AS I SEE IT
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
There are very few times that Americans have celebrated over the death of someone. In recent history, Americans celebrated the death of Adolph Hilter and Benito Mussolini, who laid siege to Europe during World War II. But no name was more hated in the United States than was Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States.
As a result of Bin Laden’s hatred of the United States, nearly 3,000 people were killed when hijacked airliners were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the brave souls on United Flight 93 died while trying to regain control of the third hijacked airliner over Pennsylvania on that fateful day nearly 10 years ago.
The memory of that horrific day still burns in Americans’ hearts and souls as we remember those innocent people who died on Sept. 11. And just as tragic is the loss of American and other coalition force soldiers lives since the free world became engaged in the ensuing battles in Afghanistan and Iraq in the war against terrorism.
But one Sunday evening, Americans got their chance to celebrate as President Obama officially announced that Bin Laden had been killed by a group of American special operations forces in Pakistan.
Persistence paid off!
For nearly a decade, Bin Laden was the most hunted man in the world. As the No. 1 terrorist in the world, every nation in the free world wanted him. They wanted him dead or alive.
While many people would have liked to have had Bin Laden captured alive so that he could stand trial for his heinous crimes, having him be killed by American forces is just as good.
With Bin Laden’s death, Americans can finally say, “Justice has been served.”
But the danger of another terrorist attack on American soil is not going to go away simply with the death of Bin Laden. His al-Qaida network will continue and someone new will undoubtably step forward to assume the leadership role and be willing to carry out Bin Laden’s 1998 goal of “Kill Americans Everywhere.”
So while Americans and other peace-loving people can celebrate the death of one of the most sinister people in the world, we must remain vigilant that the threat of renewed terrorism is very real.
America succeeded in sending a very loud and clear message to those who endeavor to wage terrorism against us. And that message is, “You can run. But you can’t hide.”
It may take America years to seek out and destroy those who do us harm, but as Bin Laden found out, we don’t forget and we will never stop pursuing those who would do us harm.
And with the killing of Bin Laden, for once, Americans can say that the taking of another’s life feels good.