So.

[altogetherisi]

 This four day weekend is just full of news.

Last night, Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces.

It's stirred a lot of different feelings and thoughts.

Mainly amazement - it's been the best part of 10 years. And there were all those rumours a few years ago that he was fatally ill or even already dead. I guess I got used to the idea that they'd never find him.

Now... Well, realistically, the world is a very different place from ten years ago, and it's not going to revert because one more man has been killed. There are families out there that have been ripped apart by his actions and the reverberations of the consequences of his actions, and I hope they can find a modicum of comfort and closure from this action. 

I suppose I welcome this news. But I can't celebrate it.

Comments

[elixer-of-life.livejournal.com]

I've been feeling really uncomfortable all day watching people rejoice and celebrate his death. No matter what, I cannot support capitol punishment. It's all so...out in the open as well.

Julia Gillard, our PM, just said on the news "I welcome the death of Osama bin Laden." It just makes me so uncomfortable.

[ebonystar.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to see at least a couple of people on my flist who share my thoughts on this. The glee (there can be no other word for it) that has met this news is mind-boggling. Just as with the coverage of Saddam Hussein's execution, there's something about how this is handled, or the reaction to it, that leaves me deeply unsettled.

[hanelissar.livejournal.com]

I am hugely uncomfortable with it.

I can't be sad that he's dead, because he was a terrible human being who did monstrous things, but as I was saying to my flatmate earlier, I'm not a believer in an eye-for-an-eye and I am against capital punishment in all forms. I'd much rather they'd taken him prisoner and then locked him up and thrown away the key. I realise this is impractical - killing someone is muich easier than capturing them, and if he was in prison I'm sure all sorts of terrible things would be done in the name of getting him out so perhaps from a governmental perspective it was the right choice to make. I'm glad I didn't have to make the choice. But I'm still not entirely happy with it. I think there's something very wrong about celebrating death - it reminds me all too much of how much Al Qaeda was celebrating after 11th September.

So basically, you're not alone!
xx

[branquignole.livejournal.com]

I don't think celebrating is The Thing to Do right now. I mean, sure, I'm definitely glad he's dead, but well... it doesn't really seem right to whip the party hats out. It seems to me that people think that now that he's dead, all of the problems that could possibly exist in this world are just going to evaporate.