Bin Laden

Bin Laden is dead and I don't know what to think.

I remember when we captured Saddam Hussein after finding him in that ridiculous hole.  I was so happy that we got him!  And then he went on trial, and fessed up about pretending to have weapons of mass destruction.  And then he was hanged.  And we're still there trying to keep peace and help them establish a government.  This is not what I expected on the day that we found him.

Tonight as I watch and hear that we have Bin Laden's body, the anger of justice runs through my body for a minute, but I know better this time.  He was shot AFTER a fire fight?  Executed?  What will a martyr's death for him mean for us and the western world?  Is Heather's fiancé (an army officer) going to be in even more danger in Afghanistan?  When you war with a non-government, who wins?  Because I don't think it's over at all. I wonder at a government that runs Guantanamo Bay and assassinates.  I wonder what our president is asking for when, at the end of his address, he calls for God to bless America.  I wonder when the next attack on American soil happens, how I will face it as a mother.  I wonder how ignorant I am that after spending years studying a subject called "history," which seems to be comprised of all the wars throughout time, I am surprised that my life is affected by war.

I don't know that killing him wasn't the absolutely right thing to do.  Of course our presidents, Bush and Obama, were acting on what they saw as best.  And my foreign policy maxes out at "Don't drink the water in Mexico," so what do I know?  There's too much I don't know.  I can't cheer for a victory yet. Hopefully I will see it.