Osama- the ideology

Osama is not history

The killing of the world’s most wanted man, Osama Bin Laden, at Abbottabad, Pakistan entails the end of a Jihadist who single handedly made the US insane. As an old adage goes, “the real death is the death of ideology and not the physical form.” Considering that Osama is dead should not in any way mean that the ideology on which he thrived for so long is also dead. In fact as a large number of Muslims in the Middle East are prejudiced against the US, Osama’s death, if anything, would be seen as the death of a revolutionary who stood against the mighty US and its anti-Muslim ideology.  For many Muslims, Al Qaeda, the terrorist organization Osama headed, became a synonym for Muslim’s struggle against the western autocracy. Although most people were muted because of the US’s goliath like form, they silently admired the obstinate ways of Al Qaeda. Of course, the felony Osama committed by striking at the heart of US’s economic centre eventually brought him his death. But, as some analysts say, US Special Forces made a mistake by killing Osama and giving him a cold blooded death when he could have been captured alive and prosecuted as per the US terrorism laws.

Protests?

US could have been in a much better position to showcase itself as a true democracy and build on its moral authority over the Middle Eastern populace if it had captured Osama alive and given him a free and fair trial. Rather it has now given an opportunity to terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda to press Osama’s death as an agenda tool and perpetrate violence in the name of ideology for its own vested interests. Alienating the people who are prone to be influenced by Osama’s ideology will sooner or later be detrimental for the US and the world at large. Rather than celebrating Osama’s death and terming it as a good job done US should concentrate more on bringing the Muslims at large into confidence with its Middle-Eastern policies and thereby integrate them with the mainstream ideology of the world. Clear Understanding and deep introspection is the need of the hour to deal with the real enemy-the ideology.

-Sunny Gusain