Oregon Public Broadcasting

We asked several sources in our Public Insight Network what does Osama bin Laden’s death mean to them?

Here are some of their responses.

“It is a symbolic victory over a figurehead and the mindset he fostered. It took a long time, but the effort was still worth it. It is at least partial closure on a day's events that changed the course of our Nation.”

- Chauncey Canfield, Portland

“I am saddened by his death and even more by people's reactions to it. I feel that any death diminishes all of us, and death is not a good answer to any problem. It may, in the case of a person like bin Laden or Hitler, become necessary to seek someone's death or incarceration. But it should always be done with sorrow and as a last resort.”

 - Mary Ann Baclawski, Salem

“It is mostly symbolic for me. He represented the face of terrorism and September 11th. He was the reason we originally went to war in Afghanistan and ultimately Iraq...although I still wonder how that connections was ever made.”

 - Dave Fiore, Pendleton

“I’m still not sure. I don’t want to dance in the streets, but I know it absolutely had to be done. I am nervous about retaliation.”

 - Colleen Argentine, Portland

“Had he been killed within a year or two of the War on Terror's beginning, I think there might have been a chance that the war would end. We heard a lot about bin Laden the first few years, but as the war progressed, people forgot what the point was. … Bin Laden's death means that we will have to find a new excuse for our racist, capitalistic occupation of an oil-rich country. I doubt this war on terror will end. “

 -Anya Kafka, The Dalles

"It felt like closure on a really old wound and it felt good to finally know that this evil man finally got what was coming to him.  … It made me really proud of the men who carried out the mission and made me feel confident that our leaders can accomplish some things.

 -Wendy Chamberlain, Hillsboro

"One less excuse for bombings, for artillery, missile and drone attacks, for kidnapping, torture and murder, for spying on citizens of our own and other nations, for a huge standing army, vast naval and air fleets and hundreds of overseas bases, for current and future invasions and occupations of foreign lands, for globalism and imperialist bullying and for bolstering and increasing the wealth, power and political influence of the military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us against."

 - Steven Amick, Beaver Creek