US President at the White House situation room during Bin Laden's killing operation
Three days ago, the first of May 2011, the President of the United States, Barack Obama, addressed the american nation in a historic speech to share with them Osama Bin Laden‘s death.
The terrorist’s hideout had been detected in a Pakistani town, and the stronghold was raided by Navy Seals in a covert operation with the aim of seizing Osama Bin Laden dead or alive. “Enemy killed in action” came out of the speakers at the Situation Room, where the President, Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and other high ranked officials had gathered to check the operation. A decade long man hunt had come to an end.
It is stated in the Coran, the Muslim sacred book that a congregational prayer shall take place every Friday right after noon, the Jumu’ah. Its half of the dhuhr prayer and is usually preceded by a khutbah, a sermon delivered by the Imam. The Jumu’ah typically has a much larger attendance than “normal” prayers.
It’ll be next friday when we’ll see what the reaction to the killing of Osama Bin Laden is through the speeches of the Imams all over the muslim world, which will most probably set the tone and pace of the reaction to the result of the covert operation. Protests and maybe even attacks against american and occidental interests throughout the world must not be discarded. US troops worldwide are at maximum threat level.
We’re going to witness whether if there’s resignation, relief, rage or thirst for revenge, and in the same way that we’ve kept a close real-time look at events unfolding throughout the Middle East and North Africa via social media channels; Twitter, Facebook pages, etc… we’ll most probably be able to follow those chain reactions to spring from friday’s prayer through those same channels that have brought liberty to Egypt, Tunisia, Libia, and are causing civil unrest in Bahrein, Syria, Yemen and most countries in the area.
For the first time we’re going to watch in real-time the consequences of the american strike. Some think those channels have brought freedom. From my point of view its a mistake to think so, they’ve brought information, reliable many times, irrelevant banter for the largest share of it.
The world has become much smaller than it was a couple of years and even months ago. Bin Laden’s was code-named Geronimo, the brave indian warrior. We’ll see what color the clouds of smoke rising from the mosques his death will send throughout the world next friday and what message they carry. The social revolution has come of age as we speak. Long live the freedom of speech and information, for good and for bad.
