Episode five: The United States strikes back
By Armand Domalewski
Osama Bin Laden is dead.
It's hard to believe, really; the moment my friend told me, I thought it was a ploy for attention. I scanned the headlines, checked the news, and…wow.
Osama Bin Laden is dead.
I can still remember the fire and the smoke, the screams and the surrealism; like a big action film, and we were the extras. But the film didn't end. Like some awful franchise, we kept getting sequels. First there was ‘War On Terror: Afghanistan,' which met with universally positive reviews. But we all forgot ‘War on Terror' pretty quickly, since its sequel, ‘War on Terror 2:Bush Strikes Back Iraq' had such better production values. Like most sequels, it proved disappointing; the initial rush of success was soon mired down by a confusing insurgent plotline (The Sunnis hated the Shiites who hated the Kurds who hated the oh God let it stop) and the fact the WMD's promised in the trailer never seemed to materialize. In the hope of revitalizing the franchise, we decided to reboot it. We put in a new president with a new take on an old war. The War on Terror was out, and Overseas Contingency Operation: Obama Begins, was in. This seemed to be the most difficult and confusing film in the series yet. Promises of closing Guantanamo and ending the shadowy practices of the Bush administration barely made it past the first act; the same man who made his name criticizing the surge in the prior film was now advocating one; and the war we all thought of as "the good one" seemed to be nothing more than a pointless, frustrating slog with no end in sight. How could we know when the film was ending? For that matter, how could we even figure out who were the good and the bad guys? Karzai seemed almost too good to be true in ‘War On Terror,' and yet his fez hat reeks of corruption. And now we are try negotiating with elements of the Taliban — but I thought they were the bad guys?
No, the ‘War on Terror'…or ‘Overseas Contingency Operation' is no "Star Wars," and it won't end with an explosion of the Death Star and a strange Ewok party.
But we did just hurl the Emperor into the void, and even in this world of shadows and ambiguity, it reminds us that there are some things we can rely on.
The courage of our soldiers, who braved incredible odds. The dedication of our intelligence operatives, who worked countless hours. The focus of our president, who came into office with a singular vision and drive. The loyalty of our friends in Pakistan, who defied the dark elements in their own nation. The values of this nation, which made all of this not only possible, but worth it.
Even in a sea of darkness, we must remember that it is only in this nation that we could have accomplished such a singular feat. Only a volunteer force such as ours could have produced the dedicated soldiers willing and capable of devoting their lives to training for this moment.
Only a free market such as ours could have produced the innovative technology that was critical to the success of this operation. Only a democratic system such as ours could have produced leaders like our president who had the intelligence and vision to make this dream a reality. And only a nation that believes that all men are endowed by their creator with "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," only such a nation, could find the moral strength to plunge just far enough into darkness to defeat a monster —- without going so far as to become one itself.
It is that, in the end, that is our real victory. The fact that we killed Osama Bin Laden and achieved justice, is fantastic. But the fact that we did it while retaining the basic democratic value makes this nation great.
Now that is just American.
Armand Domalewski is a junior economics major.