Local Reactions to Bin Laden's Death Mixed

Hunter Harrison and William Dyson seem to have similar descriptions of how they view reactions to the news of terrorist Osama bin Laden’s death.

“It’s—everyone’s got kind of a spring in their step,” said Harrison, a Gladwyne resident who is finishing his second year at the Naval Academy.

“America walks with a different strut today,” said Dyson, a member of the Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition, at the group’s monthly meeting Monday night, May 2.

Harrison always knew he wanted to be in the military. And while the events of Sept. 11 didn’t affect his decision to join the military, he clearly remembers that day and the aftermath.

“I was in fifth grade,” Harrison said. “I remember going home and watching on the news.  There were a couple newspaper articles in school, and there was one picture of the side of the World Trade Center where, if you looked closely, you could see someone jumping out of the building in that picture. And that really stuck with me. The horror inside of those buildings, to jump to certain death right there, choosing that over staying inside the building.”

He said he was too young to be angry enough, but had he been older he believes he would have enlisted then. 

Harrison was getting ready for bed on Sunday night when he heard someone running down his hall yelling. His roommate came back in the room to say “news flash—Osama’s dead.”

He said everyone flooded into common rooms to hear what President Barack Obama had to say about the al-Qaida leader’s death. People went outside and were screaming, and he said he heard West Point and the Air Force Academy had “similar non-official celebrations.”

Local American Legion officer Danny McCollum thought first of the men at whose hands he died.

"I think our troops did a great job getting him. That's a very tough thing to do, to go into a compound where you don't know what to expect," said McCollum, a Vietnam veteran who is the American Legion's deputy district commander in Montgomery and Bucks counties. "I'm so proud of these guys."

McCollum, who attained the rank of sergeant, also is the former commander of Post 355 in Bala Cynwyd. Bin Laden's death might help ease his victims' pain, McCollum said, but it won't solve everything in the fight against terrorism.

"I think we still have a lot of work to do," McCollum said. "If anything, I think you might see an escalation in the violence."

Congressman Jim Gerlach (6th District) released a statement to the press Monday regarding the news.

“The success of this mission is a testament to the perseverance and professionalism of the courageous men and women serving and protecting our country in the military and intelligence operations,” Gerlach said in the statement. “Every American should be proud of this accomplishment. It represents a significant victory in our constant battle against radical terrorists.”

Harrison said they talked about bin Laden, who is reported to have been killed by Navy Seals, in all of their classes on Monday. 

“The biggest thing is, people are definitely glad, and I know it’s a bad thing to say,” Harrison said. “This is the guy we’ve been going after for a long time, and a lot of people, I think, had given up hope. You know, ‘we can’t track him, he’s not using technology.’ A lot of people were really excited about it.”

The Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition, which devoted Monday’s meeting to the topic of bin Laden’s death, didn’t share that excitement.

Dyson said his immediate reactions were speechlessness and sadness, including sadness for the victims of 9/11.

“I find it terribly embarrassing people are chanting in the streets, chanting ‘USA, USA,’ said Walter Ebmeyer. “I don’t think that’s a classy way to respond to anybody’s death.”

Donna Holsten said that to her, it was nauseating.

And Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition member Joe Betz, who just retired as a professor from Villanova University teaching an ethics of war course, was proctoring a final exam on that subject on Monday. Betz said he didn’t add any last-minute questions regarding reports of bin Laden’s death.

“I’ve not decided it was wrong,” said Betz, who supports Just War Theory, which has certain ethical criteria. “I neglected talking about it during the final. I’m uncomfortable with it.”

Betz was more inclined to ask questions of the rest of the group at Monday night’s meeting: Would it have been good to assassinate Hitler? What should Betz’ wife, a grade school teacher at a Catholic school in Bryn Mawr, tell her students?

He also brought up a question among Hebrew scholars of whether “kill” in “Thou shalt not kill” would have been better translated as “murder.”

Other members questioned how Pakistan couldn't have known about bin Laden’s presence there and wondered about then-available details about the raid. Many initial reports said bin Laden was armed and firing when he was killed before White House officials clarified on Tuesday he was not armed. Members on Monday agreed they would have been more comfortable if bin Laden had been captured.

Member Jane Dugdale said she hopes that Obama will now pull troops out of Afghanistan, but the group is worried bin Laden’s killing will incite more violence.

“I felt like it was anticlimactic,” Ebmeyer said. “It’s meaningless to me. It’s symbolic, if anything at all. It might actually backfire.”

And Hunter Harrison’s reaction, which includes concern al-Qaida may retaliate, echoed at least part of Ebmeyer’s reaction.

“It’s more of a victory for our morale than a tactical victory,” Harrison said. “It doesn’t change anything long-term or actually short-term. It might actually be more dangerous.”