Last week the United States celebrated a huge victory in the current war against terrorist group Al-Qaeda. There has been little else in the news all across the nation. As a member of the military, hearing the news that Osama bin Laden has finally been killed means a multitude of emotions. Much like the victims of the 9/11 attacks, the news became bittersweet. Justice has finally been served for all those people that were killed so tragically. However, even though bin Laden was the mastermind behind the attacks and the leader of Al-Qaeda, his death does not mean the end of the wars.
There are so many other factors in this war that I fear many Americans may not be aware of due to the lack of substantial coverage on the news. National news filters the war and many firefights and deaths are not reported. Osama bin Laden was the figurehead leader of Al-Qaeda, but Al-Qaeda has many other leaders and there were several clues that more terror attacks on American were in the planning stages at bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan. Al-Qaeda is still a threat to the United States, and troops overseas now are in as much danger now as they ever were during a deployment. The biggest fear right now is a retaliation attack on U.S. forces overseas, or even on our homeland. America is on guard, but we as a country have bonded together once again. The death of Osama bin Laden has also raised our hopes for the end of the war, but we must keep our guard up and not get complacent. We have gone this far, now we must see this war all the way through until it is safe enough that all of our troops can come home safely.
