Obama and the Death of bin Laden

In journalism a “news bomb” is one that suddenly erupts, without warning, and catches the interest of everyone around the world. This is what happened last Sunday when the death of the leader of the terrorist group al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden, was announced.

First came a rumor about the White House announcement in Washington and, shortly thereafter, one about a speech by President Barack Obama. The head of the White House said “we have him,” and it was about Osama bin Laden.

He was the man who led the unfair, absurd and provocative attacks on the Twin Towers, or the World Trade Center, as it was referred to by all corners of the city of New York.

Billions of dollars in material losses were absolutely unjustified, but even worse were the violent deaths of some three thousand people. A horrible insult to the people of New York and, even more so, to the people of the United States.

I was on a call with CNN when it transmitted the first plane crash into the north tower; in that instant I saw the second plane approach and the immediate explosion. My spirit was overtaken with shock and certainty that the first plane did not hit accidentally but was a planned action. At the time, we did not know who to attribute it to.

Moments later we assumed that an event like this could only be executed by Muslim organizations. Minutes later came the story that the attack was the responsibility of al-Qaida and its leader Osama bin Laden, a man from Saudi Arabia who fought against the Russians in Afghanistan and was encouraged and trained by the CIA.

New York fell into a kind of terror and fear. It was considered a metropolis, one that would never be exposed to such a horrible action; such actions could occur anywhere else in the world but there.

Checkpoints at airports, the permanent surveillance of pictures related to terrorism and the horrible fear of reactions from the U.S. government seemed sufficient to trust that nothing would happen. But the truth is the truth, and it did not occur like that. That day everything collapsed, everything fell apart.

Then began the hunt for global terrorism where all corners of the earth were shaken, and for 10 years nothing happened.

Al-Qaida strutted, threatened and acted — the same as U.S. intelligence. Then in March 2004 there was the attack against the subway in Madrid, and then the one on the London Underground, and they seemed unbeatable.

They didn’t wait for war; President Bush announced at ground zero that those responsible would be hunted down.

Immediately after, he announced his actions in Afghanistan, the cradle of international terrorism, and later the war in Iraq.

Time passed and Bush was re-elected and finished his presidency. And so Obama presented his proposal of “change” — change that bewitched the youth and the American people, convincingly winning the Democratic convention and the presidency of that powerful country.

Time kept on going, and people forgot about bin Laden and 9/11; it was conjectured that President Obama was indecisive, that he did not act with energy and people even questioned his nationality and bravery. It seemed that the rise of conservatism staged by the tea party was justified.

That is, until last Sunday when a group of Navy SEALs broke into a residence near a military base in Pakistan and, lo and behold, there was an unconcerned Osama bin Laden with his family. There ended the history of the terrorist mastermind of 9/11, fulfilling the adage that what is always watched is always caught.

There was a loud commotion in the world about the death of bin Laden, although there are discrepancies as to how it occurred. Osama no longer exists and the world goes on; Obama won against Osama and all his critics.

That is history.