It’s been more than a week since U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden, and almost ten years since he put the plans in motion that devastated our country on that shocking, sunny September Tuesday. Americans got their man, and some have their closure. But others are wondering, “Now what?”
Bin laden’s death may prove to be little more than a symbolic victory. The “war on terror” President Bush declared many years ago is far from over, as are the operations in Iraq. Our involvement in Libya may also turn out to be an extended stay.
I firmly believe that most military operations can be avoided through diplomacy, but I’ve become strangely accustomed to and comfortable with life during wartime. It’s simply the norm, and it will continue to be.
When the march to Baghdad began in 2003, millions took the streets to protest the invasion. Those groups soon dispersed, though, and most went on with their lives. Without a draft, there was no real incentive or motivation for angry college students to stage walk outs or mass demonstrations in opposition to the conflict. The war faded into the peripherals of their consciousness: something they opposed but not something that directly impacted them enough to make a fuss about.
Our heavy-handedness in the Middle East may lead our generation to be one defined by the conflicts we have entered in the last 10 years. The Orwellian nature of these seemingly perpetual wars is startling as the U.S.’s involvement in the region has become an almost fleeting thought. I wouldn’t know what to do or think if terrorism were suddenly wiped out and the troops came home. The reality of the situation is that it will likely never happen.
Al Qaeda has long fled Afghanistan and retreated to other political vacuums that exist in the Middle East. Targeting and killing them has then become increasingly difficult. Our efforts there are certainly not futile, but it would be naïve to think, even if we could eliminate all Al Qaeda operatives, that the U.S. will ever rid itself of the terrorism threat.
The events of 9/11 proved to the world that the U.S. is susceptible to attack. Violence against American embassies or citizens abroad had occurred before, but the fall of the Twin Towers marked a victory for terrorism on our own soil unlike any we had ever seen. Our vulnerabilities have been exposed, and we should expect to defend them fiercely well into the future.
Al Qaeda has lost its de facto leader, but there are candidates eager to replace him. His followers may be disheartened, but the motives that inspire them – the irreparable riffs that exist between Western culture and Islamic extremism remain. Just yesterday Al Qaeda warned the U.S. of a new jihad in a statement, claiming that “What is coming is greater and worse, and what is awaiting you is more intense and harmful.”
Heightened security at home and abroad will surely persist. The anti-American rhetoric that pours from Islamic extremists will continue. The threat will remain, and the war will go on. We will have to face the fact that bin Laden’s death, while a glimmer of hope and relief, may change very little in the grand scheme of things.
“Now what?” We know what’s next: more of the same.
Greg Swiatek is a Medill junior. He can be reached at [email protected].
