On Osama

This is not going to take any real form. This is not going to be eloquent. I'm not source-searching, so it may not even be accurate. Osama Bin Laden is dead; what does this mean?

In terms of the actual War on Terror, probably not that much. This killing is the martial equivalent of pulling up one weed and finding a hundred more. But if it is literally insignificant, the figurative implications are huge.

To kill Bin Laden, in a way, is to kill 9/11. He was not and is not responsible for all terrorism, but, as the single most important human factor in the destruction of the World Trade Center, he is forever the human face of the attacks. Killing his aids, his friends, his enablers was not satisfactory; it would be like killing a thousand Nazis and never finding Hitler's body. Like Hitler, like Mussolini, Bin Laden's name and face are inexorably linked to some of the world's darkest days--that's why, even now that he's gone, pictures of his face still exude a potent emotional charge. Bin Laden set the world as we know it in motion--the ramped-up patriotism, the stringent security, the virulent racism. He was a walking repository of all our country's ills, and as long as he eluded us, our sense of closure would elude us. The Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Department would always be mentioned with a sense of futility-after all, they were created to hunt down this man, and if we never found him, what was their purpose, other than to ceaselessly impinge on our former rights? The extremities of war now seem, if not justified, at least vaguely rational; history will look a little more fondly upon the Bush and Obama administrations now, and rightly so.

Thought; If we put up another "Mission: Accomplished" sign this minute, would the public react favorably? Was Osama's death our mission? (Let's be honest, we never wanted the man captured alive.) If so, what has it accomplished? At best, his killing will hammer home the continued strength of our forces, and knock those who dutifully deified him off their pedestals. At worst, it will trigger retaliatory action. The reality will most likely be somewhere in between.

There is one last significant point to make. Unlike Hitler and Hussein, the world's other two tyrants, Bin Laden was shot to death in a battle with American forces. The symbolism is obvious but striking; Bin Laden did not kill himself. He was not hung in the corner of some godforsaken shack. He was vanquished by Americans, and thus by America. It's not the lasting peace we need, but its the justice, or at least the equilibrium, we want.

In the days to come, we will undoubtedly need the news, need reality, need to understand whatever events unfold so rapidly in front of us. But we will also need escape. We will need enlightenment. We will need beauty. We will need the movies.

Much love,

Mason