Osama bin Laden is dead — so no more terrorism and now we have democracy for all, right? We now live in a safer world where justice, freedom and liberty are fought for and won. Let's all carry American flags and shoot fireworks off in the streets to celebrate our newfound freedom, in a similar way that our ‘enemies' did so when the two planes crashed into the twin towers on 9/11. Let's rally and yell that a man was killed, without trial for crimes he committed in a country separate from the scene of the crime. Osama embodied all evil ideologies that are somehow now dead because he physically doesn't exist anymore.
If only that were the case. On Saturday, there was a NATO air strike in Tripoli, Libya that killed Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Arab Gaddafi. The air strike that occurred on Saturday was against international law and could be touted as a war crime as it attacked a state leader. The air strike did not kill Colonial Gaddafi, but was a direct assassination attempt against him. Coverage that was ample on all news-websites about the air strike has all but disappeared in the wake of bin Laden's death.
It's a coincidence that these two momentous events occurred within the same day, but we cannot let one overshadow the other. We are disappointed with The DePauw's Special Edition Issue, which covered Osama bin Laden's death from a collective, narrow-minded point of view. Finding and capturing Osama bin Laden for his actions on U.S. soil is justified for his involvement in 9/11 events, which severely hurt and killed many American citizens. But does being an American imply that we kill any leader who goes against our beliefs and way of life, without hesitation?
— Kelly Kish and Chloe Lawson, juniors