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Osama Bin Laden is dead.
Osama Bin Laden is dead.
He was taken out by a team of Navy Seals with Pakistani support. He was living in a mansion in a large wealthy area of Pakistan.
As my ani friend, who's former military says: "This is HUGE."
Obama's speech was brilliant.
One CNN correspondent says, "The war on terror is over."
I wish could be down there by the crowds in DC right now. People are pouring out into the streets --hundreds of themm--to wave flags and cheer outside the White House, largely students from George Washington University and tourists.
One chant: "Obama got Osama!"
He was taken out by a team of Navy Seals with Pakistani support. He was living in a mansion in a large wealthy area of Pakistan.
As my ani friend, who's former military says: "This is HUGE."
Obama's speech was brilliant.
One CNN correspondent says, "The war on terror is over."
I wish could be down there by the crowds in DC right now. People are pouring out into the streets --hundreds of themm--to wave flags and cheer outside the White House, largely students from George Washington University and tourists.
One chant: "Obama got Osama!"
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Bollocks. His death won't change a thing. Hope springs eternal.
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Ah. German.
For the Americans it changes a great deal. More than you realize.
But I can see why to someone who's not American, it would be rather abstract. Rather like the British jubilation over "winning" the Falkland Islands back in the 80s. The rest of the world went "Huh?"
The death of Osama Bin Laden touches on things like the American narrative, the foundations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the argument for perpetual war, Obama's presidency and the coming 2012 election battle, the promises made in 2008, the future of things like health care reform, and the foundations of the growing power of the Tea Party movement.
This is a watershed event that shifts the direction the US was headed.
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I'll explain point one, and then if you want anything more, let me know.
1) Countries have a "national narrative." This national narrative has nothing to do with reality but has to do with image and how citizens respond to that image. That image is formed by history and explaining the country's history to itself. The narrative is often unexamined, and absurd, but politicians have to reference that image to get support.
For example, for India, exploding a thermonuclear device was a demonstration of independence, proof that they weren't a third world nation, an extension of the narrative of Nehru's modern India, where education Science, with a capital "S," will bring them into the global community as equals, and a refutation of the British Empire's view of Indian men as emasculated and weak.
It's easier to see another nation's image than one's own, but I'll try.
The US narrative is one of being the good guy (often a Christian good guy in some sectors of the country), bringing freedom and righting wrongs; the underdog colony that stood up to the big bad British, won, and set an example for the world to follow. The place where there's the opportunity for the rugged individualist to pull oneself up by ones own bootstraps and succeed against all odds.
There's more, but you can see how this image plays out in the portrayals of WWII, fighting the spread of "evil communism" throughout the cold war, the popularity of Reagan's "cowboy diplomacy" in the 80s, the popularity of saving people in Bosnia, etc.
Along comes 9/11. Three planes put a big dent in that image. If America's the good guy, how come these folks hate us? That takes a little examination, and is too complicated to fit with a national narrative.
The Iraq war only squares with the mythology with those people who are fooled into thinking Iraq has anything to do with the bombing. But in the cowboy narrative of the US (there are other narratives, of course), no one can argue with the rugged American going after the bad guy, Osama Bin Laden. Even the anti-war people.
But. Not being about to get the bad guy year after year after year tarnished the hero image still further.
The reality of the sheer unlikelihood of getting one man sank in, and added to the general public depression and malaise, where people felt powerless in the face of corporate money attacking unions, powerless in the face of recession, powerless in the face of relentless racism.
Now. Obama's "Yes, we can!" campaign in 2008 tied neatly in the national narrative -- namely, the land of opportunity and limitless possibility. The rugged American who can succeed against all odds. But it seemed he was failing left and right.
And then the impossible: we actually got the bad guy.
The national narrative has been righted. With a footnote,:"It may take a long time and a lot of effort." Obama's presidency is seen in a new light: "Yes, we can, but it takes more than just four years."
The entire national narrative has changed, adding a note of patience and determination, where before there was more of an image of overnight success, because "we're number one!"
This is why people have been celebrating for two days. There's a new found hope that we can get through a lot of national problems with more patience and determined effort.
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Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so off. It is a very good explanation of the situation. I still find it hard to believe that people are so over the moon about one guy getting killed, especially considering that I don't think his death will make a difference in the greater scheme of things. But if it makes people feel better, why not. :-)
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