Osama bin Laden is dead. I wish I could have counted the number of times this phrase was uttered during the surprise news coverage Sunday night. While the words are certainly crystal clear, their impact on individuals, America and the world at large is still uncertain. Barring any massive conspiracy theory, his death is now cemented in historical fact. But where do we go from here?
As President Obama told the nation Sunday night, the war on terror is far from over. It is, however, hard to ignore the feeling that while the narrative continues, a specific chapter has finally reached its close. Moving forward, it's time to change themes from revenge to progress, from singular goals to holistic unity and reframe America's approach to the Middle East.
Though many of us may have forgotten Bin Laden assumed him dead or long gone it is hard to separate the rhetoric of our military action in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan from the image of the extremist. Theoretically, one of the primary goals of U.S. and coalition forces for the last decade (yes, decade) has been to hunt down the mastermind of 9/11 and bring him to justice or shoot him dead. Indeed, Obama himself re-iterated the Bush "Dead or Alive" imperative months ago, making the killing or capturing of the Al Qaeda leader a "top priority." Perhaps unsurprisingly though, this imperative seems to be more moral than strategic.
Even a quick perusal of Arabic-centric news sources such as al-Jazeera or the Arabist.net reveals that most commentators believe Arabic people have long since dismissed the influence Bin Laden still wielded. One described his death as potentially the "best career move" he's made in a decade, describing how his lack of influence in recent events particularly in the so-called "Arab Spring" has cast his image in a shroud of irrelevance. Another commentator admitted that his death may come as a "serious psychological and inspirational setback" to extremists, but argues that Al Qaeda operatives have become operationally decentralized, rendering tactical direction from Bin Laden unnecessary. What has become clear in recent months, the commentator continues, is that "it is the historical transformations in the Arab and Muslim world that will eventually close the book on Al Qaeda."
While America's financial and military resources will continue to be needed to fight terrorist groups, their role should become much more supplemental. As most Arabic commentators believe, the pro-democracy movements coupled with increased education and modernization will be much more effective in combating extremism than even the best trained and best equipped fighting forces. Indeed, with Bin Laden gone and most Al Qaeda leadership killed or in hiding, Western forces' continued presence in the Middle East will most likely only serve to exacerbate extremist tendencies, doing more harm than good. America needs to take this opportunity to end the bloody vendetta, start withdrawing troops and put its vast resources to work in assisting any Arabic country that opposes extremism and supports democracy.
If America's armed forces could move to a more advisory role, assisting Middle Eastern counties in fighting global terrorism at their request, they could simultaneously continue the fight and foster goodwill amongst Arabic peoples. Though our presence in the Middle East has been effective in thwarting Al Qaeda, continuing operations at current levels would be fiscally and morally irresponsible for the United States. Bin Laden masterminded the killing of thousands of Americans, but we must not forget that our armed forces have killed tens of thousands of Arabic civilians at the cost of trillions of dollars dollars that could be used to support democracy abroad and myriad domestic issues at home.
We must not take this victory as justification for continued military engagement in the Middle East. As President Obama said, it is true that we should take this opportunity to rally together as we did after 9/11. But this time, let the result of our unification be a move towards peace, not war. Though I understand the need to celebrate Bin Laden's death, let us place more focus on remembering the losses he caused and the tens of thousands more for which we are responsible than the fulfillment of revenge. Almost 10 years ago, we missed an opportunity to bring the world a little closer to a common goal. We should not miss it once more.
