Osama bin Laden is dead. Now what?

A recent cartoon by Carlos Latuff politically summarizing the impact of Osama bin Laden's death has gone viral. The cartoon depicts bin Laden's coffin wrapped in an American flag with George W. Bush weeping over it declaring he will be missed and Obama consoling him. Reactions to the cartoon vary greatly, some Americans probably even find it offensive. 

But consider the metaphor: for the past decade, Osama bin Laden has been at the center of American policy as the leader of Al Qaeda, the embodiment of terrorism.  Bin Laden gave the Bush administration justification to beat the war drums into Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11.  It created Guantanamo Bay flouting Geneva Conventions, established 'enhanced interrogation techniques' (see, Torture), and the CIA's Extraordinary Renditions.  It left millions of travellers facing long arduous security procedures at airports and Americans watching a fear-mongering conservative media with lack of any real substantial news reporting. It left America with new debates concerning personal privacy, civil liberties, government transparency and disclosure with the passage of the USA Patriot Act and later amendments to the Freedom of Information Act. Not to mention, Muslim Americans became victims of racism, bigotry and racial profiling across the country.

With a lynchpin for most of American policy for the past decade is gone, now what? Are we any safer than they were before? Does having the ambiguous enemy of 'terrorism' make any of us more secure with where American policy is heading for the next decade? 

Bin Laden's death is in some ways a relief. We can hope that many Bush-era policies will be dismantled. We can hope that American media, with recent criticisms by Hillary Clinton earlier this year, will start focusing on reporting facts and cease the spouting of talking heads that has only aggravated bigotry and been divisive rather than remedial in providing greater public accountability. We can also hope the racism and negative biases that have been stamped on Muslims in America will fade out. Ultimately, we can hope that the hatred, enmity, and divisions that Bin Laden created will also die with him.