A Post-Osama America: What Bin Laden's Death Means For Obama, Our Country

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A Post-Osama America: What Bin Laden's Death Means For Obama, Our Country

First Posted: 05/ 2/11 01:36 AM ET Updated: 05/ 2/11 03:28 AM ET

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WASHINGTON-- Nearly a decade ago, President George W. Bush stood atop the rubble of the World Trade Center and became the sheriff with the bullhorn who vowed to kill or capture Osama bin Laden. But it was left to his successor, known more for faith in diplomacy than force, to Get Our Man.

"Justice has been done," a relieved and proud President Barack Obama said in the East Room late Sunday. Americans had shown their unity and determination by bringing bin Laden to justice with a bullet to the head in a suburb compound of Islamabad, he said.

We need to remember we are one country, the president said, with an unquenchable faith in each other and our future.

It would be nice to think that he is right.

It would be nice to think bin Laden's wanted-dead-or-alive end will be a profound tonic: for faith in our political system, in our presidents, in our military and intelligence operations; for our sense of security; for our sense of our moral, material and even psychological well-being; for our belief in our future and national unity as a people.

The crowd in Lafayette Park near the White House thought so, chanting "USA! USA!" Elsewhere in the country, people lit fireworks, New Yorkers gathered at Ground Zero and college students who were in grade school during the attacks cheered in quadrangles.

Every decent heart is with them and with the families who suffered in the 9/11 attacks and the aftermath.

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But this is a salving moment, not a saving one. The world and the country have simply changed too much since Al Qaeda's attack on that bright sunny September day nearly ten years ago.

We are still America, but we are a beleaguered America.

A decade ago, the U.S. Treasury was flush with money; we were in reasonably good spirits about our fate despite a divisive election decided by the Supreme Court.

Ten years later, we are $14 trillion worth of broke. We joke nervously about how the Chinese own us now, or soon will. We are still fighting two and a half wars in the Muslim arc from Libya to Afghanistan, wars we can't afford to fight yet can't quite decide to abandon. The gap between the richest and the rest of us has reached Dickensian proportions. Americans are distrustful to the point of disgust in their political and business leaders, in Congress, in the media. In the rest of the world we remain feared for our might but, for the most part, not well respected even as we try to repair our diplomatic standing.

We are not a garrison state, but security consciousness is a costly and corrosive part of our everyday life.

Still, the short-term sense of satisfaction is real, and restorative, said David Winston, a Republican polltaker not allied with any GOP 2012 candidate. "Killing or capturing Bin Laden has been a top objective for years, and for the president to be able to announce his death is a major accomplishment," he said. "It's a remarkably positive event in and of itself, but no one knows -- I certainly don't -- know where it will lead from here."

For Obama, the death of bin Laden is the best news he's gotten since the American auto companies started turning a profit again.

Two weeks ago, reporters who privately met with the president to talk about the economy -- ironically, in the War Room of the Old Executive Office Building -- were struck by how tired and testy he seemed. At the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday night, he told lots of jokes about his birth certificate. The audience laughed with him, but the mere fact that he spent time on the matter was not a sign of strength.

Far more important: The president's standing in the polls was at an ebb, his report card for handling the economy at its lowest position since his inauguration.

Mindful of all of that -- mindful of questions about his effectiveness, his leadership, his commitment -- Obama made the case in his brief address to the nation Sunday that it was HIS decision to refocus U.S. efforts and assets on bin Laden himself. HE had ordered that new renewed focus after his predecessor had dropped the ball in Tora Bora and the years after.

This was the president as effective commander-in-chief, out-sherriffing the man who had claimed the "one riot, one ranger" legacy of the Texas Rangers of the frontier days.

Some of the likely GOP contenders for 2012 were willing to praise not only the results, but the people who made it happen. "Congratulations to our intelligence community, our military and our president," said former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

White House aides will pocket the accolades, but soon enough, the battle over America's future will resume.

At the center of that battle: What to do about the war in Afghanistan, from which bin Laden launched his attack? In the latest polls, half of the American people disapprove of Obama's handling of that war. A majority of Americans want it ended.

Will the death of bin Laden hasten the time of our departure? Experts doubt we can stabilize the country in any permanent fashion. Richard Haass, a diplomat and Afghanistan expert, expressed deep doubts about the war there.

Led by college students for whom the attacks were the formative experience of their childhoods, people waving banners and American flags filled the streets of Washington and New York to celebrate the news of bin Laden's death. But do they think we need to remain in Afghanistan -- and, on a more limited basis -- in Iraq? Or Libya?

The death of bin Laden won't end that debate; it will intensify it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/02/osama-bin-laden-barack-obama-america_n_856107.html

Live blog: Osama bin Laden killed by US forces

By Al Jazeera Staff in

Asia

on May 2nd, 2011.

 

Show oldest updates on top

Leader of Al-Qaeda is dead following US operation in Pakistan.

(All times are local in Doha GMT+3)

In depth: Osama's death 'a good career move'? - Analysis: Killing the alibi - What next after bin Laden death? - Zeroing in on bin Laden

• Timestamp: 

  1:57pm

  The death of bin Laden was greeted with near-silence on Monday from Gulf Arab states, including his birthplace Saudi Arabia.

  By mid-afternoon, the only official comment from the Arabian Peninsula came from Yemen, bin Laden's ancestral homeland, where an official speaking on condition of anonymity hoped the killing would "root out terrorism throughout the world".

  Saudi Arabia's official news agency merely noted that the United States and Pakistan had announced bin Laden had been killed in a US military operation in Pakistan but gave no clue to Riyadh's thinking.

  The foreign ministers of Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, attending a meeting of Gulf foreign ministers in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, all declined to comment on bin Laden's death.

• Timestamp: 

  1:50pm

  NATO Secretary-General statement on Osama bin Laden

  I congratulate President Barack Obama and all those who made the operation against Osama Bin Laden possible. This is a significant success for the security of NATO Allies and all the nations which have joined us in our efforts to combat the scourge of global terrorism to make the world a safer place for all of us.

  NATO made clear that it considered the September 11 attacks on the United States an attack against all Allies. We remember the thousands of innocent lives lost to terrorist atrocities in so many of our nations, in Afghanistan, and around the world.

  As terrorism continues to pose a direct threat to our security and international stability, international cooperation remains key and NATO is at the heart of that cooperation. NATO Allies and partners will continue their mission to ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for extremism, but develops in peace and security. We will continue to stand for the values of freedom, democracy and humanity that Osama Bin Laden wanted to defeat.

• Timestamp: 

  1:38pm

  Japan, a key US ally, welcomed the death of Osama bin Laden and said it would step up security at military bases in case of possible reprisal attacks. Prime Minister Naoto Kan said:

  We welcome this significant progress in counter-terrorism measures, and I pay respect to the efforts by the officials concerned, including those in the United States and Pakistan. 

• Timestamp: 

  1:25pm

  Libyan rebels, fighting to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, broadly welcome the news of the death of al-Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden.

• Timestamp: 

  1:23pm

  Afghanistan's president lauded bin Laden's death as a serious blow to terrorism and argued that the strike in Pakistan proves the real fight against terrorists is outside his country's borders. President Hamid Karzai told an assembly of district government officials in Kabul, as the hall erupted in applause:

  This is a very important day. Maybe you have already heard on the television or on the radio that American forces have killed Osama bin Laden, delivering him his due punishment.

• Timestamp: 

  11:35am

  Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden will have to answer to God for having killed many people and exploiting religion to spread hate, the Vatican said.

  Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said that while Christians "do not rejoice" over a death, it serves to remind them of "each person's responsibility before God and men".

  Osama bin Laden, as everyone knows, had the grave responsibility of having spread division and hate among people, causing the deaths of an innumerable number of people and exploiting religion for these purposes.

• Timestamp: 

  11:30am

  Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told AFP in an interview that the US killing of Osama bin Laden, not far from the Pakistani capital, was a "great victory".

• Timestamp: 

  10:54am

  Pakistan's foreign ministry says the death of bin Laden shows the resolve of his country and the world to battle terrorism. Pakistan's first official statement about the operation to kill bin Laden said Monday's raid was a US operation.

  Bin Laden was killed an a luxury house in the town of Abbottabad not far from a Pakistani military academy, raising questions over whether Pakistani may have known of his whereabouts. The statement did not address those questions.

• Timestamp: 

  10:50am

  Al Jazeera's Andrew Coombes took this picture outside the White House after the "Bin Laden is dead" announcement:

  

• Timestamp: 

  10:46am

  After bin Laden was killed, senior administration officials said the body would be handled according to Islamic practice and tradition. That practice calls for the body to be buried within 24 hours, the official said.

  Finding a country willing to accept the remains of the world's most wanted terrorist would have been difficult, the official said.

  So the US decided to bury him at sea. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security matters, did not immediately say where that occurred. (Associated Press)

• Timestamp: 

  10:43am

  Osama bin Laden's body was taken to Afghanistan and later buried at sea after he was slain in Pakistan. (New York Times)

• Timestamp: 

  10:37am

  Britain has told its embassies to review their security for fear of reprisals following the killing of bin Laden, Foreign Secretary William Hague said. Hague told BBC Radio 4:

  There may be parts of al-Qaeda that will try to show that they are still in business in the coming weeks as indeed some of them are.

  I have already this morning asked our embassies to review their security, to make sure that vigilance is heightened and I think that will have to be our posture for some time to come.

• Timestamp: 

  10:28am

  This is a picture gallery of some reactions around the world to the death of Osama bin Laden.
• Timestamp: 

  10:22am

  Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said that US soldiers should be withdrawn from Afghanistan and Iraq after the killing of Osama bin Laden. Essam al-Erian, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's governing body, told Reuters:

  With Bin Laden's death, one of the reasons for which violence has been practised in the world has been removed. It is time for Obama to pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq and end the occupation of U.S. and Western forces around the world that have for so long harmed Muslim countries.

• Timestamp: 

  10:00am

  The Western-backed Palestinian Authority said that the killing of Osama bin Laden by US forces was "good for the cause of peace". PA spokesman Ghassan Khatib said:

  Getting rid of Bin Laden is good for the cause of peace worldwide but what counts is to overcome the discourse and the methods -- the violent methods -- that were created and encouraged by Bin Laden and others in the world. 

• Timestamp: 

  9:47am

  Kenya's prime minister, Raila Odinga, thanks America and Pakistan for bin Laden's killing, saying that it was positive for Kenya.

  Kenyans are happy and thank the US people, the Pakistani people and everybody else who managed to kill Osama. Osama's death can only be positive for Kenya but we need to have a stable government in Somalia.

• Timestamp: 

  9:34am

  The killing of Osama bin Laden is "good news for all men in the world who think freely and are peaceful," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.

• Timestamp: 

  9:23am

  Americans cheer outside the White House in Washington after US President Barack Obama announced live on television the death of Osama bin Laden. [Reuters]

  

• Timestamp: 

  9:20am

  Said Agil Siradj, chairman of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, says bin Laden's death will help restore Islam's image as one of people, not violence.

  But he believes terrorism will continue as long as there is injustice against Muslims.

• Timestamp: 

  9:14am

  Sohaib Athar, a resident of Abbottabad, tweeted from his account (@ReallyVirtual) when the raid on Osama bin Laden probably happened. Here are some tweets:

  A huge window shaking bang here in Abbottabad Cantt. I hope its not the start of something nasty :-S” (posted 10 hours ago)

  Since taliban (probably) don't have helicpoters, and since they're saying it was not "ours", so must be a complicated situation #abbottabad (posted 9 hours ago)

• Timestamp: 

  9:00am

  Al Jazeera's Tarek Bazley prepared this report:

• Timestamp: 

  8:46am

  At least two Pakistani television stations broadcast pictures of what they called unconfirmed images of Osama bin Laden's bloodied face after the United States said he had been killed.

  This picture was uploaded on Twitter by user Shaheryar Mirza:

  

• Timestamp: 

  8:43am

  The dollar rebounded from three-year lows and US crude slid more than 1 per cent on after news that Osama bin Laden was killed reduced the perception of security risks facing the United States.

• Timestamp: 

  8:37am

  A leading US Muslim organisation welcomed  the killing of bin Laden, saying he was a threat to America and the world. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a statement:

  We join our fellow citizens in welcoming the announcement that Osama bin Laden has been eliminated as a threat to our nation and the world through the actions of American military personnel.

  As we have stated repeatedly since the 9/11 terror attacks, bin Laden never represented Muslims or Islam. In fact, in addition to the killing of thousands of Americans, he and Al-Qaeda caused the deaths of countless Muslims worldwide.

• Timestamp: 

  8:30am

  India said the killing of Osama Bin Laden was a "victorious milestone" in the war against terrorism but urged the world to continue battling militancy, a statement from the foreign ministry said.

  The world must not let down its united effort to overcome terrorism and eliminate the safe havens and sanctuaries that have been provided to terrorists in our own neighbourhood. The struggle must continue unabated.

• Timestamp: 

  8:16am

  Thousands have flocked to Ground Zero to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden, alleged mastermind of the devastating September 11 attacks on New York nearly 10 years ago.

  New York's police chief Raymond Kelly called the death of bin Laden a "welcome milestone" for the families of the 3,000 victims of the 2001 strikes by Al-Qaeda.

• Timestamp: 

  8:13am

  Abbottabad is named after a colonial officer, so the 'Abbott' is the same as the Western pronunication of the name.

  'abad'= aa-baa-d. Low 'a's, as in the British pronunciation of 'class'.

• Timestamp: 

  8:00am

  This background on the operation to kill bin Laden was given to Al Jazeera by a senior US offiicial:

  On June 2, 2009 the President signs a memo to Director Panetta stating “in order to ensure that we have expanded every effort, I direct you to provide me within 30 days a detailed operation plan for locating and bringing to justice Usama Bin Ladin…”

  In the lead up to this operation, the President convened at least 9 meetings with his national security Principals. Principals met formally an additional five times themselves; and their Deputies met 7 times. This was in addition to countless briefings on the subject during the President’s intelligence briefings; and frequent consultations between the NSC, CIA, DoD and Joint Staff. The President was actively involved in reviewing all facets of the operation.

  The President made the decision to undertake the operation at 8:20am on April 29th in the Diplomatic Room before he left for Alabama. In the Dip Room were Donilon, Daley, Brennan and McDonough. Donilon then prepared the formal orders and convened the Principals at 3pm to complete the planning.

  May 1 -- staff worked pretty much all day today on the operation. Principals have been in the Situation Room since 1pm.

  2:00pm the President met with the Principals to review final preparations.

  3:32pm the President returned to the Sit Room for an additional briefing.

  3:50pm the President first learns that UBL was tentatively identified.

  7:01pm the President learns that there’s a “high probability” the HVT was UBL.

  8:30pm the President receives further briefings.

• Timestamp: 

  7:00am

  US president Barack Obama said Osama bin Laden, the most-wanted fugitive on the US list, was killed on Sunday in a US operation in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, about 150km north of Islamabad. Click here for more.