Sunday, May 1, 2011

Day 115: Finally! ! !

I had just posted my entry for Sunday, May 1, 2011 (which I removed and will post tomorrow) when I turned on the news and heard that today was the day we have been waiting for since September 11, 2001, almost ten years. Osama Bin Laden is dead! Hard to believe that we finally have proof that he is deceased. I had kind of started to believe that maybe he was already dead and his followers were keeping it quiet. But now we have DNA evidence, that Bin Laden is dead!

I didn't know how it would feel to say those words, but the more I hear them, the more emotional I am getting. In fact, I just went to the fridge and pulled out the chilled bottle of champagne leftover from New Years'. I knew I was saving this for something special! Celebrating someone's death seems macabre. I am trying not to actually cheer, but it is hard not to feel celebratory. Even the news reporters are struggling to keep their tone from sounding joyous.

Almost ten years ago, the world watched as our country suffered one of the worst single days of man made horrors in history. While man has certainly done horrible things to each other like the Holocaust and the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor, it was a shockingly horrible day for our nation. The country froze for the day, maybe the week. I remember where I was when Kim told me a plane flew into the World Trade Center. I remember watching the second plane hit and realizing this was terrorism. I remember watching people jump from the buildings. I spent the next several days glued to the coverage. For a few months, the whole country just grieved and bonded in that grief and the dramatic wave of patriotism that followed Bin Laden's attempt to tear us apart. Like many of the newscasters have said, we thought he would be captured or killed so quickly after 9/11. Our country mobilized and fired up thought there would be no hiding from us, but it took us a decade to find him and take him down. I wonder if they even thought about trying to take him alive.

While he is only one man, he has been the figurehead of our focus against the terrorists since 9/11 especially since Saddam Hussein was hanged. He certainly was a hero and leader to the many extreme terrorists that followed his heretical teachings. I am not a Muslim, but many of the teachings of Islam have been perverted by these extremists over the past decade. I don't want to paint all Muslims with the same brush. According to my limited studies, true Islam is about peace, but Bin Laden and his cronies bastardized teachings of acceptance and peace to be about war and hate. True Muslims should be just as glad someone so evil is gone. I am gratified to hear the President to echo the same sentiment that Bin Laden was a mass murderer of Muslims and was someone all sides should be relieved to have gone.

The President's words brought a finality to the situation. While the news has been reporting the story for about an hour now, hearing President Obama say that he is dead feels real and almost like we should declare a national holiday! Apparently this attack against Bin Laden's camp in Pakistan has been in the works since August. The President learned that we had a solid lead on his location last week and approved the mission today. No Americans were injured in the fire fight, thank GOD. He had cost us enough lives.

Wow, I can't imagine the emotions of the Special Forces team that knew they were about to attempt to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden. They must have been almost excited, pumped up, like players before the big game. I know due to their need to stay under the radar, we will never be able to know their names or faces, but those soldiers risked their lives many times and today we able to bring down the most wanted man in the world. Thank you to those soldiers and to all soldiers who have risked their lives to help the efforts to bring an end to the terrorism.

We know this doesn't end the war. Troops will still be deploying for probably years to come. In fact, the risks of retaliation against our military will be heightened for awhile. I know that it will increase my concerns for my dear husband until he comes home. I know that the attacks have been ongoing, costing my husband's regiment several deaths just this month. I do hope that this evil man's death will at least weaken the terrorists organization and recruiting efforts.

I don't know what my husband knows or what his reaction will be. But I would imagine that he might react much like the men celebrating in the street across from the White House, high fives, some manly hugs and what looked like "Hell yeahs!" I hope he knows. He should be already awake now for his day in Iraq. Maybe this will help him feel a little better about his role in defending the beliefs of our nation and our way of life.

My husband just came on chat. He says they are taking it pretty calmly over there, but are happy. He says they are holding out to see pictures. They want to know it is real. After so many years of sacrifice, he wants to know it is truly true. And of course, he wishes he could have been there. Total soldier! I love him so much! I am so glad I got to celebrate this victory with him. 

The war isn't really over for anyone. The best we can hope for is that this is a beginning to get to the end. We have years left before we can even completely withdraw from the Middle East, if we ever leave. Heck, we've got troops in Germany 60 years after World War II. The conflicts will get worse before they get better, but as one survivor of 9/11 said, "The face of evil is dead." All I can say is .  .  .    FINALLY. 

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