SOUTH BRUNSWICK – Justice has been served

EDITORIAL
The terrorist actions devised and brought about by Osama bin Laden reached into and changed the lives of every American to varying degrees on Sept. 11, 2001.
   In the Princeton area alone, more than a dozen families lost loved ones when the Twin Towers went down. More than 3,000 people, most of them Americans, lost their lives that day.
   Since then, bin Laden has been one of the most-hated and most-hunted enemies of this country of all time.
   During the almost 10 years since 9/11, he evaded us and continued to taunt us by the occasional release of a video or audio tape.
   But his time ran out on Sunday when he was killed during a raid on a house in Pakistan by Navy SEALS acting on the order of the president of the United States of America.
   Justice has been served. He will no longer threaten American lives here or abroad.
   We shed no tears for bin Laden. He was a warped and ruthless man. He brought about violence and he died violently. We are satisfied that he is gone forever.
   America’s terrorist enemies have received a crystal clear message: We will not stop hunting you until you are brought to justice, dead or alive. The choice is yours.
   However, getting bin Laden was not a sporting event. Is killing a man, any man, even that man, something about which to cheer and throw a party?
   Some of images of celebrating are disturbing. How did we feel when the bodies of our soldiers were dragged through streets or when people filled the squares of the Mideast, cheering and dancing at the news of Sept. 11, 2001?
   We felt revulsion and a surge of patriotism.
   Almost five years ago, on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, The Packet published an editorial. Here are some of the thoughts on that day:
   ”As we pass Sept. 11, it’s hard not to think back to where we were five years ago, when the Twin Towers fell and the world as we know it changed.”
   ”It’s hard for residents of central New Jersey not to reflect on the friends, neighbors and family members lost to those wanton terrorist acts … and it’s hard not to wonder how the United States, unified and focused on rooting out those responsible — Osama bin Laden, his al-Qaeda operatives and the Taliban regime that harbored them in Afghanistan — wound up five years later mired in an unrelated civil war in Iraq.”
   ”How long will we live with color-coded posted probabilities of terrorist threats? When will we stop standing in interminable lines, removing our shoes, our belts and our pocket change and stowing our toothpaste in checked luggage before we can board an airplane? Next year? In 10 years? Never? When, if ever, will we feel safe again?”
   We still don’t know the answers to those questions. But we can sleep a little sounder knowing that Osama bin Laden won’t have any more do with it.