When Osama bin Laden died, I was happy not to be in the United States. The pictures and descriptions of merrymaking in Times Square, University students gathering on the Corner and the almost macho admiration that figures such as Glenn Beck issued for Obama's achievement - "Thank God we have a president who actually authorized the shoot to kill. That is a surprising shock to me." - were enough for me.
Here are American college students setting off fireworks to celebrate a man's death and claiming to be part of a more righteous nation than those headed by Muslim extremists, of which Bin Laden was the ultimate representation. The man was undeniably atrocious, but that does not make the displays of revelry rather than relief any less contradictory and disturbing.
The hunt for Bin Laden in both the Bush and Obama administrations was fueled by rhetoric found in Western movies - "There's an old poster out West that says, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive,'" Bush said - and echoing that of Big Foot pursuers - "He's in a cave somewhere," Obama added. It wavered in and out of the collective American consciousness and remained mostly out for the last few years when we have had more direct threats on our hands, such as an economy that still cannot retain a constant heartbeat. Now that Bin Laden is dead, however, we are brought into another world: one that is safer than last week's, but where al Qaeda exists as a fresh threat and where the majority of our citizens, including University students, still hold the most facile conviction that "America = good" and "Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan/Libya/whatever = evil."
In his New York Times obituary, Bin Laden's declaration of war against the United States is quoted: "'Muslims burn with anger at America,' it read. The presence of American forces in the Persian Gulf states 'will provoke the people of the country and induces aggression on their religion, feelings, and prides and pushes them to take up armed struggle against the invaders occupying the land.'" Bin Laden made this statement in 1996, five years before the September 11 attacks. Unfortunately, Bin Laden said nothing here that did not prove absolutely true. The attacks could not have been accomplished without a ready following of citizens who had plenty of reason to feel animosity toward the United States and be tempted by Bin Laden's proffered alternative, which was religious glory or martyrdom.
Because as Bin Laden stated, the United States was, and still is, an "invader occupying the land." No one can condone oppressive theocratic governments whose leaders manipulate the teachings of a religion to their own ends, and who rape, torture and kill. But it is equally unreasonable to see the United States as a faultless well-wisher with God on its side, one that would impart liberty and peace if only the Muslim extremists were not in the way.
The Times obituary ends with an invocation of bin Laden's "greatest hope": that "if he died at the hands of the Americans, the Muslim world would rise up and defeat the nation that had killed him." How can Americans feel "safer" now that Bin Laden - who by now is more of a mythical figure and personification of "terror" than an actual threat - is dead? This does not even address the fact that Bin Laden's body was "buried at sea." But whether he is still alive, died Sunday or has been dead for years, what matters is that he has gone out with the bang of fireworks.
This, too, is distracting the public's attention from the failed assassination of another figure who quickly is being elevated to Bin Laden's elusive evil-doer status: Colonel Muammar al-Qadhafi. While NATO claims it did not target the leader or his family in its recent airstrikes in the Libyan capital, it nevertheless bombed Colonel Qadhafi's family compound and killed a son and three grandchildren. Obama has yet to speak about that event.
It has been a decade since September 11, ten years in which Americans have found other occupations besides flag-waving and fear mongering, such as losing their jobs. Now, after ten years with nothing akin to the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, the "war on terror" is renewed with fresh vigor. Armed with the concluding words of Obama's speech announcing Bin Laden's death - "may God bless the United States of America" - we continue to fight a Muslim hegemony with a Christian one and pit the despicable against the despicable. Now that the evilest man alive is dead, terror again has room to reign.
Allison Geller is a third-year College student.
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