When I took on the assignment of a regular column, I had no intentions of writing about politics and current events, but recent events have gotten my dander up, so here I go again with my two cents worth. I was very hesitant in writing about the death of Osama bin Laden because it's getting enough media attention as is and emotions are high, but there are important issues surrounding this that cannot be ignored.

I'm sure the death of Osama bin Laden brings some sense of closure to Americans, the victims who survived and families of those who didn't, but this in no way means the war on terrorism is over. Like the rest of you, I too experienced a range of emotions upon hearing that Osama bin Laden had been captured and killed by U.S. troops. I will never forget the events of 9/11 and the emotions it stirred within me and I can only imagine the heartache the families of those victims endured even to this day.

Although the attack on 9/11 was orchestrated by bin Laden, that one attack only served to feed and fuel the minds of hundreds and thousands of other would-be terrorists. There are countless other ‘Osama bin Laden's' hiding, scheming and plotting their next attack, so the war on terrorism is far from over. Capturing bin Laden will not stop other Al Qaida members and terrorists from carrying out their mission and retaliating.

Now that the details surrounding bin Laden's death have come out, the expected threats of retaliation and cries of injustice from bin Laden's family and supporters have surfaced. As the details begin to come forth, I'm trying to put it all together and understand it but I don't think you can ever understand something so senseless and cruel. The actions of Osama bin Laden caused us to trust no one, fear everyone and scrutinize every aspect of life as we knew it.

Maybe I'm not getting the big picture, but I don't understand sending our troops to a country to wage a war while our president and the department of defense is sending billions of dollars every year in federal aid to Pakistan. Isn't this considered bribery? Tell me how Pakistan has benefited from this? I see nothing to indicate that our efforts have helped in a positive way. All I see is a country that doesn't want or appreciate our help and is unwilling to change. I don't know a lot about politics and foreign affairs, but this just doesn't add up in my book. I don't know whose idea this was but it paints a bad image of Americans. Sure, the Bible says we're to do the right thing, but I can think of better ways to spend those billions of dollars right here around our own back doors. Instead of helping them we could be helping our fellow neighbors in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi who are struggling to put their lives back together after the recent floods and tornadoes. Instead of sending billions of dollars to Pakistan, shouldn't we be helping our fellow Americans hit hardest by the economic recession, budget cuts and the loss of jobs, homes and adequate medical care? I guarantee you our fellow neighbors would be more appreciative than the Pakistanis for our help.

Sometimes a person can be too kind hearted and taken advantage of, and I think that is exactly what has happened in this situation. The mindset of Pakistanis is different than that of Americans and their actions have shown that no amount of generosity can change that.

Their military has turned on our troops sent there to try to help them and brutally murdered them execution style and yet somebody in Washington still thinks they deserve our help? How many more troops will be killed while serving our country and trying to reach out to others in kindness? Every time I hear yet another American has been taken hostage and killed execution style my heart breaks, and I wish we could pull our military out and bring all our troops home to safety and end this senseless war.

Since bin Ladens death, his sons claim we unfairly stormed the compound where bin Laden was hiding and attacked him. When bin Laden's attacks were carried out on 9/11 Americans had no forewarning and we were attacked without mercy but yet we should have considered sparing him mercy? This coward hid for 10 years in secrecy because he knew what he did was wrong, yet he had no empathy or remorse for his actions and he spared no mercy in killing hundreds of innocent men, women and children trapped in the twin towers and the Pentagon. Maybe they've forgotten the unfortunate events of that day but I haven't. Maybe the memories of that fateful day have faded but it's still as clear today as it was 10 years ago to me.

Fate dealt bin Laden a cruel blow, but it was inevitable. But his sons are right; justice wasn't served. Osama bin Laden wasn't treated fairly but he didn't deserve fairness. Even killing him wasn't adequate in the minds of many Americans. Instead of killing bin Laden, I would have captured him and let him suffer a slow, cruel, frightening demise. There's a line in a song by Charlie Daniels that sums it up best: Take ‘em out to the swamp, bring them to their knees and tie ‘em to a stump and let the rattlers and the bugs and alligators do the rest.

Beth Rowe may be reached at opieorowe@att.net.