This, so much.We haven't suddenly and dramatically made the world safe from all evil.
And I understand what you mean Kali, people shouldn't be told how to react. I just can't help but shake the feeling that some of the people who were making the most amount of noise just did that to make noise. Not because they had loved ones at war or lost people in the attacks directly, but because they liked to yell a lot about how a group they belonged to (and at that point the convenient circle to draw was nationality) was "better". I'm not sure if I'm putting that right and I might be completely wrong of course. I could just be a cynic. (sp?) I probably am. Maybe people have been living in fear of this specific man and now they feel better and that could be reason to celebrate. I'm just afraid it is false hope.
(Wouldn't it have been wonderful if everybody just pretended not to care, like he didn't matter after all. I could just see how that could actually be more of a slap in the face to Al Qaeda than the party that went on.)
I'm also very much not a pacifist, I think he deserved to die, and I can see why putting him on trial and either giving him an opportunity to spread his hate or keep it secret and deal with 531 conspiracy theories and middle Easternish based complaints might not have been a good option.
I just read the article linked above, it makes me sad. So I hope that if there is any change to come it is for better preparations for disasters (any disaster really) and also better after care for all the people who try to help (firefighters, police, military etc.). I'm not American, but I think there are a lots of countries that still have some improvements to make in that area.