BRIAN J. BOLDUC ’10

New York, N.Y.

May 3, 2011

Brian J. Bolduc ’10, a former Crimson columnist, is a William F. Buckley Fellow at the National Review Institute.

Far From Over

Don’t get me wrong. I rejoiced when I read that bin Laden was killed. I felt a tremendous surge of gratitude to our soldiers and pride in our country. But somehow I didn’t feel the urge to go out into Yard and party.

Maybe that’s because some part of me believes that we shouldn’t be dancing over the deaths of our enemies. But it could also be because the networks that bin Laden created are still firmly in place. Bin Laden already has a very likely successor in the form of Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Al Qaida splinter groups like the AQAP are still recruiting actively. Bin Laden was the charismatic figurehead of this organization, but I’m much more fearful of the legacy that he left behind. Wave our nation’s flag and blast that song from “Team America” if you must, but the moment our jingoism wears off this country must realize that our fight is far from over.

AVISHAI  D. DON ’12

Cambridge, Mass.

May 3, 2011

Avishai D. Don ’12 is a Crimson columnist in Adams House.

The End of an Era

What can be said that hasn’t already been said—other than that we finally seem to have arrived at the letter bookend of the Bush era? Much as the 90s didn’t end until September 11th, only now are the Aughts—an era haunted by the psychic specter of the ever-at-large bin Laden—truly at an end. Between the election of Barack Obama, the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and now, the death of public enemy number one, we have finally turned the page on an age marred by fear, distrust, and paranoia. But only by reversing the cancerous growth of the surveillance state and somehow extracting ourselves from the Afghan tar baby can we ever be completely free from bin Laden’s shadow.

DHRUV  K. SINGHAL ’12

Cambridge, Mass.