Breaking News! Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan,according to White House officials.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/asia/osama-bin-laden-is-killed.html?hp
However, it's hard to tell whether the war on terrorism will get harder or easier. Is chopping off the head (of Al Qaeda) effective or will he become a martyr thereby strengthening his followers? We must remain vigilant, as Al Qaeda may try to retaliate.
"The death of Mr. Bin Laden is a defining moment in the American-led war on terrorism. What remains to be seen is whether the death of the leader of Al Qaeda galvanizes his followers by turning him into a martyr, or whether it serves as a turning of the page in the war in Afghanistan and gives further impetus to the Obama administration to bring American troops home."
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Hmmm...I'm not sure. I believe the tradition of terrorism will continue because even though you destroy the leader, you don't really destroy the generations of people being raised to hate.
ReplyDeleteYou are partially correct about the generations of some people in the Arabic world raised to hate. However, a significant size of the current young population (and even not-so-young population) in the Arabic world has a new mentality where they see the violent suicide-bombing ways as old-school and outdated. This is somewhat indicated by the recent "spring" of protests in Middle Eastern countries. More and more of the Arabic world (especially the younger generation) are has a newer approach of galvanizing huge numbers through Twitter, Facebook, text message, and other technologies. Currently, the paradigm in the Middle East seems to be significantly shifting.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do believe that we should listen to the experts (such as the military generals and experts in Middle Eastern issues) when it comes to pulling out of Afghanistan. I infer that you are probably in agreement with me on this one. We should listen to them when to pull out, and how to pull out. It is easy for us to have the tendency to just shout "Pull out immediately" when we have friends and/or family serving in the military in Afghanistan. However, most people don't know or remember that Al Qaeda became powerful because the U.S. military quickly pulled out of Afghanistan when we were there in the late 70's (or early 80's, I don't remember exactly).