Osama Bin Laden Research Paper

Revenge on the Man Who Shattered the American Dream The American dream is defined as equal opportunity for success and being able to defend what people believe in. On September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden attacked America causing the people to have a sense of insecurity and inferiority, two feelings that cause Americans to lose the feeling of the American Dream. When citizens began to feel threatened by the foreign terrorist group, the main goal of many special forces and government officials shifted to finding and killing bin Laden. Once Americans became intimidated by the outside force known as Al-Qaeda, the country began to receive an overwhelming reaction to the incident due to the loss of their feeling towards reaching the American Dream
and set an objective to killing Osama bin Laden. Obama and other officials made it clear that Osama had been killed and the country could relax Osama bin Laden was the leader of the terrorist group Al- Qaeda who grew up on ideas that persuaded him to act in a negative way. He attacked multiple places due to his belief that “all muslims should rise up in jihad, or holy war, to create a single islamic state” (Osama bin Laden). The radical pan-Islamic beliefs came from scholar Abdullah Azzam. He followed these beliefs all the way up until he created his own “group, called al-Qaida (“the base”) that would focus on symbolic acts of terrorism instead of military campaigns” (Osama bin Laden). They would target different countries and different groups of people in order to try and raise the Muslim population. Even though he believed that he was doing the correct thing, many countries feared him and the attacks that the world's most wanted terrorist started. The United States was included in this list. Americans did not start to worry because they had never experienced such a large terrorist attack but they would soon find out that their American Dream was about to be interrupted. Once bin Laden had made it clear that he was planning on attacking the United States, the country began uniting as one in order to build a boundary, blocking Osama out in order to keep the country safe and keep the American Dream alive. Once he actually attacked on that wretched day, the feeling switched from confident to lost and weak. In order to successfully target Osama bin Laden, “President Obama and his administration had undertaken a number of targeted killings in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere in the world” (Vlasik). They tried to find the source of the issue and put themselves in a “position that could target members of Al-Qaeda anywhere in the world” (Vlasik). An immense amount of work was put into discovering the location of the man responsible for killing many American Citizens. When looking for him, Americans did what they did best, work for what they believe in and dedicated their days to getting equality. Obama stated in his speech that “[Americans] were also united in our resolve to protect our nation and to bring those who committed this vicious attack to justice” (Phillips). Obama put in a lot of work and effort into killing the number one enemy. He made sure to greaten the influence of the government since the last president did not put as much effort into it. Protecting our nation was the number one goal in finding and killing Osama “and so we went to war against Al-Qaeda to protect our citizens, our friends, and our allies.” (Phillips). Killing bin Laden allowed the nation to defend what is theirs. Once that sense of security and superiority came back to the people, they were able to continue to live their daily lives as if nothing had happened. Osama bin Laden was finally killed and disposed of on May 2, 2011.
The shooting required “a team of Navy SEALs burst into the compound. They found the al-Qaida leader in an upstairs bedroom with a pistol and an assault rifle nearby and shot him in the head and chest, killing him instantly.” (Osama bin Laden). He was discovered in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Killing Osama relaxed the country and gave them back their strength. Robert J. O’Neill, the Navy SEAL who shot Osama bin Laden states that “on the mission to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, despite being asked to what many believed to be impossible, [the Navy SEALS] epitomized teamwork and accomplished [their] objectives” (O’Neill). O’Neill is one of the world’s most highly trained special operators in the world. He also helped in the mission to saving Captain Phillips from Somali pirates. People like him prove that with dedication and teamwork the American Dream can be accomplished and that is what happened in this situation. It could not have been done without “all of those young Americans, who on September 11, 2001, woke up and decided to serve their country in its hours of need… They signed up to find, capture, and kill Osama bin Laden- and to attack everything he represents” (Sorrow and Joy). Everyone who participated in capturing bin Laden played a huge role and it would not have been accomplished without
them. Thanks was also given to the Iraqi armed forces because it would not have been successful without the assistance from other countries. Without the “sacrifices of the men and women of the armed forces of the United States, the men and women of the Iraqi armed forces, and most importantly, the sacrifices of the courageous people of Iraq” (Wolfowartz) this would not have been possible. Americans have realized that even though the enemy may come from a certain place, that place is not considered evil at all. Osama bin Laden’s hometown is one of many places that may had benefitted from his killing. With bin Laden gone, tension was released from Pakistan and they were able to globally interact with the rest of the world without everyone being worried about interacting with them. This also applies for most middle eastern countries. Even though there are still terrorists groups around the world, people feel more at ease with Osama gone. Afghan President Harmid Karzai said “he hopes the world believes that his country is "not the place of terrorism" after the announcement that the al Qaeda leader was killed in neighboring Pakistan” (World Leaders React). Afghanistan is pleased to prove to the world that Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups do not originate from and attack from Afghanistan, which has been a false accusation for many years. Once Osama bin Laden had been killed, the world and the United States felt at ease. Our sense of superiority was gained again and the American Dream could once again be achieved. Once the announcement that Osama bin Laden had been disposed of “pictures of Americans celebrating and rejoicing on the streets of New York and Washington D.C., were shown all over the world. They were people who felt compelled to demonstrate their satisfaction that the man they considered their number one enemy was finally dead” (Sorrow and Joy). People felt relieved that their worries no longer included Osama bin Laden and a possible terrorist attack from him and his group. Many changes were made in the government due to bin Laden.
The attack on September eleventh ”led the nation to spend more than a trillion dollars, by one estimate, to erect a homeland security apparatus alone” (Grier). The United States government has poured fundings into trying to find more groups and into understanding the middle eastern culture and lives. There have been alterations in security measures in airports ever since the tragic day of September 11th. Even though Osama bin Laden has been killed, people still realize that the terrorist group itself is not completely gone so it is still important to keep these same security checks at our airports. Americans will not let their country and home be attacked one more time. They will not let their family and friends be attacked and murdered by some guy who founded a group designed to kill innocent
people. Ever since the killing of osama bin Laden, the news no longer spotlights Al-Qaeda. It has shifted to ISIS and other terrorist groups that are attacking today’s time, over ten years after the 2001 attack. This is due to the killing of multiple Al-Qaeda leaders and a depletion of Al-Qaeda members. This does not necessarily mean that this group has completely vanished, it means there are less attacks from this group and more from newer, more advanced groups.
The only positive things learned from Osama bin laden’s attacks and his murder is unity and security. Thanks to bin Laden, American’s have strengthened the ideology of defending our rights, our homes, and our neighbors. It is now known to live everyday to the fullest and be prepared for anything. Even the worst situation caused America to unite as one fighting unit and defend the country. Laws have now been set in order to defend the home of the brave. Thanks to the brave army, all the special forces, and the government, citizens can now live knowing they are being protected at all times. This is the American Dream. Living without doubt of being here tomorrow is the American Dream. We can stand up for what we believe in and defend what is ours.
For over a decade, Americans remember September eleventh yearly. Killing Osama bin Laden gave Americans back their strength and brought the country together as a united front. The American Dream was strengthened once the enemy had been killed and Americans were now able to feel safe in their own homes.