Bin Laden or bin Ladenism?

History, when isolated from our passions and attitudes, tells us that tenacious slaughter for its own sake has consequences beyond the boundaries of the grave and turns into a movement or trend that is difficult to frame. So will the killing of bin Laden and his burial in the waters of the gulf lead to the prosperity of bin Ladenism? Or will a more dangerous man become his killer while they celebrate his death as he lies in the grave?

The reactions of Americans and those who consider themselves bin Laden’s greatest victims are varied. Across television screens, one could hear an American girl with Caucasian or Anglo-Saxon features say that she was sad to see people celebrating that a man died, in spite of all that bin Laden had done in his life and after his death as well!

The historical roots of this phenomenon run deeper and beyond the monitors of computers. People are clusters of very complex emotions. Autopsies are repulsive to our psychological composition, even in the case of organic, legitimate medicine.

We know, for example, that Marxism extended throughout the world after Marx’s death. And despite the fact that he did not murder but assumed a very cruel approach, there were not multiple stories concerning his death as there are now among Arabs who live in Nasiriyah nostalgia. Especially after the departure of Nasser and the arrival of Sadat, Nasserites flourished more then than during Nasser’s lifetime. Death adds halos to icons and frees them from mundane details and opens the door to legendary status. Bin Ladenism may not possess this positive meaning, because the drama and urgency of the media has already made bin Laden’s biography a synonym for terrorism and intimidation.

But unlike us, history does not care about this moral dimension and will therefore not censor what does not conform to the prevailing principles or maintain desired outcomes.

The street outside of bin Laden’s house did not bear his name a day after his death, but the Pakistanis, or at least some of them, have now launched his name on the streets where he was hiding for years.

A member of the U.S. administration advised that the country not overdo the celebration of the killing of bin Laden, because they believed this would contribute to the formulation of a legend and would frame Osama bin Laden as the protagonist in World War III. Samuel Huntington had previously warned America about crafting a new policy called “inventing enemies,” but this process has changed, as America should be wary of the invention of heroes and legends.

A number of observations regarding the death of bin Laden and his burial at sea reveal that the shrewd United States is, in practice, still the weak link in the tragedy. Bin Laden has the gulf for his tomb, while his supporters and guards are in Baghdad. However, there is no tombstone for his grave, and his brother laments, saying that all the earth and its inhabitants are his grave. Therefore, American orientalism now extends throughout Asia.