President Barack Obama’s announcement of Osama bin Laden’s death on Sunday night came almost 10 years after Al Qaeda’s attack on Sept. 11, and according to some Boston University professors, his death is only a “symbolic victory” for the United States.
“The death of bin Laden…leaves the real operatives in the group still at large” said Arthur Hulnick, an associate professor of international relations at BU and former officer in the CIA in an email. “They may well try some kind of retaliatory terrorist strike against a U.S. target.”
In address from the White House Sunday night, Obama said bin Laden was killed during an U.S. special forces attack on the terrorist leader’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a large city just an hour’s drive from Islamabad, .
While many see this as a victory for the United States and its allies in the War on Terror, others say that “glory is fleeting.”
“The positive glow from a foreign-policy victory (if that’s what this can be called) is short lived,” said Dean Thomas Fiedler of the College of Communication, a former a political reporter for the Miami Herald.
Fiedler compared Obama’s victory to President George Bush’s “glow of being the liberator of Kuwait,” in 1991 that lasted for a few months after the Persian Gulf War.
“When Saddam Hussein’s army fled Kuwait after being chased out by U.S. and other troops in Operation Desert Storm, public opinion polls showed that nearly 90 percent of all Americans approved of the way President Bush had conducted the war,” he said.
Fiedler noted, however, that Bush senior was defeated for reelection about 18 months later by Bill Clinton, who was just “a little-known outsider” at the time.
“So victory doesn’t get you much credit,” Fiedler said.
Augustus Richard Norton, professor of International Relations and Anthropology at BU said that Bin Laden’s death proves Obama’s worthiness to lead America.
“America’s failure to find OBL (Osama bin Laden) lent stature to Al Qaeda,” Norton said in an email. “The killing of OBL enhances the reputation of Obama as a serious thoughtful President. He is Cool Hand Luke.”
However, Norton said that this will spark attempts for Al Qaeda franchises to retaliate and may influence American diplomatic policy.
“There are big questions about how OBL could live a few hundred meters from the Pakistan Military Academy for five years. This may prompt a wide questioning of U.S. support for Pakistan,” Norton said.
While Norton said he does not see how this will affect the continued fighting in Afghanistan, he expects that the U.S. special operation team that killed Bin Laden also took papers and documents from the compound that could help in American intelligence operations.
“This may open up the chances for more successes against Al Qaeda,” he said.
However Norton said that this does not mean Al Qaeda is going to suddenly vanish, especially if Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Al Qaeda’s second in command who would most likely become leader after bin Laden’s death, is still free.
BU students said that while Bin Laden’s death has spurred patriotism within their classmates, they believe that people should not be celebrating the death of someone.
“I think that the death has led people to be very patriotic or more aware of our troops but I think that people are acting very inappropriately,” said Ariane Rawanduzy, a sophomore in COM. “It is a happy moment but I think people need to be careful what they say.”
“The way the American people are celebrating is demoralizing to the whole thing,” said Henry Wilder concerning Americans reaction to Bin Laden’s death. “Celebrating the death of someone who celebrated death is like celebrating death in general, it’s not really productive.”
Others were optimistic about demonstrations.
“I think it’s a great spur of national pride,” said Andrew Fisher, a first year graduate student in the College of Engineering.
Some BU students wanted to make clear that bin Laden’s death does not mean the end of Al Qaeda.
“I’m really disappointed about the American people… they were concerned more about the person than the actual act,” Wilder, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences said. “Just because you killed Osama doesn’t mean the entire terrorist organization is going to go away.”
Staff writer Alex Nawar contributed to the reporting of this article.
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