When President Barack Obama announced on May 1 that Osama bin Laden had been killed, there was much rejoicing around America and by some at Tufts. Personally, however, I felt a little uncomfortable about the festive atmosphere surrounding bin Laden's death. While I understand the perspective of those who celebrated bin Laden's death, personally I have spent the past few weeks grappling with what it was exactly that bothered me about the celebrations. It turns out there are multifarious reasons for my discomfort.
I found some solace in the fact that I found plenty of people who felt the same way. Their reasons, however, weren't always the same as mine. For some, it was as simple as saying, "I'm not celebrating Osama bin Laden's death because I don't celebrate death, no matter who it is." This is certainly a noble and virtuous viewpoint that was part of my reasoning for taking exception to the celebrations (yes, I am noble and virtuous). My concerns, however, ran deeper than this (yes, I am deep, too).
Celebrating this victory in the War on Terror loses sight of all of America's "collateral damage" over the course of this war. Countless innocent people who were imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay and today suffer post-traumatic stress disorder. Over 600,000 dead and millions displaced by the war in Iraq that ultimately had nothing to do with al-Qaida or weapons of mass destruction and was illegal in that it was not authorized by the United Nations in the first place.
Celebrating this victory in the War on Terror justifies the notion that targeting leaders of terrorist organizations is the best and only strategic way to fight terrorism. This may be an erroneous line of thinking. Killing a figurehead like bin Laden only creates a vacuum waiting to be filled by another terrorist leader, using the motivation of their previous leader's death as fuel for future attacks.
In reality, while the violent means that terrorists use to achieve their goals is misguided and morally wrong, there were indeed political motivations behind al-Qaida under bin Laden, such as U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Additionally, issues of poverty and inequality create circumstances under which young people are more likely to be attracted to a radical ideology. Until these underlying causes of terrorism are addressed, there will be no long-lasting and meaningful victory in this War on Terror. Celebrating this "victory" in the War on Terror makes it that much less likely that alternative and complementary strategies of dealing with terrorism will surface more prominently in public and political discourse.
Celebrating this victory in the War on Terror also energizes a vitriolic and hateful atmosphere, all in the name of nationalism. In the madness of intense nationalism, the passionate feelings behind it can be misdirected at innocent bystanders. We saw this after 9/11, when over 1,500 hate crimes directed at Muslims occurred in America in 2001. Members of non-Muslim religous groups mistaken for Muslims (not that it is justified to attack people for being Muslim, of course), such as Sikhs, were also targeted in the post-9/11 wave of Islamophobia.
The type of hubris on display after bin Laden's death serves as a concern that a post-bin Laden wave of Islamophobia is on its way. There has already been one such shameful incident of note. Two harmless Muslim men robed in traditional dress were removed from a Delta Airlines flight from Memphis to Charlotte on May 6 because the pilot and passengers did not feel comfortable with them on board. The biggest irony of it all was that the two men were on their way to a conference on Islamophobia.
Finally, celebrating this victory in the War on Terror can be seen as hypocritical. America is a country that views itself as operating on a moral high ground. Instead of killing bin Laden and dumping his body at sea, America could have tried bin Laden in a court of law, where justice would have been served. Additionally, by celebrating death so joyfully, it seems that some Americans have lost the plot. As a global leader, this was an opportunity for America to show how morality can triumph over violence. Instead, it seems to have been an opportunity lost.
