UPDATED: Osama bin Laden is dead

My 13 year old son is studying terrorism in History. Just last week they watched the documentary The Falling Man, about the men and women who jumped from the top floors of the 110 story World Trade Centre on September 11.

I was jolted when he told me that. Partly, because I had tried so hard to shield him from the horror of 9/11 when it happened. But also by the fact he was studying it in ‘history’. In some ways, it seems so recent.

I remember being in bed asleep when my phone rang on September 11. It was a friend, calling to say “Turn on the TV, America is being attacked.” It took a moment for me to work out what he was talking about and I blinked as I scrambled to the loungeroom to switch on the TV. Jason was away with Luca and I rang him to wake him up. “Turn on the TV” I said. And then called my parents. I spent the rest of the night on the phone to Jason, watching as the towers came down, trying desperately to contact different friends who lived in New York to check they were safe.

The next day, I woke up, reminded myself it was not a nightmare and wandered into work at ACP. We were all jittery. The building was evacuated several times and the multiple entrances and exits were shut down so everyone came and went through a single door with masses of security.

In those early days, nobody knew who or what was going to be the next terrorism target. Were media organisations going to be bombed? Wealthy westerners like the Packers? We were also painfully aware of our proximity to Centrepoint Tower – the highest building in the Sydney CBD.

For a while, I thought about quitting my job, so terrified was I that something similar was going to happen in Australia. Anything seemed possible and it was a shocking, almost paralysing feeling.

That first night, before the towers had even collapsed, we all knew it was Bin Laden. That was clear very early.

And there was always a sense that since he hadn’t been captured, any manner of evil was still possible.

On September 12, my son who was 3 at the time, became very sick with gastro and for the next few days and nights we were in and out of hospital. I recall sitting in the waiting room in the Children’s Hospital emergency department for hours, a sick, listless little boy on my lap with the planes flying in those buildings again and again and again on the TV’s overhead. A kind of sick wallpaper that was still impossible to comprehend no matter how many times you saw it.

My son was spared those images. He was too sick to pay attention to the TV in those early days. By the time he got better, the TV was turned off in his presence. One time he caught it and I was able to distract him with “It’s just a movie”.

Just last Friday, I told him about all of this and we discussed September 11 and what he’d been learning. “I think Osama is dead” he said. “I’m not so sure” I replied.

And now he is.

And a thousand wounds have been ripped open. My mind is very much back in 2001, thinking about what happened, how we felt but more importantly, how the families of those who died then and in the war since, must be feeling today.

No doubt those images of the planes will be all over the news again in coming days. Be careful if you have little children around. There are some things that are just too hard and too painful to explain to little kids whose idea of a ‘bad thing’ is not sharing.

I’ve asked MM’s news editor Rick to keep this post updated with relevant news on this story – you can read those details below.

But I’m feeling quite reflective. We all sat around my laptop watching a live stream of Obama speaking – oh that man is extraordinary. It must be noted that it is 8 years to the day since George W. Bush gave his absurd “Mission Accomplished” speech about the war in Afghanistan. I am so glad Obama got to give this speech today announcing Bin Laden’s death and not Bush.

I’ve been watching and listening to the coverage and reaction this afternoon. On Sky News I saw an interview with Sydney comedian Simon Kennedy whose mother – a red cross volunteer – was in one of the planes that crashed into the Twin Towers. He said he didn’t feel joy and he didn’t want to go out and celebrate like the footage we’re seeing of Americans on the streets in Washington and New York chanting USA. But he said he felt a degree of relief. Mostly, he said he just missed his mother terribly and it was a rush of emotions around that.

I thought Julia Gillard’s speech was very strong and quite restrained. I’m glad she mentioned all the different terrorist attacks that have been carried out by Al Qaeda and no doubt have had Osama’s hand in them. Bali, London, Mumbai.

I must say I’m worried by TV vision of people who look like they’re celebrating New Years Eve or the superbowl in the US. I worry about the message that sends. Personally, I’m glad he’s dead. I don’t think he should have lived. I think he would have become a martyr and the circus and mythology around him would have been ongoing.

I also think it’s not easy for us to understand how Americans feel about Bin Laden, the way he so specifically and evilly targeted THEM, their country, their citizens, their way of life. If America symbolised everything Bin Laden and Al Qaeda hate about the west, the man himself symbolised that hate and his death is understandably something they might want to celebrate.

Me, I’m feeling for the families of those who have died in terrorist attacks. I wonder if they’re cracking open the champagne or lighting a candle or both……

What do you think? Where were you when you heard about September 11? How did you watch it unfold? And what about the news of Bin Laden’s death? How are you feeling about it all?

NEWS UPDATES

Rick reports:

This is the moment many have been waiting for. A symbolic victory, perhaps, but a small victory nonetheless.

Osama bin Laden has been killed at the hand of US forces.

The New York Times has this:

One of the officials said that American forces, acting on intelligence, launched a “targeted assault”  that killed Mr. Bin Laden, whose ability to elude capture for so long deeply frustrated the Bush administration.

The news of the death of the leader of Al Qaeda was bound to electrify the world, particularly as it comes a full decade after American forces, under President Bush, launched their all-out assault to find the man responsible for the Sept.  11 attacks.

Reports indicate that the US is in possession of Osama’s body.

UPDATE: President Obama has addressed the nation. Here is a short summary of what he had to say.

• – Osama responsible for murder of thousands.
• – Nearly 10 years ago that bright September day was darkened by worst attack in American history.
• – Nearly 3000 citizens were taken from us.
• – We came together after that and reaffirmed our ties to one another.
• – We were united as one American family. United in our resolve to protect our nation and to bring those who committed this vicious attack to justice.
• – Yet, Osama bin laden evaded capture and escaped across the border into Pakistan.
• – Shortly after taking office, I directed director of the CIA to make the killing or capture of Bin Laden our top priority.

This piece from Al Jazeera makes for fascinating reading about how the compound was identified:

“We were shocked by what we saw, an extraordinarily unique compound,” a CIA official said. “It has 12-to-18-foot walls, topped with barbed wire; internal walls sectioned off different areas of the compound; access was restricted by two security gates.”

US officials eventually came to believe that those “other people” were bin Laden and his family, and presented their assessment to US president Barack Obama in September.

The piece goes on to note that:

“Shortly before 4pm, Obama learned that bin Laden had been “tentatively identified.” Three hours later, the president was told there was a “high probability” that bin Laden was killed; his identity was later confirmed with DNA from his late sister.

Three other people were killed in the raid, including bin Laden’s son and a woman who allegedly acted as a human shield, and at least two more wounded. One US helicopter crashed during the assault.”

UPDATE: Osama bin Laden has been buried at sea, with his body handled in the Islamic tradition, U.S. official tells CNN.

Obama’s speech:

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