While Americans were celebrating Osama Bin Laden's death, forming cheering crowds near the White House and Manhattan's Ground Zero, supporters of jihad both on the ground and on-line had a very different take on the terror leader's death.
An official of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that runs Gaza, condemned the killing, telling reporters that Bin Laden was "an Arab holy warrior." The Pakistani Taliban threatened retaliation against the U.S. and Pakistani officials.
As Sahab, Al Qaeda's media arm, did not immediately release a statement following President Obama's announcement of Bin Laden's death, leaving regulars on a popular pro-jihadi web forum called Ana Muslim (I Am Muslim) unsure whether to believe Bin Laden was gone.
Some Ana Muslim's readers didn't want to accept the initial reports of his death because of the source, warning others not to trust the "reports of the Western media," and counseling that supporters of jihad should wait for a statement from the mujahideen.
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But others were already looking ahead, to jihad after the death of its best known leader.
"Another lion will take Osama's place," wrote one poster, reassuring his comrades. "We are all Osama."
In Kandahar, Afghanistan, the birthplace of the Taliban, a Reuters reporter talked to a man who said that Bin Laden's death had only made him stronger.
"Now he is the number one martyr for Al Qaeda," said the man. "Now he will become a fire that Muslims will follow for generations."
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/osama...ef-news/story?id=13507264&cid=yahoo_pitchlist
Now the question remains of not IF but when and where?
We can be vigilant, watchful and probably have MORE security imposed upon us and thus my concern that security measures will be tightened down even more so.
I plan to eventually travel across country and hope I can do so without undue impediment. But I would not be surprised to see check points scattered throughout the major cities. Will I need to obtain travel papers and such?
One wonders.