On May 3, President Obama announced to the American people that the mastermind of 9/11, Osama bin Laden, was killed at his highly secure home in Pakistan and his identity was confirmed via testing by DNA extracted from his body. In order to prevent bin Laden from being viewed as a martyr and his grave a holy land, the U.S. employed a well thought out strategy in scattering his ashes in the sea.
After Obama’s announcement was televised, tens of thousands of people gathered in Times Square, Manhattan, joyfully celebrating. The same thing happened on the lawn outside the White House. While America had grounds to celebrate, such passionate excitement was still too much. Throughout history, the message of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth has been considered a maxim beyond reproach, let alone the fact that more than 3,000 people were killed in the explosions at the World Trade Center. In the minds of the American people, the score is now even.
Needless to mention that it’s been 10 years since 9/11 happened, and over these past years, in order to capture terrorists from Iran to Syria, and from Egypt to Libya, the U.S sent out countless elite troops, wasted countless national resources and sacrificed countless lives of youths. Why? Just for revenge? Not really.
The real reason is fairly simple; one of the most pressing American national interests is to ensure the sufficiency of its oil resources. However, there combined energy supply of Texas, Louisiana and Alaska are insufficient. Last year alone, the U.S. imported 9.16 million barrels of oil every day. Multiply that by the figure of 53 gallons per barrel. With such massive consumption levels, the question of how much energy is actually wasted remains to be answered.
Most of the oil imported by the U.S. is from Saudi Arabia. And bin Laden was from a respected family related to the royal family. Arab names are long and complex, in fact, bin Laden was only his surname, his full name is Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden.
It is obvious how wealthy Osama’s family was by looking at his father’s story. His father, Mohammed bin Laden, owned private jets and frequently travelled back and forth between the U.S and Europe. In 1967, his father died in a plane crash in Saudi Arabia after his American pilot made a mistake on the runway. In 1988, his elder brother Salem flew his own jet and accidentally ran into an electricity pylon in Texas, which caused his death.
Born to a rich family, young Osama bin Laden went to a famous royal school al-Thager in Saudi Arabia. He was married at the age of 17, but his wife Najwa Ghanem found his behavior abnormal and actively filed for a divorce 25 years later. After that, 9/11 happened, his plot to hijack two planes in order to attack the World Trade Center.
Most people must have forgotten that on the day of Sept.11, 2001, Osama bin Laden, along with 19 Islamic enthusiasts, hijacked not one but four commercial planes.
Two of them ran into the twin towers, causing 246 passengers to die in the fire. Also, two planes flew to Washington, D.C. and targeted the White House as well as the Pentagon. One of the planes collided with the Pentagon building, resulting in casualties of 25 officers and employees. Another one crashed in a farm field at Shanksville, a small town in Pennsylvania.
Last Thursday, on May 5, was Obama’s first visit to ground zero in downtown New York City. He also invited former president George W Bush, who attended the 10th anniversary memorial instead. Having been courteously rejected, the White House decided not to release any photos of Obama’s visit.
The American people should consider two issues after the crazy celebration on May 5. The first is that while to 300 million Americans, Osama was the leader of terrorists, but to 1.5 billion Islamic believers, he was the only free warrior who defended Allah. This is why in New York President Obama only addressed counterterrorism without relating it to the religion of Islam at large.
Secondly, but more importantly, does it mean that there will be no successor to Osama after he was killed by U.S Navy Seals? Surely the answer is no. Even though Osama died, it also increased the hatred of successors who now possess a stronger will to fight back. Endless followers will step into his bloody footsteps to become Osama number two.
The British paper, the Daily Telegraph, an authority on affairs in the Middle East, has listed potential successors for Osama bin Laden; the first is Ayman al-Zawahiri, an ophthalmologist. The second is Abu Yahya al-Libi, the al-Qaida commander of operations in Afghanistan. The third is Khalid al-Habib, currently in a position of field commander of the al-Qaida armed forces in Afghanistan. This list includes more than 10 people, who all have a great chance of taking up the leadership position.
Do not forget — even though Osama was born rich, he fought for his reputation in the name of anti-America values. So far Islamic extremists do not yet have a strict and well-run organization, nor a leader with gifted intelligence. It is not an easy job for the ones who are willing to take Osama’s position to shake this big tree of America.
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