U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy Will Not Change

Osama bin Laden’s death caused a sensation around the world. After President Barack Obama gave a speech confirming bin Laden’s death, Americans took to the streets and celebrated, especially near the White House. From this perspective, bin Laden’s death is an extraordinary performance according to the American people and the Obama administration. Moreover, it is a huge comfort to the American people. For this reason, Obama frequently emphasized that the attacks on Sept. 11 created a time of grief for many families. Therefore, ever since Sept. 11, 2001, killing bin Laden has always been an important goal for the U.S.

When the fight originated against al-Qaida, the American government had two main goals: first, to capture and kill bin Laden; second, to destroy al-Qaida’s network. Nearly 10 years after Sept. 11, 2001, the first goal was accomplished. But the American government still has a long way to go before it reaches its second goal. In this view, killing bin Laden is extremely good news for the American people and the government. This is especially important since the U.S. is holding general elections next year. Obama’s approval ratings were consistently dropping recently, but the death of bin Laden has greatly boosted Obama’s approval ratings.

This is just one aspect. There is another aspect that we need to consider more objectively. Killing bin Laden is America’s way of proving once again that it is a great country, or rather, a vindictive country. In other words, no one can violate America’s interests, whether an organization or a country.

From this other perspective we see that America has been fighting terrorism for the past 10 years, but not only has it not achieved its second goal (destroying al-Qaida’s network), but the al-Qaida network has been expanding. This touches upon an important question: How much influence does killing bin Laden have on America’s counterterrorism strategy? An explanation is in order.

As the mastermind of terrorist activities, bin Laden has already accomplished his mission. The Sept. 11 attacks were a symbolic event. Later, bin Laden used videos, recordings and speeches to say that even though his real significance had declined, his spiritual significance as a symbol was much more important. Therefore, bin Laden believed that he was more important dead than alive.

America has pursued counterterrorism strategies for 10 years, and support for al-Qaida’s activities has extended from Southern Asia to four regions, including Southern Asia, Iraq, the Arabian peninsula (mainly Yemen), Northern Africa and Somalia. It seems that America’s mission to destroy al-Qaida’s network remains incapable of being accomplished. Furthermore, it has been bogged down by war in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, the forces fighting against NATO are not al-Qaida but the Taliban. In Pakistan, the Taliban’s threat to the country is probably just as strong as al-Qaida’s threat to America and the West.

We have also seen that recently, America’s most wanted terrorist has changed from bin Laden to an American terrorist, a man hiding in Yemen named Anwar al-Awlaki. America already assessed that this man’s threat to America surpassed that of Osama bin Laden. Therefore, from last year until the beginning of this year, there have been a few terrorist threats, including the Christmas bomb threat and a few bomb threats at Times Square in New York. These threats are not planned or organized by bin Laden, but by a man closely related to the U.S. — Anwar al-Awlaki (an American citizen). Awlaki has planned these events in Yemen, working with a terrorist group related to al-Qaida. America is also offering a reward for another threat, a man in Pakistan who leads the Islam Jihad Union, whose name is Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri. His reward is just as high as bin Laden’s reward was. Therefore, when we consider these facts, it is clear that bin Laden’s death is not going to cause any great changes or adjustments in America’s counterterrorism strategy. That’s because in America, the threat of terrorism is not decreasing but gradually increasing, whether on its own soil or abroad.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano both mentioned that the threat of terrorism on American soil is constantly rising. For this reason, the U.S. especially adjusted its terrorism threat level warning system. It originally had five terror-alert levels; now it has been changed to two alert levels. In this way, the system is more practical and effective. It has also shown that the threat of terrorism against the U.S. — whether on American soil or abroad — has never lowered. For this reason, America will never be able to change its counterterrorism strategy.