It is certainly good news that the U.S. finally found and killed Osama Bin Laden. His messianic decision to change history by attacking the U.S. and the West to establish a new Islamist Caliphate has caused enormous pain and suffering in the world, mostly in the Islamic world.
But, I don't feel a great joy at the event. I feel more sad than elated. Sad that we live in a world where the death of someone is a good thing. Certainly, Bin Laden is gone now as a strategist and leader of the Islamist jihad against the West, and that is good. But, he will likely be viewed as a martyr by those who have dedicated their lives to bloody jihad, and I expect that they will continue their lethal fanaticism.
In a way, I think that the Arab Spring of revolutions across the Middle East is doing more to marginalize Al Quaeda than even Bin Laden's death. The issue in the Arab world today is not the desire to drive out the infidels, but rather to drive out the corrupt tyrants that have been terrorizing their subjects for decades, even centuries. I expect that those in the Islamic world who are bloody jihadists will want to use Bin Laden's death as a reason for revenge against the West, and the rest, who are the vast majority I believe, will note it in passing and return to the real work at hand for them - freedom.
