THE KILLING of Osama bin Laden by US troops on Sunday was described by President Obama as “the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al-Qaeda.” Only time will tell how significant bin Laden’s death will be in defeating his terrorist organisation, but for now there will be widespread satisfaction that justice had been done.
Bin Laden was the man behind the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, which killed 3,000 people, and had been on top of the US’ ‘most wanted’ list since then. It may have taken almost a decade to track him down, despite a $25 million bounty on his head, but Sunday’s raid showed that America’s determination and resolve to defeat global terrorism never weakened.
Former President George W Bush was speaking for most Americans when he said, in a statement, “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America sent an unmistakable message: no matter how long it takes, justice will be done.” And the US has every right to believe that justice was done. The man who had orchestrated the cold-blooded murder of 3,000 Americans was finally made to pay for his crimes.
Will bin Laden’s death bring about the demise of al-Qaeda and an end to global jihad? It is unlikely to have such a far-reaching, positive effect, even though one US official was quoted as saying that bin Laden’s loss “puts the group on a path of decline that would be difficult to reverse.” The same official claimed that his probable successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri “was not as well respected within the organisation.”
It remains to be seen whether al-Qaeda will enter a path of decline, but for now there will be fears of retaliatory strikes both in the US and on American facilities abroad. Security measures will be stepped up in most Western countries for the foreseeable future because of fears that jihadists will be seeking to avenge bin Laden’s death. We may witness a wave of suicide attacks around the world over the next few months but this will not diminish Sunday’s momentous achievement in any way.
The world needed this victory over al Qaeda and we can only hope that it will weaken the terrorist organisation responsible for thousands of deaths of innocent men, women and children.
