OBL: “Compromised to a permanent end”
That’s grappler John Cena’s assessment on breaking news that terrorist Osama bin Landen was killed by Navy SEALS, the culmination of literally years’ worth of intelligence gathering and planning.
It’s safe to say the immediate mood of the country is appropriately celebratory, if for no other reason than having a truly bad man, responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans, done and gone. What it means moving forward is less certain.
The terrorist leader had, from all accounts, been not much of a leader of late, relegated to hiding in a mansion, not a stinky cave, for lo these many past months, while al Qaeda steadily evolved beyond a monolithic terrorist group led by one man into a network of terror cells.
President Obama says he’s committed to continuing the war on terror, but he’ll have a tricky time of it as calls from the left to expedite an exit from Afghanistan are sure to increase while the situation on the ground there remains mired. And how radical groups/nations that support Islamoterrorism react to the death of bin Laden remains to be seen.
Indeed, how Obama handles the post-Osama era might have as much to do with the president’s 2012 reelection fate as how Republicans handle the same. Do they continue to try to portray the man under whose watch the world’s leading symbol of terrorism was killed as weak on terrorism and national defense; or do they give Obama a nod of acknowledgment and try shifting the focus of discussion swiftly back to the national debt and overall economy?
Those are questions, along with many others, left for another day. For now, let’s leave it at this: Navy SEALS have killed a terrorist who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans. That is a job well done.
OBL’s digs after the attack:
President Obama’s announcement:
Celebration in front of White House:
Celebration at Ground Zero:
Reaction from Annapolis:
First up, US Naval Academy Superintendent VADM Michael Miller
And here’s US Naval Academy Commandant Capt. Robert Clark – the money quote: “Today we made a statement to the world, that you can hit us, you can knock us down, but we’re going to get up and when we do, we will kick your ass.”
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