What was your reaction to the United States killing Osama bin Laden?

With the recent news of Osama bin Laden’s death, students and faculty react to the way he was killed, American responses and if we should be worried going forward.

Evan Tyra

Junior
“It’s a pretty big victory [for the United States] because it kind of breaks down the organization [Al Qaeda], but I think it’s just one of many leaders in the terrorist organization.”

AJ Love

Freshman
“Osama bin Laden dying is kind of a relief because [Americans] have been looking for him for ten years, and he’s been performing operations against America since 9/11. It’s a relief that now we have less resistance, and we’ve cut off the head of the terrorist organizations.”

Steven Powell

Sophomore
“I feel like the people that know people who were in the [World Trade Center] when the planes crashed feel a lot better knowing that he is dead.”

Caitlin O’Keeffe

Sophomore
“I think it depends what they’re celebrating because I think there are a lot of people who are just taking it for a moment for Americans to come together, and that’s wonderful, but if there are people that are saying death is good, I don’t agree with that.”

Dan Hyde

Senior
“[American troops] couldn’t just put him in jail. I think we had to kill [Osama bin Laden]; we had to get rid of him. He started a war with our country, and just because we got the advantage over him does not make it not right [to kill bin Laden while he was unarmed], but he would have done the same to us.”

Rupa Ravi

Freshman
“I guess I’m happy about it, but I was really young when it happened, but I’m also really worried that there’s going to be a lot of retaliation.”

Jenny Paik

Freshman
“Killing him doesn’t bring back the people, but it gives the people of America some kind of gratification that he’s dead.”

Joe [Coach] Porrell

Gym Teacher
“I’m flying this weekend and I’m a little nervous about [retaliation]. But what are you going to do? There are always going to be these crazy people. Why do they hate us Americans? I don’t know. We’re the only people that give money to everyone in the world.”

Alyssa Lee

Freshman
“I personally feel that it’s going to be one big violent circle. People want revenge and it won’t end well.”

Mr. Rideout

Science Teacher
“I felt pretty guilty about feeling happy. I mean, somebody died, so why do I feel happy? He was a pretty bad guy so I felt conflicted but a chapter in American history has been closed that needed to be closed. There is no justice because you can’t bring back the people that are dead. True justice can never be served.”

Alex Dulude

Junior
“I’m not really surprised because he must have known for the nine years, seven months and 28 days that we were tracking him down that eventually we were going to get to him.”