Osama!

I have had to split this blog task into two sections, with two different videos. I had written the first section about two weeks ago, but since then, major events have occurred which means I need to change the information. But as we were talking in class about how 9/11 had effected the country, the United States, us as individuals, and the world as one, I believe that what I wrote before Bin Laden had been killed showed a lot of the terror that many people still felt.

So the first video was more surrounding Bin Laden and as a alive character, and the way he commemorates the 9/11 attacks.

The thing that most intrigues me about the 9/11 attacks is the people behind it rather than the act itself. And I generally research Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda and the Taliban a lot in my spare time, so I wanted to pick a video that commemorates the day in a way of defining the members behind the whole thing. When you think of a commemorative video, it’ll be honouring the country and the people who died because of it, but it’s useful to understand what they died for.

I was researching videos with Osama bin Laden, but I never realised how difficult it was. There were so many fake videos and as Bin Laden speaks in Arabic it was hard to tell whether the person who put up the video was telling the truth with the translation. But the one I picked was from Aljazeera, the hugely popular organisation.

What Bin Laden said…

“The events of September 11 are but a reaction to the continuous injustice and oppression being practised against our sons in Palestine and Iraq and in Somalia and Southern Sudan and in other places like Kashmir and Assam. This matter concerns the whole Islamic nation (Ummah). It is incumbent on the people to wake up from their sleep and rush to devise a solution to this disastrous problem that threatens mankind entirely today. As for those who condemned these operations looked at the event in isolation and failed to connect them to past events and did not look at the causes that lead to this result. Their attitude is not in accord with and not based on either a religious, legal nor even a rational perspective. They just saw America and the media criticizing these operations so they stood up with them in criticism. Their example is like the story of the wolf that saw a newborn lamb. So it said to this lamb: “You were the one who dirtied my water last year!” The lamb replied: “It was not me.” “It WAS you,” the wolf insisted. So the lamb told him, “Well, I was born this year!” The wolf said, “So it must have been your mother!” and ate the lamb. And what could the poor mother do when she saw her son being torn into pieces between the teeth of the wolf? But in the passion of motherhood, she butted the wolf. Of course the wolf was not affected at all however it shouted out “look at this terrorist!” so these parrots joined in, repeating what the wolf said and saying “yes, we condemn the ewe’s butt against the wolf”. Where have you been when the wolf ate the son of this sheep? So these blessed and successful strikes are in reaction to what happened in our lands – in Palestine, and in Iraq, and in other places.”

Here, Bin Laden is comparing himself and his fellow Al Qaeda’s as the mother sheep in this story. Their child – Palestine, Iraq and other “Muslim” based countries – was attacked and to them, subsequently killed by America – the wolf. So to them, 9/11 is a passion related reaction to protect and give their countries some sort of honour. But I think the big thing that they are missing is that the people who live in these countries didn’t want 9/11 or any other attacks to happen, and especially as Al Qaeda are doing it for them. These attacks have their names on it without their consent. They’re being dragged through the mud because of it.

This video defines 9/11 as a passionate response rather than an out-of-the-blue terrorist attack.

That is what I had first written for this task. But now Bin Laden is dead. So things are different and as my first video is not really a commemoration of the day, my second video is.

The person who uploaded this video – kavinda008 – lives in New York City, so the whole event is very clear and close to them. The song used is “Waving Flag” which became known as the anthem that the Canadian artists used to help raise funds of the Haiti Earthquake. Kavinda008 has obviously changed the words in the song to fit perfectly with the way they feel about the recent news of Bin Laden’s death.

“When I get older, I will remember when I found out the Bin Laden was pronounced dead…We got him once and for all. America stand tall. Osama’s dead … One shot kill Osama dead. So wave your flags high, wave them in the sky…We reunite as one, red blue and white. Osama’s dead, pop a bottle, victory is in sight. 2011 will be the best year…So have no fear, the vision’s clear. You will say, world leaders cheer. For Bush it took 8 years, for Obama, only 3 and now we got Osama at the bottom of the sea. First stop Afghanistan and then onto Pakistan don’t [mess] with the USA, you can’t hide in the desert sand. God bless America, we always prevail…They woke the sleeping giant…now your life is over. It’s been almost 10 years, since that dreadful day; both twin towers fall leaving us all in dismay. Because of 9/11, may you rest in peace.”

These are some of the lyrics the person had changed to fit with Bin Laden’s death. They mention that the world leaders will cheer, which I pick up on as that all the other nations that have been affected by Al-Qaeda such as the UK, were not as passionate to get Bin Laden as America was and that they may have seen it as their duty to kill him because they’re not afraid. Whereas I believe that many of the smaller countries were and are afraid.

The song also talks about America being the sleeping giant, which was mentioned in the class lecture. But which we discovered was not actually true. They may want to believe that they only retaliate and never begin wars or fights, but it isn’t true. The American public just want to forget anything they started with the world, forget that they may be guilty of forcing their beliefs onto countries that don’t want western modernizations. They can only remember the times when they were hit the hardest, when they’re the victim.

The main issue and disagreement I have with some Americans are that they believe everything is going to just fall into place for them, and everything will go away and the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan will be done with. But the Taliban have over 50,000 members from all over the world, and Al-Qaeda is still going strong regardless of Bin Laden’s death. They’ve probably planned how to handle the death of Bin Laden before it happened. This is not the end, and for all we know, Bin Laden could of just been the front man, taking the hit of “most hated man in the world” rather than actually being behind the whole ordeal. I’ve read a book all about the Taliban, and it seems that Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, is as much of a figure head in the 9/11 attacks as Bin Laden.

But all in all, America seems to be rejoicing in the death of Bin Laden, and rightly so; his group killed 3,000 of their people. And it’s something that you generally don’t get away with. America may have their issues inland but when something as big as a terrorist attack happens on one of the most monumental buildings in New York it won’t be settled until justice is done.