Just some perspective amid the frenzy over symbolic victories.
War in Iraq
Estimated cost: $806,000,000,000+, Coalition Deaths: 4,770, Estimated Civilian Deaths: 98,380–107,369.
War in Afghanistan
Estimated cost: $444,000,000,000+, Coalition Deaths: 2,441, Estimated Civilian Deaths: 14,000-34,000.
- mothernaturesbum
"I was a cavalry scout in the army and served in Iraq for a year and I don't think any death is something to celebrate."
- sqdrn
"It's a Pyrrhic victory. Look at everything we've lost--billions of dollars, thousands of lives (American soldiers & innocent civilians abroad), and a healthy chunk of our freedoms. It's hard for me to watch the news coverage of people so jubilantly and single-mindedly celebrating this without any discerning reflection or any sense of bitter perspective."
- bartleby
"I wouldn't mind celebrating his death if it brought back the lives of the other people who have died because of things connected to this. All of them. The Iraqis, Afghanis, Americans, and everyone else.
But that's not going to happen, so I don't see anything to celebrate. This is political grandstanding, but it's "our guy" doing it so we're going to let it go. It's not worth getting upset about, and even if you did, the "patriot" types wouldn't understand.
So we gonna hold BP responsible? Hows Egypt doing? Japan? Well since we cant fix that, hey, we got some dead guy. After a decade. And billions of dollars. And Cheney/Bush. And the TSA. And and and.
Naw. I ain't celebrating. Not now."
- roughwaterahead
"In all honesty, I just think it's unfortunate that he was killed before being given a fair trial. Symbolically, it would have been hugely significant to give him a fair trial and hold him accountable for his actions, instead of using the same violent force on him that he used on America.
If the world wants to condemn violence, it should do so consistently. I think what he did was horrific and I'm glad there's one less person causing harm in the world, I guess - I just wish that he had experienced formal justice first."
- GingeraleNoodles
"What disturbs me (from watching Al-Jazeera for the last hour) is seeing all the people chanting "We won!" and "It's over!".
I can't get my head around what they think is over, or what they won. Al-qaeda is not dead, and fundamentalist terrorism is not over. No troops will be called back home because of this, the military budget will not be decreased, and the Patriot Act will not be repealed. I feel like I'm watching people celebrating a sports game.
The idea that so many of those people may be as misinformed as I perceive them to be from the images shown on TV deeply disturbs me."
- rolmos
"If you hadn't heard the news and simply tuned in to any TV station, you'd think America just won the World Cup. The celebration is rather morbid. We should be quietly reflecting upon the significance of this event, instead of jumping for joy and celebrating our bloodlust revenge. This is just one step short of dragging his body through the streets so everyone can take a whack.
There are going to be massive reprisals from the extreme terrorists hiding amongst us. Kiss the few remaining freedoms we have goodbye."
- Zoshchenko