Bin Laden death - End injustice to make world safer
The first aircraft in that awful attack, bound from Boston to Los Angeles, with 81 passengers and 11 crew, was crashed into one of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre as it carried 10,000 gallons of high-octane fuel. One of the passengers was Patrick Currivan from Dublin.
Less than half-an-hour later, a second aircraft, also bound from Boston to Los Angeles, with 56 passengers and nine crew, crashed into the other tower. Among the passengers murdered on that flight were Ruth McCourt from Cork and her four-year old daughter Juliana. Her brother Ronnie was working in the Twin Towers at the time but he fortunately managed to escape.
In scenes that will never be forgotten, the Twin Towers came crashing down, killing not only workers trapped in the building but also 341 firefighters, 60 police and 10 paramedics. The total loss of life at the World Trade Centre was 2,752 people.
A third aircraft bound from Washington DC to Los Angeles crashed into the Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia, killing 125 people on the ground and all 64 passengers and crew. The fourth hijacked aircraft, bound from Newark to San Francisco, crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, when passengers tried to regain control of their flight. All 45 people onboard perished.
The death toll in the four incidents was 2,996. They included nationals from more than 70 counties, including at least eight Irish people, along with scores of Irish-American police and firemen.
Those responsible for these outrages attacked totally innocent people who were simply going about their daily business.
With that in mind there will be very little sympathy for Osama bin Laden and the fate that has befallen him.
Speaking of the killing, President Barack Obama suggested the killing had reminded the American people that they “can do whatever we set our mind to”.
On Sunday night he went on: “That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place. Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are,” Mr Obama continued.
He was also at pains to reaffirm that the US is not war with Islam. “I’ve made it clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam.”
Bin Laden had, of course, been at the top of the Most Wanted List in the US during the past decade.
“Do you want bin Laden dead?” a reporter asked President George W Bush six days after 9/11. “I want him — I want justice,” Mr Bush answered. “And there’s an old poster out West, as I recall, that said, ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive’.”
Bin Laden’s “demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace with human dignity,” President Obama also stressed on Sunday night. “And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al-Qaida’s terror: Justice has been done.”
What President Obama did not address was why bin Laden was not brought before a court of justice to answer his crimes and whether or not this would have better served the pursuit of the safer world he often refers to.
Unfortunately President Obama’s words actually carried a worryingly triumphalist air that will do little to ensure his country, or for that matter, the rest of the world, becomes a safer place.
There is little doubt that the US and its people continue to and have in the past made huge sacrifices in pursuit of a safer world but the country’s history also reminds us of many tragic mistakes that were to prove costly for millions abroad, especially in Vietnam and Chile.
We should forget those mistakes at our own peril.
Evil and misguided people, like Osama bin Laden, will always be able to exploit the anger and evil that can be born in ordinary decent human beings who are afflicted by hunger, poverty, injustice, and repression.
It is these wrongs in our society — our world — that must be considered by President Obama and other leaders throughout the world if we really want to live in a safer world devoid of the fundamental and dangerous mentality seen in men like Osama bin Laden and organisations like al-Qaida.
