Daily News - The Fall of the Empire

Almost 10 years in the making. It was getting to feel like this day might never come. We would never catch him. So it was an unexpected surprise when I was on the treadmill this AM at the gym and the headlines news tickers started scrolling that US forces had caught and killed Bin Laden.
There was a definite sense of closure immediately. The search had been going on for so long. We never seemed able to turn up any solid leads. For all we knew, Bin Laden was at the bottom of a well with an endless supply of Twinkies, like Saddam. And if that hole was in some mountain range in the middle of nowhere? Worse that the proverbial needle in a hay stack.
More details came out as the day wore on. I tried to take a peek on-line here and there but it was a pretty busy day. I took time while scarfing down my salad to read cnn.com. I saw the gatherings at the White House and Ground Zero. That sense of unity, pride, and patriotism that was so prevalent after 9/11, seemed to return.
But as read on, I started to have questions. I do recall immediately thinking, "how do they know for sure it was him?" "How does the American public know for sure what the government is telling us is the truth?" "Why did they bury him at sea? Was it an excuse for disposing of evidence?" I know, it sounds a little like the ravings of a hardcore conspiracy theorist. But after what the powers that be did to the Tillman family after Pat Tillman was killed in action, can we take it all at face value? There are certainly things regarding national defense that just cannot be communicated to the general public. I get that. I know there are operations going on that probably break international law or even sound human judgement. Who gets to be the judge of what is OK for the public and what is not? Who was the moral fiber we can trust to make that decision? If we know we are lied to about things not tied to national security, then aren't we right to question it all? Fool me once, shame on me......
As always, I took the opportunity to talk with the boys. I knew they had heard the news and that it was being discussed by other kids at school. As with Sex Ed, I wanted to make sure they heard the facts correctly. I asked them if they had questions. I offered to field any and all inquiries. You need to take these opportunities when they cross your path.