After bin Laden's death, what next?

Crowds celebrate outside the White House early Monday.

There's no way I can avoid addressing the topic that's on the minds and lips of people everywhere  President Obama's dignified announcement Sunday night that U.S. special forces had hunted down and killed Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 slaughter and the inspiration for other deadly attacks and foiled plots around the world.

After ten years of trying, the news that we'd finally caught up to him and taken him out seemed surrealistic, almost too good to be true. I say that not in a bloodthirsty tone but from the perspective of appreciating the precision, the discipline, the astounding intelligence and execution required to pull it off -- all without the loss of an American life.

A few thoughts:

Will 5/1 be remembered in the same way as 9/11?
I doubt it, though I imagine millions of Americans will remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they learned of Osama's demise on May 1, 2011.

Will we see retaliation in one form or another?
No surprise that U.S. embassies were put on high alert and U.S. airport security tightened yet again in the aftermath. I don't expect we'll see attempts at revenge in the next days or even months. My sense is that al-Qaida is patient enough to take a longer view. The question now is do they have the capability after the loss of their leader?

Will we seize on this extraordinary development to come together again as Americans, the way we did after the carnage 10 years ago?
The spontaneous celebrations in Washington and New York were encouraging, as was the news that President Bush had congratulated Obama on the successful mission. But it remains to be seen whether we take this moment to find a unified purpose in addressing our lingering economic problems and deep political divisions.

Partisan fights over proposed federal budget cuts and deficit reductions are no less important today than they were yesterday. Our entanglements in Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East are as complicated as ever. Widespread ignorance and distrust of Islam is still an issue.

I'd like to think we can rally around our president and find solutions to our domestic and international problems that make us stronger. Likewise, I hope more Americans will be able to see that Islam was never the enemy -- it was bin Laden. I'm probably being naive, but for today at least I'd think it's possible.

How will this play out politically?
Yesterday's operation can only help Obama at home and America abroad. To pull this off in the midst of the Arab Spring still roiling across the Middle East, with people in Japan, Haiti and the American South still recovering from natural disasters, with the U.S. economy still teetering, was an amazing development. Euphoric, almost. Can you imagine the blistering criticism the president would have taken had this mission failed in any way?

As the father of a young serviceman, a 23-year-old Army specialist, it goes without saying that I'd welcome any momentum this adds to a withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Though I understand his desire to put his military training to use, and I admire his courage his resolve, I remain reluctant to embrace the thought of seeing him deployed to what remains a very dangerous place.


Photograph by Drew Angerer, The Washington Times