EDITORIAL - A continuing threat

Jubilation erupted across the United States as President Barack Obama announced the death of America’s Public Enemy No. 1, Osama bin Laden. The US president tempered his elation in public, displaying only what amounted to a sigh of relief. Obama knew that the battle was not over; even in death, bin Laden can still inspire violent extremism, and al-Qaeda can still carry out attacks around the world.

America went to war to find the man responsible for the worst terrorist attack on US soil. US troop withdrawal from Iraq is expected to be completed only at the end of the year, and American military engagement in Afghanistan continues. In the end bin Laden was found in the country where he had long been suspected to have taken refuge: Pakistan. A small US-led team moved in reportedly after obtaining the green light from Obama late Saturday night, killing bin Laden with shots to the left side of the face in a raid on a private home in a suburb of the Pakistani capital Islamabad. About 20 others were either killed or captured in the raid.

The killing prompted a heightened alert in the US and several other countries in anticipation of retaliatory attacks. While al-Qaeda is now decapitated, the terrorist threat has become globalized, with Islamist extremists espousing localized causes in spreading their gospel of violence and fear. The Philippines has had its share of the attacks, with over 100 people killed when the Abu Sayyaf, in tandem with the Southeast Asian terror cell Jemaah Islamiyah, set off a bomb on a SuperFerry in Manila Bay.

JI itself has lost two of its most notorious members, with the death of Bali bombing brains Dulmatin and the capture of Umar Patek, but its spiritual leader is still around. Security officials have often likened this threat to a monster whose head, once cut off, is quickly replaced by a new one.

But no one in the global terrorist hierarchy has achieved the notoriety of bin Laden, and his killing is a major blow to the forces of violence. The world can allow itself a moment of celebration before returning to the task of battling a continuing threat and confronting the roots of extremism.