by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Yesterday in this space I referred to Moammar Kadafi and Fidel Castro as cockroaches because their removal from power - and from the breathing class - has been a national obsession in America for decades, and they have proven to be impossible (so far) to capture or kill. Obviously I overlooked Cockroach #3, the world's most famous terrorist, Osama bin Laden. Today American forces brought a much delayed but very deadly justice to the leader of al Qaeda. Osama bin Laden was taken out and is now resting in quiet repose on the ocean floor.
The mission has finally been accomplished!
I sat in a small room this afternoon with a group of friends, all of whom were wearing the uniform of our nation, with eyes glued to television. We saw the crowds gathering outside of the White House waving their flags and singing, we listened to a raft of commentators, and finally watched as our President walked to the podium and calmly told America and the world that Osama bin Laden was dead. The President spoke just a few minutes, but his words were clear, concise, and powerful. Perhaps the most important point that he made was that we are not at war with Islam, and that bin Laden himself had been responsible for the deaths of many Muslims both in the Middle East as well as in America.
It was so refreshing to hear those reasonable words spoken by a person of such great intellect - someone who who could show strength and determination without donning a flight jacket and strutting around on the deck of a battleship. (Unfortunately, the previous administration seemed all too eager to paint the wars in the Middle East as holy wars. Respected journalist Seymour Hersh described the cabal of neo-conservatives in Vice President Cheney's office as modern day crusaders who were intent on changing "mosques into cathedrals.")
But that was then, and this is now. Bin Laden has finally been eliminated, the crusaders are running up and down the sidelines - powerless, God's in her Heaven, and all is right with the world - for a day at least, one happy, glorious day!
Now can we declare victory and bring our young people home?
Citizen Journalist
Yesterday in this space I referred to Moammar Kadafi and Fidel Castro as cockroaches because their removal from power - and from the breathing class - has been a national obsession in America for decades, and they have proven to be impossible (so far) to capture or kill. Obviously I overlooked Cockroach #3, the world's most famous terrorist, Osama bin Laden. Today American forces brought a much delayed but very deadly justice to the leader of al Qaeda. Osama bin Laden was taken out and is now resting in quiet repose on the ocean floor.
The mission has finally been accomplished!
I sat in a small room this afternoon with a group of friends, all of whom were wearing the uniform of our nation, with eyes glued to television. We saw the crowds gathering outside of the White House waving their flags and singing, we listened to a raft of commentators, and finally watched as our President walked to the podium and calmly told America and the world that Osama bin Laden was dead. The President spoke just a few minutes, but his words were clear, concise, and powerful. Perhaps the most important point that he made was that we are not at war with Islam, and that bin Laden himself had been responsible for the deaths of many Muslims both in the Middle East as well as in America.
It was so refreshing to hear those reasonable words spoken by a person of such great intellect - someone who who could show strength and determination without donning a flight jacket and strutting around on the deck of a battleship. (Unfortunately, the previous administration seemed all too eager to paint the wars in the Middle East as holy wars. Respected journalist Seymour Hersh described the cabal of neo-conservatives in Vice President Cheney's office as modern day crusaders who were intent on changing "mosques into cathedrals.")
But that was then, and this is now. Bin Laden has finally been eliminated, the crusaders are running up and down the sidelines - powerless, God's in her Heaven, and all is right with the world - for a day at least, one happy, glorious day!
Now can we declare victory and bring our young people home?
2 comments:
As a footnote we will remember that Obama's late night address to the nation came eight years to the date that his predecessor donned that flight suit and declared "Mission Accomplished."
Nearly a decade after 9/11 and just a little more than ten and a half years the attack on the USS Cole, we have cut the head from al Qaeda.
While we have moved on with our first world lives, there remain whole segments of the populations of Pakistan and Afghanistan who have no knowledge of 9/11 or why American and Allied Forces are in their third world countries bombing them.
We may be able to bring our troops home, but we'd be wise to work to send teachers, farmers, and civil engineers to work in partnership with these peoples as they emerge into the light of the 21st Century.
Also the anniversary of Hitler's death.
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