EVENT REFLECTION – Killing of Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden is a name almost every American knows. He was the founder and leader of the terrorist group al-Qaeda and was one of the main one responsible for the 9/11 attacks, one of the largest terrorist attacks on U.S soil. After years of searching, evidence of bin Laden’s whereabouts surfaced. After confirmation that bin Laden was indeed hiding in his brothers compound. With orders from President Obama and intelligence from the CIA, on Monday May 2, 2011, SEAL Team Six, a U.S. Navy SEALs Team, located bin Laden hiding on the third of his brothers compound located in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
The operation took about thirty-eight minutes in total. Bin Laden was located and killed within the first twenty minutes. The ground team of SEAL Team Six went to the third floor of the compound into bin Laden’s room. According to an article bin Laden was shot in his left eye and chest ultimately killing him. Members of the SEAL team then sent pictures to American officials to confirm the killing. Bin Laden’s was later flown to Afghanistan then to sea where he is later “buried.” In addition to bin Laden’s death during this operation, a woman and three other men were also killed.
The man responsible for a numerous attacks on the United States was dead, a success for the United States and an even bigger success for President Barack Obama, the CIA and the SEAL team that conducted the operation. Without the proper intelligence or timing bin Laden could have been elsewhere and went deeper into hiding once he learned the United States was looking to kill him.
There is a long list of events that occurred prior to Bin Laden’s death in 2011. All of the information in this section comes from an article titled “Timeline: Osama bin Laden, over the years” published by the CNN Wire Staff. In 1988 Osama Bin Laden founded the group al-Qaeda, which according to CNN translates to “the base” in Arabic. It wasn’t until 1991, after Bin Laden was expelled from Saudi Arabia’s regime, that al-Qaeda began to form into a terrorist organization. Bin Laden had a long history of targeting Americans, whether they were civilians or military personnel Bin Laden saw them as target. The first attacks from Bin Laden’s organization occurred on February 26, 1993 when six Muslim radicals believed to be linked with Bin Laden exploded a bomb outside the World Trade Center in New York City. This bomb killed six people and left hundreds wounded. Only a few months later in October during a humanitarian mission in Somalia, eighteen U.S. servicemen were killed during an ambush. According to CNN’s timeline of Bin Laden, this same year he was target of an assassination attempt which ultimately made him smarter and stronger with how he did things moving forward.
Bin Laden has been involved in or gave orders in numerous attacks. al-Qaeda’s attacks weren’t limited to the United States, in 1995 on a military base in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia a bomb went off killing five Americans and two Indians. There was also a failed attempt to kill Hosni Mubarak, the president of Egypt which authorities believe bin Laden was also involved in. After a suicide bombing at the Egyptian Embassy, it’s believed that around this time bin Laden and other militant Islamic groups such as the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, led by Ayman al-Zawahiri began to form an alliance.
A “holy war” was declared by bin Laden against the United States armed forces. In 1997 bin Laden had an interview with Peter Bergen and described the United States as “unjust, criminal and tyrannical.” During the interview bin Laden also mentions that there is a double standard to to the fact that Americans call “whoever goes against its injustice a terrorist.” In February of 1997 bin laden called for the militarization al-Qaeda in East Africa which later led to the bombing of a U.S. embassy in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7, 1998.
Al-Qaeda and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad officially merged in 1998. On February 23, 1998 Al-Zawahiri and bin Laden published a fatwa in a local newspaper titled “International Islamic Front for Jihad on the Jews and Crusaders” saying that all Muslims should kill Americans anywhere in the world, civilians included. On May 7, in a letter by bin Laden he stated that the U.S. Army are “Enemies of Islam.” A month later on August 7, about 224 people were killed in Kenya, Tanzania, Dar es Salaam and Nairobi after truck bombs exploded outside of the U.S. embassies in those areas. In November, bin Laden was later charged with 224 counts of murder.
The following year in June 1999, bin Laden was put on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives list. On October 12, 2000, 17 U.S. sailors were killed and 39 others were injured after an attack on the USS Cole in Yemen. It’s believed that bin Laden was behind this attack as well.
Fast-forward about year to September 11, 2011, formally known as 9/11, more than 3,000 people were killed after four U.S. aircrafts were taken over by 19 hijackers linked with al-Qaeda. This was the largest terrorist attack on US soil. The first two planes flew into the World Trade Center, one flew into the Pentagon and the last plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Bin Laden was named the prime suspect in these attacks and a month later the United States issued a $25 million bounty for bin Laden.
The search for bin Laden began over the next few years, there were some reported sightings as well as reports that he’d died from kidney failure but nothing was confirmed. It wasn’t until August 2010, nearly a decade after 9/11, that President Obama received information of bin Laden possible location. In January 2011 it was determined that the information they received was “sound evidence” and that bin Laden was indeed located in the compound in Abbottabad. Beginning on March 14, 2011 meeting were held to discussing the operation to target bin Laden. After the final meetings in April, President Obama gave orders to move forward with the operation. SEAL Team Six then located the compound, located bin Laden and took out the target.
This event mattered then because bin Laden was a well known threat to the lives of Americans, both civilians and military personnel. If not killed he may have conducted more attacks on U.S. that could’ve potentially caused more damage and took more innocent lives. The killing of Osama bin Laden it was a relief to Americans knowing that the leader of a terrorist organization and a man that was responsible for multiple attacks on the United States was now dead and can no longer give orders. Bin Laden’s death was also a step forward for American intelligence because bin Laden had been in hiding for nearly a decade, while still inflicting harm on innocent lives.
This event matters now because before 9/11 America wasn’t as tight on its surveillance when it comes to terrorist attacks as they are now. Bin Laden is no longer a threat to Americans but there are other terrorists in his organization as well as other organizations that may try and find a way to attack the United States. With the latest surveillance technology and techniques that we now have, it’s going to be a little bit harder for these groups to carry out any attacks. Bin Laden’s action then also have an affect on American Muslims now. Some American’s fear Muslims and label them terrorists because of the 9/11 attacks. Their fear doesn’t allow them to believe that not all Muslims are terrorists. An example to represent this is “good cop, bad cop” scenarios. When we see something on the news related to a cop it’s normally the “bad cop,” people often say that all cops are bad when in fact there’s more good cops than there are bad. The same with Muslims, the media only shows the Muslims that are “terrorists” so people associate all Muslims as terrorist. This may be the biggest effect of the series of events leading to bin Laden’s death.
There’s no telling what effects this event will have on the future. There’s different outcomes that may occur, we don’t know what these terrorists groups have planned or are in the midst of planning. There’s already reports of one of bin Laden’s son wanting to seek revenge on the west for killing his father. Bin Laden has a total of twenty-three children all of which are probably grown now and have seen what a terrorist group is like and capable of. After his death they may have joined as well and may also want to seek revenge for his father’s death. Other members of al-Qaeda may also want to see revenge on the United States for killing their leader. I do not believe that there will be any alliances between al-Qaeda or any other terrorists organization and the United States in the future.