Jokes aside, even though I'm a smelly Canadian, I'm really glad they got him. I remember a year or so after the attacks (I was 15), I was watching the news and they showed the infamous footage of the planes hitting the towers. I remember that was the first time I really felt like I was seeing the world as an adult; for some reason, seeing it again after the world had settled into "post 9/11 mode," it just seemed so terrifyingly real. I feel no urge to celebrate at all, although I can definitely understand why those who had more of a personal connection to the attacks would. I just feel like an ugly chapter has been closed. Who knows what will happen from here, but for now, it's a victory.
I see where you're coming from, but there are problems with trying to teach more modern history. Schools are a lot like TiB: Politics are discouraged. We are supposed to teach the history as objectively as possible, and try not to shove our political views down the students throats. A lot of the more recent history is very politically charged, still, and it would be hard to teach those subjects with the objectivity required. It is much easier to be objective about events that took place thousands or hundreds of years ago than it is to be objective about history that we actually lived through and have strong feelings about. Think of it this way: You have two teachers, one is a Gulf War veteran (first war) and the other is a life-long student that never joined the army and was against the war in the first place. They are going to have two VERY different perspectives on the Gulf War, and as a result, they likely won't be teaching the same thing. You can extend that as far back as Vietnam (one was a draft dodger, the other is a Vietnam Veteran) and up to now, with soldiers returning from Iraq and going back to school to be teachers, teaching along side people who have never even considered joining the army. There are going to be radically different perspectives on the same event, which makes teaching it objectively nearly impossible.
I was in the Emirates Lounge at Dubai airport when news began to filter through on TV. It was hilarious watching a mixture of American businessmen overtly cheering with Arabs in Thawb's looking incredibly uncomfortable*. I then flew to Delhi where I had a 6hr drive to Amritsar in Punjab which borders Pakistan not arriving until 3am. At one stage I managed to convince myself my driver was going to kidnap me in a reprisal attack (his name was Khalid, so I naturally profiled him) and begun running escape plans in my mind. Absurd paranoia aside I am here for 3 weeks and will rightly or wrongly be on far higher guard. I haven't read the entire thread so apologies if this has been discussed. Amidst all the 'America Fuck Yeh' jingoism, I would like to point out for all the evils OBL and his cronies committed against the US, they are dwarfed by his fucking over of Arab's and Muslim's as a whole. As much as now is a time of celebration for us, so too should it for them. * I don't mean to suggest they supported OBL, as much as the mood of the room just had several feeling awkward.
I'm glad that even in this age of tweeting everything form terrorist attacks to what kind of flavor shot is in your coffee, that the government is still capable of maneuvering around without a lot of people knowing. When I was in high school, one of my friends was saying how horrible it was that the government might keep secrets from the masses. Then I realized that ignorance is bliss, and i had a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that there may very well be secret government spies or whatever, getting their hands dirty for the betterment of us all without our even knowing. Perhaps its too many spy books i've read, but its a good feeling knowing that such a mission could be pulled off without some news agency or another sticking their nose into it. in conclusion, there may still be a chance that a real life james bond is out there somewhere. My dream lives on!
This insight is blatantly stolen from Stephen Colbert, but skip to 2:15 and look at Obama laugh at the joke about Bin Laden hosting a show on C-SPAN. "It's funny, 'cause he's about to die."
This is such an important chart to keep in mind when thinking about the repercussions of Osama's death: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/05/public_opinion_osama_bin_laden?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/dc/supportingterror" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailycha ... tingterror</a>
I was talking to a buddy over Facebook chat today. He's an Army Ranger deployed to Afghanistan and works closely with US Special Forces calling in air support and long range artillery. I made an offhand joke and this was the conversation: I'll be waiting eagerly for this story if it indeed wasn't SEAL Team 6 like everyone's thinking. Take it with a grain of salt, but he's a stand up guy and I'm taking his word on this one... If it turns out to be true, you heard it here first, folks!
Not to be a dick, but if there's substance to what he's saying, is it a good idea to talk about it here, or anywhere else on the Internet? I don't know what's kosher or not when it comes to OPSEC, and BrianH isn't back from his save-the-world mission yet so he can explain it to the rest of us.
My grandmother remarked how surprised she was that people my age seem pleased about the death of bin Laden. I think she thinks most of us are liberal peaceniks who decry violence out of hand. But, across the board, the reaction has been the same among my group of fairly left-leaning friends. "I'm glad he's dead, and I'm glad we got to kill him." If you're my age, you grew up watching your country chase a guy whose actions screwed your world up pretty bad. Either directly or indirectly because of him, you joined the military, or you watched your friends and family join and shove off to fight in some god forsaken desert for ten fucking years while people back home tore each other apart with ugly politics and regressive rhetoric. He had a lot to do with that. Why wouldn't we be glad?
Anyone who thinks Osama Bin Laden is still alive or that his death was a fake is a fucking moron. Link me to an al jazeera video with Bin Laden holding today's New York Times and I'll recant my statement.
As someone who had family enlist and watched him do 3 tours I'm thankful he's gone. Sure there are more and this won't end all evils but it certainly is one less to worry about. I want to thank all of our military for putting their country above everything else. I was listening to Mark&Brian yesterday morning. They were interviewing a former Seal that is releasing a book of his memoirs. They said they had gotten some calls doubting OBL was dead and asked him how he'd respond to them. He said, "You're welcome. You're welcome for being able to form your own moronic opinions and voice them whenever you choose." Awesome.
This is also into the ream of people who've spent more time watching Black Hawk Down and playing Call of Duty than actually exerting themselves physically. Does it really matter if it was SEAL Team Six or Delta Force or joint task force pi, or if Charlie Sheen was providing close air support as an F-16?
The speculation in your conversation could have been deduced by anyone who picks up a book and reads anything about these units and the last 10 years in Afghan. It may also be misconstrued by anyone of your friends higher ups as a violation of OPSEC. If he is a Ranger attached to JSOC then he may want to watch what he says if he wants to stay with Batt for much longer. Just a friendly reminder. Needless to say it was more then likely JSOC, leave it at that, they do work, who cares what branch they have on their ID cards. It was some reporter who said SEALs and the media ran with it.
No, it doesn't really matter (at least not to us), but there are still rules in place for those guys for a reason. It's one thing for keyboard warriors like you and I to mindlessly speculate on who did what to whom, and where and why. It's entirely another for someone who has actual knowledge of the situation to talk about it freely. I don't know about the hush-hush nature of this stuff beyond what little I hear from my dad, but OPSEC is a bigger deal than most people realize. Shit, when our entire family lived overseas several years ago, everyone in my family had to take a fucking test, to demonstrate that we know not to talk about even the most mundane things around local civilians (for example, the general layout of the base or the names of certain people in my dad's squadron whose names we might know).
For what it's worth, I've heard the same rumor from some spooky-type sources over there. Let's wait and see, I guess. Also, someone's been going around bulletin boards at my campus posting some very contrarian, holier-than-thou crap about the celebrations, and how we're bad people for being happy, or something. I'll try and get a pic, or a transcript at least. Along the same lines.