Despite the fog that hung in the air, the full moon shone visibly. The night was silent, except for the crunching of boots on the withered grass. Stealthily, they surrounded the perimeter of the city in which a great terror dwelled. With submachine guns and grenades, they forced their way through the village, until they reached their destination; a place with a barbed wire fence that stretched about 60 feet high, containing a huge castle. “Let’s do this,” the commander ordered. Shortly, President Barack Obama appeared on the news at 11:00 pm; Osama bin Laden, the world’s most feared terrorist, the one who razed the Twin Towers, was dead! Throughout America, all that a person could see was wide grins etched on faces. However, now, a new question has risen out of the rubble. Was it wise to have killed Osama? By capturing bin Laden instead of killing him, we could’ve gained some knowledge about Al Qaida whereabouts, we could’ve broken the psychological barriers he set up against us, and we could’ve gained a hostage when dealing with other terrorist-related missions.

As mentioned before, by capturing instead of killing Osama bin Laden, we could’ve ultimately uncovered the hidden whereabouts of the highly formidable terrorist organization commonly known as Al Qaida. Imagine. Living your entire life in fear of someone you’ve probably never even seen! Afraid that while walking through the crowded streets of a city, someone, friend or foe, will sneak up on you, ready to finish you off. Afraid that they wouldn’t care about the future of children being spoiled upon your death, or the grief your relatives will suffer. This is the fate of those who are survivors of Al Qaida attacks. A fate perhaps worse than death itself, these unfortunate souls are an example of the level of fear Al Qaida is capable of injecting. Suddenly, one golden night, soldiers have a chance to end the misery in the lives of these survivors. By capturing Osama, soldiers could’ve forced Osama to provide vital data, giving them a golden opportunity to finish all of Al Qaida once and for all! Nevertheless, American soldiers blundered in the moment that they killed Osama bin Laden, allowing Al Qaida to continue to swell, and lulling the world into a false sense of security.

Nevertheless, several argue that killing Laden finally provided us with the mental pleasure and relish of revenge that we’ve all been waiting for since the tragic day of 9/11. Surprisingly enough, this is not the situation. Killing him simply shows that we’re still afraid of him, and that he still has a strong hold over us that we will never be able to break. Psychology research shows that while 10% of a terrorist’s power comes from his/her actions, 90% comes from the fear of victims across the world. Thus, the reason Osama became so powerful is because of the cage of fear which we bound over ourselves. Confined to our small cage, we were limited and weak, while Osama was free to extend his reign of power beyond the reach of the government. By capturing, instead of killing him, we could’ve said, “Osama, you did terrible things. You’re a horrible man. Yet, we’ve shown that we’re better than you. We’ve spared your life, meaning we’re no longer scared of you!” We could’ve expressed that we “grew out” of the cage of fear, and that he simply wasn’t the puffed-up monster that we used to see him as. In other words, we missed an opportunity to show who’s really boss.

For an excruciatingly long time, we’ve allowed Al Qaida to extend its power. They’ve been murdering more and more people. Death reports have estimated that there has been at least a 20% increase in Al Qaida attacks and murders within the last three years. Why? The answer is because we must fight fire with fire. If Osama was captured, we could’ve used him as a hostage in missions attempting to destroy Al Qaida, just as he holds innocent victims as hostage in order for countries to bide by his terms. In fact, we could use Osama at least two to three times, force them to bide by our terms for a change, and simply, double cross them. The trick will soon wear off, but by that time, we could’ve gotten all the information about Al Qaida from Laden himself, so we could dispose of him. Having a hostage can never go astray, and for once, at least, we could’ve gone offensive on terror rather than sitting idly.

Simply put, terrorism is a growing crisis worldwide. Our planet sighed in relief when Osama bin Laden was gone. Nonetheless, Osama’s death may have no whatsoever effect, if not an increase, in fear and terrorism because we lost a valuable source who could reveal Al Qaida secrets, we can’t break Laden’s mental hold over us, and we’ve lost a terrorist hostage. As any wise person would do, we must learn from this mistake, in order to avoid reiteration. Next time, we should reconsider the situation, and thoroughly consider all possible courses of action before putting a round of bullets into another terrorist mastermind