Wish I had some fireworks to celebrate.

I never celebrate a death - but this was a person who really needed to be dead.

This is probably the WORST news I could have awakened to.

If Bin Laden is really dead (and with the body being so quickly disposed of, will we ever know for sure they got the right guy) and with the extent of the publicity on the news--can anyone doubt that our country will be under attack like we've never seen before? This is a sad, sad day for Americans. Hope I'm wrong--but I'm afraid we'll lose many, many innocent lives over this.

Not to challenge you Azzalea, because I most often appreciate your intelligent and informed replies, but our country could not shrink from the pursuit of this evil man because we fear retaliation. "They" will try to do harm to Americans either way.

we should not shrink from eliminating evil--but do we HAVE to make it into such a huge, self-serving propaganda opportunity? By pushing this in the world's face, as is being done on every news outlet, we're absolutely painting targets on the backs of our servicemen, children and other citizens.

I hear you!

***ding dong, the warlock is dead***

While I DO think justice has been served, I, too, admit that my 2nd thought was: oh, no, now what about retribution by the remaining lunatic terrorists and sleeper cells. I also remember my disgust at watching "them" celebrate in the streets after their 9/11 victory . . . now they are seeing us do the same thing.
Again, I think it was deserved; I'm just feeling helpless and worried about those in harm's way.

We already had a target on our back. These people have harmed us and continue to harm us. Thanks to them, we've already lost some of our freedoms. At some time, we have to act. They may retaliate, but they probably would do that anyway regardless.

We needed to bring justice to bin laden. The arab world thinks we are wusses for not taking him out before this. Yes, there will be effort to retaliate. But they have never stopped trying to bomb out the free world. Fear is no reason to just take whatever they dish out. We do not want to be a nation of appeasers.

I think the difference is that bin Laden targeted innocent people, and was absolutely delighted that so many innocent people died. The U.S. military attacked the head of the terrorist organization(bin Laden) that murdered those innocent people, and devoted his life to training others to do so as well. I don't see how the Americans could do anything but go after him. The need for his death was one of the things that Republicans and Democrats both agreed on. As far as attacks from other terrorists- they will rationalize what they do either by saying Americans deserve what they get and are too weak to defend themselves or that they feel the need to retaliate. They will always have an excuse for what they want to do anyway.

A DNA test was done.

I don't know how I feel about this. I'm glad that people are happy but I don't really feel anything. Thousands of our troops have been killed along with many, many, many innocent civilians in the name of hunting this man down. Our country is in a recession, largely due to these two wars that we can't afford. Many of our personal liberties have been stripped away. Racism and hatred towards the middle east is growing while I fear these events may trigger and embolden future terrorists. It feels like the last 10 years have been exactly what he wanted, as much as I hate to say it, by tearing our country apart while making many enemies throughout the rest of the world.

I don't regret that he's dead but I don't think it really changes anything either. Tens of thousands of lives have been lost and terrorism isn't going to stop and it will likely get worse. I suppose this is the definition of a hollow victory for me.

Please, folks - be perceptive.

Do not celebrate this event.

Many muslims who want nothing to do with him and his ilk will none the less take a dim view if you gloat.

ole joyful

joyful - I responded to your other post where you said the same thing. But I'm not getting your point. Frankly, there are extremists in any "cause". There are extremists in passions that I have, and they detract from and give a bad name to otherwise wonderful causes (animal welfare, religion, etc.). So when those extremists are quieted (not killed - not the same thing), I'm happy!

Are you saying that non-extremist Muslims will none-the-less take offense that people are happy that the evil person who contributed to negative feelings toward them (in general, in the world) would take offense at others being happy he's no longer in the picture? What are you suggesting they'll do?

I certainly don't regret his death, but I side more with OJ and azzalea here both of whom stated things well. I don't think this is "justice". Deserved, yes, but let's be real. This is nothing short of revenge and we are now a proven vengeful people.

This holier-than-thou attitude that we can do whatever we want in the world has its limitations. Let's go back to when we captured and contributed to the execution of Sadaam Hussein simply because we disagreed with him. How would you folks feel had "the other side" felt the same way and captured and executed the US President? Certainly the same claims could be made. He too caused the deaths of thousands of innocent people, women and children. Don't wave your Bibles too high in the air. They might get shot out of your hands around the Koran kampfire.

Especially ironic is how we believe in "justice", fair trial, etc. There's been 9/11 people given a trial. He wasn't. I was happy on conviction and though I believe he was behind this, the only proof I have is our government telling me this. Remember Bush told us it was Sadaam Hussein and he went to war against Iraq over it.

Now I do believe that he wouldn't have been taken alive so his death in that respect would be inevitable but to celebrate that we killed him without making it clear it was comparable to a cop assisted suicide is rather stupid in many ways and bound to cause trouble.

I'm probably not making my position too clear and doubtless many will misconstrue my intentions but there's not time to go into great detail. I've hit the highlights.

BTW, certainly I think that we should make it known that if you wrong us, we'll hunt you down like a dog but I think people have to be careful what they celebrate. And be careful about being too hypocritical. And gloating on this is going to cause a lot of problems. And before this becomes too hot a topic, I'll end it here.

I wish we were less about celebrating his death and more about honoring those operatives who got the job done.

Celebrating his death makes the Muslim extremist's job easier. We help keep his name out there. We assist in making him a martyr.

Now they are even selling memorabilia. Sick.

The ideal thing would be to not even speak of him and save our breath for those who lost their lives on 9/11 and the brave men and women who risked and gave their lives after to get the job done.

I agree Wildchild. I had mixed feelings over yesterday's news. Glad he is gone, he didn't deserve those ten years of life he had after 9-11. But, now I feel we've only given the enemy another reason to attack us. It's already affecting my life, indirectly...the exchange students were supposed to go to D.C. in a week or so, now they're having a meeting with parents next week, over whether or not to go because it might be too dangerous. We're allowing the enemy to take away another little piece of our freedom.

I also remember my disgust at watching "them" celebrate in the streets after their 9/11 victory . . . now they are seeing us do the same thing.

I also thought about this, but they really are worlds apart. Those people were celebrating the death of thousands of innocent people, children included.

Our country is celebrating the death of evil, the death of someone who hurt this country very badly. Not many people think of this man as a human being! He is pure evil! He is on the same level as Hitler, pure evil!

of course, that's true, linda . . . but we are rational thinkers . . .

All that I meant was that I felt that for substantial celebrations to take place in the U.S. regarding Osama's death would stir things up among many Muslims, including a large number who want nothing to do with Osama and other terrorists who claim to do their deeds in the name of Islam, contrary to what many Muslims believe, saying that theirs is a peaceable faith.

Better to let the issue pass into history as little remarked as possible.

The second invasion of Iraq was claimed to be to find and destroy weapons of mass destruction, and my understanding was that they were not afraid that Saddam would use them against the U.S., but that a number of the al Qaeda people were sheltering in Iraq, who might.

Quite a number say that Saddam, being a secular ruler, did not allow any al Qaeda people in Iraq that he knew about, for he was sure that, sooner or later, they'd want to dump him and install an Islamic republic.

Later, it was suggested that the U.S. wanted to encourage the growth of democracy in the Arabic/Islamic Middle East.

To which a number of middle-of-the-road Muslims said that, were they serious about that, they could start with their friends who rule in Saudi Arabia, where there are very few indications of democratic principles taking root.

Some of us have felt for years that had the U.S. been more even-handed in the ways that they had dealt with Israel and the Palestinians over the earlier 50 years, that it's probable that those planes would never have hit those towers.

Following the reduction in Soviet power, had the U.S. used the peace dividend to have decreased military spending substantially and offered increased help in many parts of the world for desperately poor people to get on their feet and have a better life, there's a strong possibility that the troublemakers of the world would have found no takers when they said that the impoverished dispossessed should go on a crusasde against West in general, and the United States in particular.

ole joyful