New Jersey Reacts: Osama bin Laden Dead

UPDATED: 8:35 p.m.. Monday:

Despite the late hour, the news of Osama bin Laden's death spread rapidly across New Jersey Sunday evening.

"I feel good for the families of his victims," said Greg Boyle, who pastors Unconditional Love and Christian Fellowship church in West Orange. "They suffer still, let's never stop praying for and showing them our love." 

Reaction was swift and almost universal: Exultation that one of the United States' most elusive foes was dead, and dead as a result of U.S. action.

"This is a huge win against the war on terror, but its far from over!" said Davita Cross-Waiters, from West Orange. "Very proud to be an American, God bless the U.S. Military and our president!" 

“The death (of Osama Bin Laden) is important, but largely symbolic,” said West Orange resident, and decorated Vietnam veteran Gary Englert. “The proof is in the pudding with regard with what we’re doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since we’ve been prosecuting (al-Qaeda), there have been no airliners flying into buildings in the U.S. Military operations have crippled al-Qaeda, in not put them out of business.”

Retired Brig. Gen. John Marshall III of the New Jersey Army Air National Guard concurred saying, “I believe this was a tremendous strike at terror that he (bin Laden) laid throughout the world.”

“When one looks at the terror he caused with the (U.S.S.) Cole, in Somalia and in the Sudan, the world’s a better place without him,” Marshall said. “The world today may be safer (without him), but we still need to practice vigilance.”

Each man saw closure to the families of the terror attacks or soldiers in the war on terror differently.

Englert said there can never be closure to those families.

“I don’t know if this heals wounds for any of these people. They’ve lost loved ones that are never going to be back, so there’s never closure.

Marshall said, “As far as families feeling safer, I imagine in some ways this is closure. But this (bin Laden death) will never bring these people back. They’ll never be with their families again.” 

West Orange resident Deborah Calimano, who was instrumental in bringing Essex County’s 9/11 flight crew memorial to the Eagle Rock Reservation, said Monday night she is “unsure, but I think a bit – a little – unsure” if the country was a bit more secure following bin Laden’s death.

“The military did it’s job,” she said, adding “they found a murderer, killed a fiend. Are we safer? Yeah. We have amazing security in this country. We have our guard up. “

She said in an airline accident, officials figure out why it happened, make the corrections and fix it.

“Crew members are much more vigilant,” Calimano, a Continental Airlines flight attendant, said.

“We speak with air marshals all the time,” she said. They say we’re smart and we’re vigilant and we’re doing a great job, she explained.

She feels it is a good thing that happened to bin Laden because “we’re telling bad people we’re not giving up until we achieve our goals. We’re dealing with outrageous people, “ she said, “but they’ve learned you’d better not mess with the USA.”

Calimano believes the flight attendants who perished on that day never had any clue what was happening to them. “They probably thought the plane was being hijacked,” she said. 

In an extraordinary address, President Obama interrupted almost every U.S. TV channel to announce the news.

While he did not provide details, he said that the U.S. has been tracking bin Laden for months and finally located him in a residence in Pakistan. After a firefight, the president said, bin Laden was killed, with no loss of U.S. lives. 

Governor Chris Christie issued a statement early Monday morning reacting to the news of bin Laden's death. "There is hardly a life that has gone untouched in New Jersey by the horrifying assault on American soil that took place on September 11th and today, after years of waiting, justice has finally been delivered."

He added, "While our fight against terrorism continues, Osama bin Laden's reign of terror has come to an end, sending a clear signal that even in the face of immeasurable horror, democracy and freedom continue to prevail."

Sen. Robert Menendez issued a statement, praising U.S. efforts in bringing the 9/11 mastermind to justice.

"Although Osama Bin Laden’s demise will not end terrorist threats, his death is a significant blow to the leadership of the al-Qaeda organization and sends the message that the U.S. will find, destroy and dismantle al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations that seek to threaten the United States and its citizens at home or abroad," he said early Monday.

Adding his voice to the chorus of officials who have reacted to the news this evening was Sen. Frank Lautenberg. He issued a statement, saying, "People across the civilized world will have great satisfaction and relief with news of the death of Osama bin Laden, one of the worst killers in the history of man."

“This is the news the nation has waited for nearly 10 years to hear,” said Rep.William Pascrell, an original member of the House Homeland Security Committee who travelled to Afghanistan in March to meet with U.S. troops and military leaders.

He continued, “My heart goes out to the families of those who have lost loved ones on 9-11-01: The firefighters, the police, the EMTs who bravely ran toward the danger. There's no way to bring them back. But we must feel the satisfaction of Bin Laden’s demise. He was a common criminal that did very uncommon things. We owe a huge debt of thanks to our special forces who accomplished so much through this mission. And we will never forget the tragedy of that horrible day, and we will remain vigilant to make sure our nation never endures such an attack again.”

David S. Lee, 37, of West Orange, was killed in the World Trade Centers on September 11, 2001. 

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[Editor's note: This story first published May 2 at 12:08 a.m.]