Thomas Paine

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Osama Bin Laden is dead...now what?

You can't help but be elated over OBL's death at the hands of 6 US Navy SEALs. In some ways, it is as if America has awoken from a dream and found out that Freddy Krueger is finally dead. There will be "deathers" attempting to cast doubt on whether or not he is actually dead or still in hiding somewhere (it has happened with Hitler, Elvis, and a number of others). There will be alternative versions of how the assault went down. Many now comment that Pakistan - an alleged ally - must have been harboring Bin Laden since he spent 6 years approximately 1000 yards away from the Pakistani military academy without detection. What do you say we celebrate his death for a few days...and then get back to business? Forget conspiracy theories, don't fixate on the logistics and minutiae, and avoid attributing the success of the operation to any one person or group of people. Instead, understand that the death of one man - even one whose mere name carries so much significance and symbolism - doesn't change the fact that we still face the same insidious threat to our liberty from those who would supplant our constitutional republican form of government and our free market economy, people who hate our very existence and patiently work towards bringing down the entire house of cards. The Middle East is a boiling cauldron of chaos and will be for some time - OBL or no OBL.