I am becoming increasingly annoyed at the criticisms of the response to the assassination of Osama from the Left. Some people are self-righteously asserting that we shouldn't celebrate his demise. (As if it's wrong to cheer for assassination. Well, it isn't. Not in this case, anyway. What's wrong - in my estimation - is to tell people they shouldn't feel what they are feeling. More about this below.) Others are suggesting the whole thing is a vast hoax. What nobody seems to have done is to observe how the American people responded as the news broke.
What I saw happening on Sunday night really amazed me. The announcement came at 11:30, although we knew well before that that Osama had been killed. Within minutes there were people gathering outside the White House to celebrate. Soon there were also people at Ground Zero. I understand there were similar gatherings in other cities. The news kept cutting back to the White House as the crowds swelled until the people filled Lafayette park. I actually got goosebumps as they chanted U-S-A! U-S-A! I felt like chanting as well - not for triumphalism, but relief. What occurred to me as I watched, and apparently hasn't occurred to anyone else, is that the shock of 9/11 had affected us more deeply than anyone really had imagined and these gatherings, while celebrating his assassination, were also celebrating what can be called the end of an era. They were a huge cathartic release of pent-up deeply-buried emotion. For almost 10 full years the US has been a country that (I feel ) people really didn't feel comfortable with, didn't feel was right. A country that no longer lived for its ideals, but instead embraced the worst practices of its enemies to defend itself. I feel that these celebrants realized that era was ending and they were happy to see it go. Maybe now we can return to the US many of us can believe in again. U-S-A! U-S-A! indeed.