It shouldn't surprise anyone today that we're going to talk about one of the largest stories in the media in quite some time - the death of the terrorist mastermind, Osama Bin Laden.
There are as many rumors floating around today as facts about the killing of Bin Laden, so we will guide you today, as always, through the gossip, and directly to the facts.
The group of CIA-led black-ops service members that actually went into Pakistan and completed this mission are people very few will likely ever know the identities of. Yet they deserve our deepest gratitude and thanks for removing a very twisted and evil man from the Earth. The thanks of Americans, and truthfully, people around the world, go out to everyone involved with the military and intelligence operation that removed Bin Laden from this Earth.
For a man who supported some of the most misogynistic strains of fundamentalism on earth, we find it sadly fitting that Bin Laden attempted to use his own wife as a shield in his final moments. Truly, he was a coward to the end.
Bin Laden wasn't just a symbolic leader for many of the world's most dangerous terrorists. He was also a financier for terrorists and causes that spread fear throughout the world. Those organizations and individuals who relied on his blood money may not be totally thrown into financial ruin - but their efforts to cause harm and destruction will likely suffer a severe setback, which we are also glad to see.
There are still a huge number of questions surrounding this event - and while we don't have all the answers, we believe some of those questions can and should be answered now.
Those who believe we simply should have bombed Bin Laden's known location into the stone age with remote control robots - or that we should have outsourced a dangerous operations like this to private contractors - should be silenced by the facts.
There were many reasons for "doing this the old-fashioned way", with human intelligence over a long period of time. For one thing, America has now recovered more high-value intelligence on Al-Qaeda in one highly planned surgical strike than we've ever gathered about Al-Qaeda over their entire existence.
For those who still insist the way our service members disposed of Bin Laden's body was odd, we say better study your Koran. If a body might be dug up or a gravesite defiled - as is likely the case for someone who other terrorists may see as a martyr - that body should be given the proper rites (as the U.S. did), and then be buried at sea. The burial also must happen within twenty-four hours of death.
For those who still defile the Muslim religion by saying Osama Bin Laden was a typical Musilm, we remind them that Bin Laden killed Muslims, Jews, Christians, and people of nearly every other faith, without bias. Most Muslims are glad he is dead. Osama Bin Laden was as much a member of the Muslim faith as the Westboro Baptist Church members are true christians - which is to say, not at all.
There are still a massive amount of things we do not know about this event - and many things we will never know.
For now, we think it's enough to note that this time, no spectacle on a ship, or "Mission Accomplished" banner was needed to tell the American people what we know.
The mission to kill Osama Bin Laden has been completed. As a nation it's time to look to our next task.
