I am an historian of Russia and the Middle East, focusing especially upon incidences of Russian-Turkic contact. My work mainly uses sources written in Russian, Ottoman Turkish, and the Turkic
languages of the former USSR to look at issues like human mobility, communication, politics, and cross-cultural interaction in late imperial Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and Turkey. A resident of
Istanbul from 1992 to 1999, I completed an MA from Princeton in 2001 and a PhD from Brown in 2007. Since August of 2009 I've been an assistant professor of Islamic world history at Montana State
University. Other interests of mine include skiing, record collecting, travel, and the exploits of Detroit sports teams.
So the CIA finally managed to kill Osama bin Laden and, predictably, yahoos from across the country are celebrating as if we've won something. Indeed, the fact that thousands of Americans would celebrate the killing of an individual like bin Laden is indicative of the degree to which our country has been weakened over the past ten years.
Celebrating the death of an insect makes us all look stupid
Drawing the United States into expensive and destructive wars was bin Laden's goal, and he succeeded spectacularly. George W. Bush did exactly as bin Laden hoped, committing the United States to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that not only contributed to the loss of life of hundreds of thousands of people in those countries, but which also have cost the United States over a trillion dollars. Perhaps even worse, the president who was given a mandate for change in 2008 then committed us to four more years of bloody and counter-productive occupation in Afghanistan. The logic of foreign occupation and self-defeating war has now been accepted by the mainstream within both of our political parties. Bin Laden has died knowing that he's accomplished his goals in spades.
My advice to people who wish to celebrate the spilling of still more blood: curb your enthusiasm. If anything, the death of Osama bin Laden should prompt Americans to pause for a moment and reflect on the choices that have been made by our political leaders, and often supported by a majority of our citizens, since 2001. After the September 11 attacks, Americans were scared and we allowed ourselves to get talked into actions that have been extremely destructive for not only our country's finances but also its standing in the rest of the world. Osama bin Laden has, in fact, succeeded in weakening and terrorizing this country, and the policies of both W. and Obama have played into his hands. Now bin Laden is dead, but we're in much more dire shape than was the case on the eve of the September attacks.
This is nothing to celebrate. There is no victory here, and frankly it's embarrassing to see so many Americans celebrating death. This is not the behavior of a confident and strong population, but rather that of people who, after ten years of war and occupation, still seem frightened.
We need to get over our fears, and get beyond our addiction to intervening in the rest of the world. But mostly we need to realize that while bin Laden may have attacked us, we ourselves dug the hole we now find ourselves in.
5/3/2011 1:57 PM
John wrote: Hi Jim,
Thanks for posting. You put 9/11 into a perspective I had not thought of. I'm not sure I agree that bin Laden set out to start those wars.... I suspect that the consequences you describe exceeded his expectations. But I agree completely that we have--and continue to dig ourselves into a hole. Reply to this
5/5/2011 3:05 PM
Henri wrote: I agree wholeheartedly. I am quite dismayed by the claim of 'justice done' for an act of outright murder. When there is no just trial, there is no justice. Reply to this
5/8/2011 1:20 AM
Chronic Anonymous wrote: Jim,Drawing the United States into expensive and destructive wars was bin Laden's goal, and he succeeded spectacularly.Now, this is the kind of scholarly authoritative information I appreciate.
With a stroke of a single sentence you've put to rest all the agnosticism that a terrorist named bin Laden never existed --not in that capacity or the role, anyway.We need to get over our fears, and get beyond our addiction to intervening in the rest of the world. But mostly we need to realize that while bin Laden may have attacked us, we ourselves dug the hole we now find ourselves in.
Words of wisdom, if I ever read one.
Might I also add onether one: As castles get conquered from within ["kale icten fethedilir", in Turkish], I would focus on the 'within' as it doesn't seem at all likely that a feat such as 9/11 could be pulled by a couple of cave-dwelling camel-riding youngsters.
Then again, it's usually preferred to be seen to be seeking the thing on the outside when the inside is less than dimly lit. Reply to this
5/8/2011 1:25 AM
Chronic Anonymous wrote: {Edited -CA. This is yet another blog that doesn't respect any HTML tags, such as 'blockquote', or 'b'.. Sigh.}
Jim,
"Drawing the United States into expensive and destructive wars was bin Laden's goal, and he succeeded spectacularly."
Now, this is the kind of scholarly authoritative information I appreciate.
With a stroke of a single sentence you've put to rest all the agnosticism that a terrorist named bin Laden never existed --not in that capacity or the role, anyway.
"We need to get over our fears, and get beyond our addiction to intervening in the rest of the world. But mostly we need to realize that while bin Laden may have attacked us, we ourselves dug the hole we now find ourselves in."
Words of wisdom, if I ever read one.
Might I also add onether one: As castles get conquered from within ["kale icten fethedilir", in Turkish], I would focus on the 'within' as it doesn't seem at all likely that a feat such as 9/11 could be pulled by a couple of cave-dwelling camel-riding youngsters.
Then again, it's usually preferred to be seen to be seeking the thing on the outside when the inside is less than dimly lit. Reply to this
Hi Jim,
Thanks for posting. You put 9/11 into a perspective I had not thought of. I'm not sure I agree that bin Laden set out to start those wars.... I suspect that the consequences you describe exceeded his expectations. But I agree completely that we have--and continue to dig ourselves into a hole.
Reply to this
I agree wholeheartedly. I am quite dismayed by the claim of 'justice done' for an act of outright murder. When there is no just trial, there is no justice.
Reply to this
Jim,Drawing the United States into expensive and destructive wars was bin Laden's goal, and he succeeded spectacularly.Now, this is the kind of scholarly authoritative information I appreciate.
With a stroke of a single sentence you've put to rest all the agnosticism that a terrorist named bin Laden never existed --not in that capacity or the role, anyway.We need to get over our fears, and get beyond our addiction to intervening in the rest of the world. But mostly we need to realize that while bin Laden may have attacked us, we ourselves dug the hole we now find ourselves in.
Words of wisdom, if I ever read one.
Might I also add onether one: As castles get conquered from within ["kale icten fethedilir", in Turkish], I would focus on the 'within' as it doesn't seem at all likely that a feat such as 9/11 could be pulled by a couple of cave-dwelling camel-riding youngsters.
Then again, it's usually preferred to be seen to be seeking the thing on the outside when the inside is less than dimly lit.
Reply to this
{Edited -CA. This is yet another blog that doesn't respect any HTML tags, such as 'blockquote', or 'b'.. Sigh.}
Jim,
"Drawing the United States into expensive and destructive wars was bin Laden's goal, and he succeeded spectacularly."
Now, this is the kind of scholarly authoritative information I appreciate.
With a stroke of a single sentence you've put to rest all the agnosticism that a terrorist named bin Laden never existed --not in that capacity or the role, anyway.
"We need to get over our fears, and get beyond our addiction to intervening in the rest of the world. But mostly we need to realize that while bin Laden may have attacked us, we ourselves dug the hole we now find ourselves in."
Words of wisdom, if I ever read one.
Might I also add onether one: As castles get conquered from within ["kale icten fethedilir", in Turkish], I would focus on the 'within' as it doesn't seem at all likely that a feat such as 9/11 could be pulled by a couple of cave-dwelling camel-riding youngsters.
Then again, it's usually preferred to be seen to be seeking the thing on the outside when the inside is less than dimly lit.
Reply to this