On Sunday May 1, 2011 at 11:35 p.m., speaking to a larger audience than at any other time during his presidency, Obama stated that Osama bin Laden was dead. Earlier that day, in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, a team of U.S. Navy SEALs had descended on bin Laden’s compound and, after a 40-minute firefight, shot and killed the leader of Al Qaeda. Over the course of the week that followed, The New Republic unpacked the implications, symbolic and substantive, of bin Laden’s death. Below is a selection of the best of those articles.
The Crossroads
Can We Win in Afghanistan
Peter Bergen
After Osama bin Laden
Will his death hasten Al Qaeda’s demise?
Louis Klarevas
The Immortal Terrorist
For conspiracy theorists, Osama bin Laden will always live on.
Jonathan Kay
The End
If September 11 is a story, bin Laden’s death marks the only satisfying resolution possible.
David Greenberg
Better Angels
What’s the proper response to the killing of Osama bin Laden?
William Galston
Above and Beyond
Could Osama bin Laden’s demise loosen the grip paranoid politics has on America?
Sean Wilentz
Deep Impact
Understanding the symbolism of Osama bin Laden’s death in the history of American democracy.
Paul Berman
‘Osama bin Gotten’
The case for joy.
Leon Wieseltier
Killing Osama bin Laden
The legal justification, explained.
James Downie
When Something Goes Right
Three reasons the U.S. was able to kill Osama bin Laden.
Heather Hurlburt
A Victory for Democratic Foreign Policy
It’s official, Barack Obama is not Jimmy Carter
William J. Dobson
We Came Close to Catching Osama bin Laden in 2001
Sunday night ended ten years of self-doubt.
Dalton Fury
American Psychosis
Killing bin Laden Won’t Rid the U.S. of Paranoid Politics.
Ed Kilgore
Writing Osama bin Laden
Why have American novelists failed to tell convincing stories about terrorists?
Ruth Franklin
The Immediate Question
Osama bin Laden and our futile war in Afghanistan.
David Rieff
Speak, Obama
He should confirm whether or not torture was used to find Osama bin Laden.
Joseph Margulies
Tel Aviv Journal
Bin Laden, Israel, and Obama
Martin Peretz
Cry, the Beloved Country
The endlessly deepening crisis that is Pakistan.
Ahmed Rashid
The Backseat American
Washington Diarist.
Leon Wieseltier