This Is A Music Blog, But.

Osama Bin Laden is dead, as a result of a successful strike in the early morning hours yesterday. Congratulations to everyone, from the folks who gave the orders to the folks who (quite literally) executed them.

Firstly, the Navy SEALs that did the job. I'm okay with the fact I'll never be that awesome.

Secondly, the intelligence community that noticed something weird about the fortifications around a rather nice mansion compound, owned by a couple of guys with no visible source of income. That's a tiny needle in a big haystack so, again, well done.

Finally, President Barack Obama, a Commander-In-Chief who demanded solid information, and executed on it when the time was right. He was ridiculed during his campaign by his opponents when he said he'd do exactly this, but it couldn't have done it any other way.

Are we in the clear? No. Bin Laden represented a poisonous philosophy that suggested that the only way to counter western influence was through terrorist action. The Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions proved there is another way, but it remains to be seen whether the twisted interpretation of resistance Bin Laden espoused will continue to be embraced, or if it will wither and die.

But it's a victory and a closure that was long overdue, and that is what is being celebrated. This is not a celebration of a death; surrender was an option that was apparently offered, and rejected. It is a celebration of that closure and a dedication to the continued marginalization of the philosophies that created the tragedies that required that closure in the first place. Celebration is a natural reaction, and that's as it should be.