Terrorism

The Mission To Get Bin Laden, In The New Yorker

Terrorism / By

The nine other SEALs, including Mark, formed three-man units for clearing the inner courtyard. The Americans suspected that several more men were in the house: Kuwaiti’s thirty-three-year-old brother, Abrar; bin Laden’s sons Hamza and Khalid; and bin Laden himself. One SEAL unit had no sooner trod on the paved patio at the house’s front entrance when Abrar—a stocky, mustachioed man in a cream-colored shalwar kameez—appeared with an AK-47. He was shot in the chest and killed, as was his wife, Bushra, who was standing, unarmed, beside him.

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Who Won Here?

Terrorism / By

There are those who keep repeating that Osama Bin Laden’s death is essentially meaningless. They are right in the respect that terror organizations like AQ are organized in decentralized cells. So leadership becomes local on the tactical level. One the other hand you have to remember this about war. If there is one person responsible for a devastating attack, one vainglorious sacrosanct leader who hits you over the head with it like a ball peen hammer and helps to create fear and dissent, and if you believe that ultimately military force is necessary, then there is something to celebrate in this. Bold attacks beget bold counter attacks. They took their time and were tenacious. We took our time and were tenacious. As Ron White might put it, you kill us, we’ll kill ya’ right back.

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