ABCs with A Bradford Corbitt

Osama bin Laden is dead. The country rejoices…and parties in the streets. The first two words that come to my mind when I see the imagery on the news and read the comments of local Lansdale/Montgomery residents are, “Ummmm, yeaaaah.”

I was at Citizen’s Bank Park Sunday night when news of the al Qaeda leader’s death broke and I’ll be the first to admit, I felt happy for the families and friends that lost loved ones on September 11. I was thankful for the effort put forth by the entire US Military that pushed through a tough decade. But then, I just got annoyed by the emphasis put on bin Laden as it relates to our war against terror, and it made me wonder if anybody has even paid attention to the news in the last ten years.

Killing Osama bin Laden is just symbolic at this point. And while Philadelphia will (and should) get coverage for the “USA! USA!” chants erupting in the middle of the Phillies 14-inning marathon, there were a lot of people showing their ugly side.

“They shot him in the head, guys!” Awesome. Hey, little Chris, want some cotton candy now? I’d really be interested in seeing the uncensored comments that couldn’t be posted on Lansdale.patch.com. People complaining that President Obama is “taking too much credit” for the operation and mentions of the trite “Mission Accomplished” just hammer home how little people even understand about what just happened.

I want to make it clear, this doesn’t change ANYTHING! Nothing! At all. The war isn’t ending…Sorry, none of the WARS aren’t ending. We aren’t cutting the defense spending. Troops aren’t coming home. It would behoove the citizens in this area to read some facts and update their brains on what exactly is going on in the world. A decade is really too long to go without reading the news. So many things change in ten years. Shaquille O’Neal has played for four more NBA teams, Simon Cowell left “American Idol,” and Osama bin Laden isn’t the powerhouse of terrorism.

Terrorism works in odd ways, it’s hard to spot, nobody speaks names, and most terrorist don’t know other terrorist. Bin Laden made it easier to understand what terrorism is. But his death doesn’t cripple terrorism; it just puts a big question mark on the face of terrorism.

Americans can unite and perhaps begin to heal a wound that has been open for a long time. Closure does that and America has the right to some closure, finally. However, this does not change our military operations and this does not change our outlook on terrorism. I just wish more people would realize that.