassy buildings. This tally does not include the numerous amounts of ground-force (gunfight) battles fought against U.S. and ally forces, or the uncounted number of buried road bombs from Kandahar to the northernmost tip of Afghanistan. All these operations violate multiple international laws.

I can trust Obama’s report that bin Laden is, in fact, dead, but the movement he started will not be sequestered easily. There is reason to consider the possibility that Al-Qaeda’s activity will be stronger than before. Bin Laden might be taken as a martyr for his faith and people, which could make the backlash from Al-Qaeda severe.