His image as the face of evil passed beyond fugitive's control years ago

Dubai: For so many years, Bin Laden has been turned into the face of all evil. He was despised, chased, attacked, targeted, and tracked down in so many countries and over so many years. His very existence was the focal point for almost each and every agenda that could be thought of around the globe.

Led by the US and its western allies, the hunt for the head of Bin Laden has dragged numerous countries in this chase, helped establish grand budgets to fuel that chase, and involved thousands of people and efforts to bring it all to a concluding end. With the death of Bin Laden, the issue is not of how he died, where he was ambushed, or how his killing had been coordinated. The question is also not of whether his death is bringing about justice or revenge.

How Bin Laden has come to exist and what his movement has created has gone beyond his persona, let alone his control, so many years ago.

The making of ‘an enemy' has mushroomed like a cancerous industry with the birth of hundreds of movements that found violence as the only means necessary to meet their end of making their voice heard.

Many had claimed Al Qaida's name in their actions and many embraced its outlined philosophy — but never has there been any indication that they all are a single entity that is led by a single leader. If Bin Laden has left this world, the trail of destruction remains behind. Not so much because of whom he was but because of how much such movements have been able to set foot across borders, ethnicities, and nationalities — creating enclaves of darkness and single-mindedness.

And it is here that the world will face the greatest challenge — how to dismantle that thought process in which all others are perceived and judged as being ‘the enemy' if they happen to be standing on the other side of the fence. These are movements of worldwide presence which have eliminated the voice of reason through both violent and non-violent measures.

Whirlwind of chaos

There is no doubt that what started over a decade ago created a whirlpool of chaos — not necessarily only by Bin Laden but also by all those who had directly or remotely been involved in it. And with time, the eye-for-an-eye road of revenge claimed many lives and thwarted an abundance of futures.

And hence, beyond the euphoria of the moment for some, the doubtfulness of others, and the mockery of the few about the death of Bin Laden, the question now is how the rhetoric will change and wear a new skin.