Osama and Obama

Osama bin Laden was killed in a United States military operation in the city of Abbottabad, 100 kilometers north of Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. This is huge news throughout the entire world. In the United States, people celebrated because that country’s troops had killed a major criminal who had been chased with the strength of world war troops.

United States President Barack Obama proclaimed to the world that the death of the much sought-after leader of al-Qaida was a victory for the world over terrorism. And, for the umpteenth time, Obama emphasized that the war against terrorism, particularly against Osama’s network, was not a war against Islam.

Is it true that the world has won the war against terrorism because of the successful killing of this person, Osama bin Laden, who had been hunted for 10 years? The answer is, not yet.

Terrorism is believed to be a new world war. Terrorists appear from time to time. Where one is killed, others arrive. Osama bin Laden became phenomenal because of his ability to generate new cadres extraordinarily fast with the support of personal funds that are also extraordinary.

He succeeded in joining financial resources with social frustration as well as the glory of the struggle of holy war. This is the capability that caused Osama’s admirers to proliferate in various regions of the world, including Indonesia. They considered Osama to be a prominent figure not only of the resistance, but also of an entrancing ideology.

A discussion about Osama cannot be separated from a discussion about the United States, the country that is now led by Obama. There is a strong causal relationship between Obama’s country and Osama.

Osama was a sweet child that was once brought to prominence by America when he armed the people of Afghanistan to combat the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union was successfully driven out, Osama felt abandoned by America such that he changed [sides] to oppose Obama’s nation.

The great rivalry between Osama and Obama’s country then explains the violent actions taken. In the name of [fighting] terrorism, or for the sake of exterminating Osama, Obama’s country justified all violent actions in countries anywhere in the world. And Osama did the same. In the name of hatred toward America, all forms of violence were considered legitimate.

The enmity between Osama and Obama split the world into a severe East-West polarization. This was what caused many people to call terrorism the new world war.

Terrorism is an enemy of the world, principally because terrorism kills innocent people. And yet the world, especially America, truly has not learned from the war against terrorism itself. That is, violence will only spawn violence until we reach doomsday.

Because of that, terrorism must be pursued down to its ultimate trigger. That is, injustice, local or even global, that fuels prolonged frustration.

This is the task of the world, and especially of Obama, who now leads America, which has become the sole leader of the world.