I woke up this morning and checked my phone for any messages. I then decided to look at my twitter feed to see what was going on in the twittersphere. The last thing I expected was to discover that the world's most wanted man Osama Bin Laden was dead!
Nobody saw this coming - an absolutely massive news story!
So many questions and thoughts on this. I'll run through them quickly.
Is this is the end of the 'War on Terror'?
Probably not, but it's a huge symbolic blow to Al Qaeda and Islamic terrorism. I've heard the theory that says Bin Laden's death increases the likelihood of revenge attacks against the West, but you can't think like that. Even if Bin Laden continued to live, Islamic terrorists would still be looking for opportunities to attack the West.
Are Al Qaeda still relevant?
We've seen uprisings and revolutions all across the Arab World this year, and it's telling that the likes of Al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorists haven't been involved.
People across the region are looking for greater freedom and more western style democracy. Al Qaeda have been on the sidelines almost observing what's been going on. I think it shows that for many Muslims in the Middle East they don't see Islamic radicalism as an answer to their problems.
Personal victory for Obama
Has Bin Laden's death just secured Obama a second term as President? What a huge PR coup - the death of America's most wanted terrorist was achieved on Obama's watch.
You only have to look at the scenes on the news of Americans celebrating to see how much this means. Are American voters going to forget this when it comes to next year's Presidential elections? Of course there's going to be other issues, the economy for one, but surely it's Obama's to lose after this.
Did the Pakistan authorities really not know where Bin Laden's compound was?
It was reported that the Americans kept the operation to kill Bin Laden secret from Pakistani intelligence. Not surprising when for years there's been rumours and stories of Pakistan's links with the Taliban and other terrorist groups.
Bin Laden spent the last 10 years evading capture after escaping Afghanistan and it's hard to believe that at no point nobody within the Pakistani security and intelligence authorities knew of his whereabouts.
Having spent a day a watching the news coverage, listening to the reports and analysis from the experts, I think you can say Osama Bin Laden's death changes everything and nothing.
Islamic terrorism will still exist and go on, but this is the end of a chapter. As they say in America it's 'closure' a word I really hate but I'm going to use it. It's closure for a many Americans and for what happened on 9/11.
It's a huge psychological boost for America, a damaging blow for Al Qaeda. Like me you probably thought Bin Laden would never be found but his death has shown the terrorists, America and the world that the determination and resolve to defeat international terrorism won't decrease.
No comments:
Post a Comment