In a covert pseudo-military operation that defies description, Osama bin Laden killed nearly three thousand individuals, instigated massive retaliatory wars that now threaten destroy the US financially, and inspired a violent global jihadist movement. Reviled by most of the world, he yet managed to hide in plain sight for the better part of decade. He was fanatic, a jihadist, and probably a genius. He was also the person who first sparked my interest in the Middle East, the Arab world, terrorism, and Islam.
Al-Qaeda's actions have probably altered the course of my life. If not for the network's regrettable actions, would likely have never majored in Middle Eastern history, Arabic, and International Affairs. I would never have met the people I did or witnessed the events that I did. Nor would I have traveled to Dubai, which has completely altered my world view. I might not even be in Cambodia right now, having never discovered the world outside America.
It was not always easy--Middle Eastern studies brought me a lot of pain. There are elements in my family that believe Middle East=Arabs=Muslims=EVIL, and therefore, my interest in the region was driving my family straight to Hell. Despite the obvious stupidity of this reasoning, I was attacked and virtually kicked out of the house on the grounds of "terrorism" (if reading about the Ottoman Empire and representing Libya in the Model Arab League can be said to constitute "terrorism").
In still other ways, I'm not sure whether or not Middle Eastern studies have brought me ANY benefit--there's no telling where I'd be now if I had chosen another field of study. Would I have majored in Classics, like all of my parents and parental figures? Would I have gone into law? Graphic design? Would I have a lucrative career now, instead of being a struggling adventurer with a semi-defunct thyroid? Or, without a passion to sustain me, would I have become disillusioned with college and still be working in the food industry in small-town Ohio?
For better or for worse, Osama bin Laden and his work decided the course of my young adult life, and it's been hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that he's really gone.
That said, maybe my degree doesn't matter. I've certainly never done anything with it, and I am now living in Cambodia, which is not a Middle Eastern or Arab country by any standard. The dire warnings worldwide that Americans should be super-vigilant upon bin Laden's death is somewhat irrelevant here. Apart from the obligatory front page on all the newspapers, no one seems to care that America's arch-villain is dead. The most I got was a sentence from one (out of maybe 100) of my students, informing me that "Osama bin Laden was a very cruel man" (vocab word, cruel). The life I once built is now literally a world away, and I'm not sure that's a bad thing.
I can tell you what is a bad thing, though, at least in my mind. I don't like the American response to it's own victory. I don't complain that they killed bin Laden in a tactically brilliant operation--he was fair game as far as I'm concerned. I don't even much care that they dumped his dead body in the sea like so much refuse. No, what bothers me is what I have seen on the news.
Thousands of college students, most of whom I dare say were too young to really remember or understand the significance of the attacks, and most of whose lives were NOT altered by the attacks, gathered dressed in red-white-and-blue, celebrating the fact that some people were killed. Good job, my younger brothers and sisters--you look just like the folks who cheered when the twin towers fell.
It annoys me, but it's understandable.
What's worse is the way the US government refuses to release key information, e.g. photos. I was especially not fond of the excuses, "They're too gruesome" and "we don't parade dead bodies around like trophies". These statements are ironic in light of the gruesome photos (*trophies*) published of Osama bin Laden's son and two of his couriers--and for that matter, the photos of Uday and Qusay Hussein back during the invasion of Iraq. I find the pretense repulsive.
Then Barack Obama tried to invoke "security" reasons. I maintain that 1) the US should have been far MORE worried about security when they invaded and destabilized Iraq, Afghanistan, and their neighbors, and that 2) this line of rationale sounds disturbingly close to one of my Least Favored Nations, China, which habitually censors everything under the pretense of "stability".
The recent release of muted and heavily edited al-Qaeda videos only confirms this. I would ask my country to stop taking its cues from China.
And last--I have only fate to blame for this one--I ask why, why, WHY this couldn't have happened several days earlier so I wouldn't have to watch Will and Kate's wedding ALL WEEKEND LONG? I had hoped and prayed for something of this magnitude to happen--and it did--48 hours TOO LATE. Damn.
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