Monday, May 2, 2011

President Obama on Death of Osama bin Laden

Again, analysts see bin Laden's death as the ending of a chapter, not the war.

The death of Osama and the return to reality - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

The following passage I thought was particularly well articulated:

The war on terror as sport:

Almost ten years later, a chapter in US, indeed, global history, has been closed with the killing of Osama bin Laden. But as the intense protests against the building of a Muslim community centre near Ground Zero last year indicate, the legacy of the attacks will haunt society in the US for years to come.

It's hard to fault President Obama for his remarks announcing bin Laden's killing. There was no smugness or cockiness, as President Bush was wont to display whenever he boasted of successes real or imagined. But the thousands of people who gathered outside the White House and around Ground Zero in New York had a much more Bush-like mood; one that indicates just how removed so many of us have become from the realities of not only the original attacks, but all that has happened since.

Network coverage showed people driving around with US flags on their cars, the way sports fans do on the day of the big game. People were chanting "USA! USA!" like they did when the US beat the Soviet Union in that famous hockey game at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. In New York, scores of young people, most too young to have experienced 9/11 in any meaningful way, sang the words to 1969 hit "Na Na Hey Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye," which has also become ubiquitous at sporting events whenever victory for the home team is near.

Commentators and celebrants alike were comparing the festive gathering of citizens to the end of conflict in World War Two, which produced such memorable celebrations on the streets of New York. But victory in the "War on Terror" is not near, not least because the war was never primarily about terrorism.

Instead, the Bush administration used the excuse of al-Qaeda's attacks to radically reshape the political economy of the United States towards the kind of military-petroleum-finance-led system that Obama has found almost impossible to challenge - much to the detriment of the transformative agenda with which he entered office.

As damaging as both the erosion of our constitutional freedoms, which in many cases the president has actually affirmed since taking office - and as Obama alluded to during his speech - the erosion of the sense of unity that every country needs to prosper in good times, and to rebuild a sense of purpose and vision in the wake of tragedy and violence.

AJ op-ed: bin Laden's death kills the alibi

Analysis: Killing the alibi - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

"But for the Muslim world, bin Laden has already been made irrelevant by the Arab Spring that underlined the meaning of peoples power through peaceful means. "

All this does is remove the face of terror, not the war on terror. Thank you Al Jazeera for speaking for me when corporate news doesn't!

What next after bin Laden death? - In Depth - Al Jazeera English

What next after bin Laden death? - In Depth - Al Jazeera English


Here is - as per usual - some great coverage from Al Jazeera.

If you don't already get your news here, you should.

I don't think bin Laden's death is going to do anything to end - or slow down - the War on Terror. It's a war on a CONCEPT, not a person. The wars won't end just because this one figurehead died - there will always be someone for us to hate and fight against. Al Qaeda's a different animal now than it was in 2001, and I don't think the cheering crowds on Sunday night quite realize that.