Osama is dead.

Last night, my nytimes iPad app popped up with a notice that President Obama would be making a statement. I didn't know about what, and checking the New York Times, they didn't say. I joked with the boy about how useless such an alert was, and waited to see what it would about. I probably should've turned on the TV, but I just continued bumming about the apartment. 15 minutes later, another alert popped with Osama bin Laden is dead. It was a shocking piece of news, and had us scrambling to get more information. I hurriedly checked in with various news sites, and the boy got Al Jazeera streaming on the computer. I IMed a bunch of people, and everyone was tuning into the news networks for more information, as did I. Nobody had much to tell, other than Osama is dead, and we waited for the president to speak.

As news spread, we could see more and more people gathering before the White House in celebration. Finally, the president took to the airwaves to address the nation. His speech, I felt, struck the right tone of respect, remembrance, and accomplishment. It was a solemn moment. Although the president was done speaking, we continued to watch the news, waiting for more information about what had actually happened, for the details of the mission to emerge. As we watched, the crowd before the White House continued to grow and become even more boisterous. I watched the impromptu festivities with mixed emotions.

When Saddam Hussein was finally captured and executed, the emotion that overtook me was a profound sense of sadness. I felt sorry for him, sorry for his people, and sorry for us, that it had come to capturing and eventually executing a sad, pathetic man whose life does not begin to compensate for the amount of suffering he caused. Similarly, as I absorbed the news of Osama's death, I felt overwhelmingly sad. As I watched the cheering, jubilant crowd before the White House, I felt such a sense of disconnect. I didn't know where the joy they displayed was coming from. 10 years of searching for Osama has resulted only in one man's death, and in that intervening time, so many other lives have been lost. From American citizens on that fateful day to soldiers of the US and their allies to innocent civilians of Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't think it's clear that it was all worth it, and after all this, Osama's death changes little for our on-going campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Justice was served, but to what end?

A day of celebration indeed.