Northfielders Reflect on Killing of Osama bin Laden, 9/11

Taking a break from homework late Sunday night, Ryan Henrickson, a sophomore at Gustavus Adolphus College, logged on Facebook.

There, he said, he saw messages from friends that Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 terroristic attacks, had been killed.

Henrickson, an Army specialist who spent time in Afghanistan and Iraq during his five and a half years in the service, wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Of course, my first thought was that this is some kind of joke,” the 2004 Northfield High School graduate said.

The 25-year-old then went to the White House website and saw a live stream of President Barack Obama talking about the successful mission.

“I was overjoyed,” he said. “It’s a significant victory.”

Obama addressed the nation Sunday evening while thousands of people began celebrating at Ground Zero in New York City and outside the White House in Washington, D.C.

"Tonight I can report to the American people and to the world, that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaida, and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children," Obama said in the live broadcast. "Justice has been done."

Later, Obama said the fight against terrorism doesn't end with bin Laden.

"We must and will remain vigilant at home and abroad," Obama said.

Since news broke late Sunday night that bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan, people took to Twitter, Facebook and other social media networks to share their thoughts.

Responses range from joy to apathy to many people questioning, despite the atrocious acts of bin Laden and al Qaida, if celebrating the death of a man is appropriate.

Devashree Gupta, an assistant professor of political science at Carleton College who specializes in political radicalism and national movements in European politics, said celebratory reaction covered by the media or shared via social networks could spawn increased terroristic activity. The more positive reaction, Gupta said, the more likely there could be retaliatory attacks.

Aside from responses from America and the rest of the world, Gupta said there’s potential for backlash from al Qaida and other terrorist cells in the wake of bin Laden’s death.

“It’s a very decentralized network, while I think bin Laden’s death is quite a blow in terms of morale of al Qaida … I think many of the cells can continue doing what they were doing before,” she said.

Lives changed

For Amrita Chadha, news that bin Laden had been killed stirred 10 years worth of emotions.

“When I was in eighth grade, my sister was working at the Deloitte building in New York … a couple buildings over from the Twin Towers, so it was a big deal for my family,” said the Carleton College senior, who’s studying political science.

Her sister made it through the 9/11 terroristic attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 Americans, unscathed, but then another reality set in for Chadha, who is from New Dehli, India.

“Because I’m part Afghan, I had to deal with a lot of people saying ‘you’re Osama’s relative,’” she recalled Monday.

Now, looking at it through the lens of a political scientist, Chadha believes the killing of bin Laden by a U.S. military operation will be a boon to Obama’s re-election bid, but she doesn’t “know how big of a difference it makes in terms of the war on al Qaida.”

In Northfield on Monday, it seemed as if the American flag blowing above the Veterans Memorial in the Riverside Lions Park flew just a bit higher.

Northfield Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4393 Commander Bill Murphy, 29, said Monday that he didn’t have much to say about bin Laden’s death, other than, “way to go troops.”

Murphy served in chemical operations in the War in Iraq. He left the service in 2008.

Currently, there are no plans for the VFW to hold any event in response to bin Laden’s killing, Murphy said. The same goes for the Northfield American Legion Post 84, said Galen Malecha, manager of the Eagle’s Club, where Legion members meet.

U.S. Congressman John Kline, (R-Second District) of Lakeville, in a written statement, echoed Obama's sentiments.

"While the world is now free from one truly evil man, we are still at war with Islamist extremists. We must remain increasingly vigilant, and continue to support our brave sons and daughters in uniform as they courageously battle a determined enemy," Kline wrote.

For America’s youth, like Chadha, that day nearly 10 years ago changed the world in which they lived.

Brian Kilgour, a senior political science major at Carleton College, was in seventh grade when the 9/11 attacks happened, in which two commercial airlines were flown into the World Trade Center, one plane was flown into the Pentagon and another plane crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers revolted against al Quada hi-jackers.

“I thought we would catch him right away,” Kilgour said of bin Laden. “We just never did. Over time, catching him became more of an ideal and more symbolic.”

After studying political science for four years, the death of bin Laden takes on a different meaning than it would have before, he said.

“Politically, it just seems more symbolic and less important in terms of actual change.”