The Death of bin Laden

Special forces from the U.S. executed Osama bin Laden on the outskirts of Islamabad, in Pakistan. It was the foreseeable end for a man who opted for violence and relied on terror to enforce his ideas. Democrats around the world would have preferred to see him seated on the defendant’s chair in court. If it had happened that way, at least democracy would have shown its moral superiority over those who are capable of anything to destroy it.

Barack Obama and his security advisers decided to follow another route, one much closer to the one trodden for more than two decades by the Saudi millionaire, transformed into a bloody soldier of a cruel holy war. The 21st century cannot continue to be the stage for ancient crusades of the West against the “infidels.” The Christian world does not need to rescue neither the Holy Sepulcher nor the followers of Islam who claim the right to impose its ideas, its principles and its doctrine to the entire world.

Times today are of globalization. Even though they weren’t during the time of the Crusades, it was proven that no one had sufficient force to impose their religion or their truth. And it’s equally proven that humanity received a lot from the civilizations that emanated from Arabia, just as much as it benefitted from Western Civilizations – which had their birth in Muslim territory. Peace and justice are intrinsic values of all religions and flags of all civilizations. The human race welcomes all ideas, all religions and all truths. Whoever wants to impose religious or systematic hegemony above all others is condemned to fail.

In the last two decades, radical groups that committed heinous and barbarically violent crimes arose in the name of Islam. In the name of the fight against terrorism emerged Western powers that imitated their adversaries. In many cases they were able to be even more violent and commit the unthinkable: serious crimes against human life. Islamic fundamentalism is the terrible face of a coin that has on its other “face” the irrationality of a war with no particular motive, like what has happened in Iraq since the beginning of the ‘90s, or now in Libya. And I speak of only these two countries for obvious reasons.

Saddam Hussein was the hero of the war against Islamic fundamentalism that blew through Iran. He was the best ally of the West in that battle and he received all support from the Western powers, including biological arms. Moammar Gadhafi was one of the world leaders who contributed the most to the fight against terrorism, helping to dismantle fundamentalist groups willing to do anything. He even gave precious help to tackle the Iraq of Saddam Hussein. Well, the United States hung Saddam. Now they have killed a son and the grandchildren of Muammar Gaddafi in order to “protect civilians.” They killed an unarmed bin Laden, threw his body out to sea and incited hatred in Islamists, many of whom believe that bin Laden was a god in the holy war against the West. Ultimately, the fundamentalists resort to lunatic violent acts and the U.S. responds with cruelty and violence, leaving no space for peace, democracy or justice.

Retaliated provocations are a result of Washington’s provocations to the Islamic world. All of this can only have one objective: to always keep the fire of war boiling. Violence only generates violence. The logic of eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth is installed in the world as if we have taken a step back into the past. No one extends his or her hand to anyone. No one makes a plea to dialogue and peace. Yet, it seems that everyone understands each other, even in the midst of all this violence and taunting.

Apparently no one wants to stop to think and reflect. Millions of Muslims throughout the world glorify Osama bin Laden and swear to avenge his death. In the West, we see political leaders who declare happiness for the death of another human being that had come from the “good,” from “this side,” when rendering significant services as a CIA agent in the battle against Soviet Communism.

Compared with so many signs of warlords, I feel more and more grateful for Jonas Savimbi’s followers who have had the courage to abandon arms and repudiate violence. Also in this respect, Angola has given a great lesson to the world that Western and Islamist political leaders should follow. Peace is a virtue that should motivate everyone, regardless of religious creed, of political options and of the ambitions of each one of us. But this violent spiral that is sweeping the world shows that there are fewer and fewer defenders of peace and universal concord. The business of war, apparently, is the best way out of this crisis.