Retaliation After Osama Bin Laden's Death?

"The death of our leader is life for us. It will only increase our persistence in continuing holy war so that the word of God will be supreme." ~ Abu Abdel-Rahman al-Iraqi, 2006

Back in 2006, an air strike led by the United States killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, then leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. Just as now, with the death of Osama bin laden, the United States, and the world at large, feared some sort of retaliation for the terrorist leader's death. In a statement released by Abu Abdel-Rahman al-Iraqi, deputy leader of the terrorist group at the time, after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, he said, "We want to give you the joyous news of the martyrdom of the mujahed sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi."

This statement alone shows me that the mindset of these terrorist groups is not on exacting revenge for specific acts. They put leaders like Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi up as martyrs after their deaths. Martyrs are used to fuel the cause, more than sought revenge for.

Yes, it is true that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed claimed he would "unleash a nuclear hellstorm" if Osama bin Laden was killed. The fear should not be that there will be an immediate and sudden attack in the name of Osama bin Laden; but the fear should lie more in a stronger willed enemy with more determination to prove their point. By this, I mean attacks that are already in the pipeline may be better thought out, or stronger security measures taken to ensure their success.

The problem is that, as with any strong belief, there is always going to be groups of people who will use any reason to attack or promote their terrorist agenda. These groups may use Osama bin laden's death as their 'reasoning', but if it was not the killing of the terrorist leader, then it would have been another match that would have ignited these types.

With that being said, I am not more afraid now than I was before the death of Osama bin Laden. Even thought the terrorist groups beliefs became stronger after this, so did ours. Just as the time after 9/11, there is a feeling of unity again; and with this unity comes a greater security. Couple that basic sense of looking out for your neighbor, with the obvious heightened security measures that will be put in place, and I feel that the world at large will be no more, or less, safe than we were before the death of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

References

Simon Hughes, Mike Sullivan, Robin Perrie, Plot fears as five are held near nuke site, The Sun

Staff, Iraq terrorist leader Zarqawi 'eliminated', guardian.co.uk