Osama Bin Laden - Why Should i Care?

So, apparently the US is beating its chest over the death of Osama Bin Laden.

This leads me to ask the question  - why?   At first, i thought the guy was 70+ (he looked it) - but it turns out that he was 54.  In killing him, the US only succeeded in turning him into a martyr.  Capturing him alive would have been far more symbolically successful.  Couldn't they have just pulled a Manuel Noreiga and blast truly horrible music live - like Ke$ha or Lady Gaga until they surrendered or met the afterlife on their own.  If you lose either of those two, no big deal.  So this is what America has become....

i know the US has more of a shadowy history in the world, especially as it relates to covert operations involving setting up puppet governments, etc.  This isn't as bad as the Libya situation - trying to influence a power vacuum in an unstable area.  Some of the stuff they did in Central and South America would cause many Americans to hold their heads in shame.  However, in the good old days, they used to deny these operations.  If you want to hit your targets, you don't have to announce that you did) - or bury them in a quickie "at sea" funeral.

You see, people like Osama Bin Laden are largely a creation of the media.  What i am saying is that the media and government latch on to one person and treat them like they are responsible for everything.  In other words, they took an obscure terrorist with limited influence and elevated them into a brand.  So, basically they are putting a face on terrorism.  There is no way that Bin Laden would have gotten credibility if the US didn't have the need to pin this on one group (and its leader).  i really don't get why people are celebrating.

The problem with that is what happens when the "boogeyman" is gone?   If you cut off the head does not the snake die?  That is the problem, terrorism is not some well defined group.  What the US did was take out a bit player - one that they sort of created themselves.  The US spent so long selling the concept of Bin Laden this Bin Laden that - that the general population may see this as an end to the "war on terror".  The beauty of the "war on terror" is that there can never be a victory condition.

The funny thing is that the real "terrorism" and loss of freedom was not the result of a group hiding out in caves (or a sweet mansion), but the US government capitalizing on irrational fear.  i view the whole 9/11 thing as an isolated event that should have been stopped with existing regulations (horribly executed by the way) - not a new reality.  Now we have to deal with 5 year olds being patted down due to government stupidity/arrogance or being put on a no fly list.  Not only that, but everyone has to pay for a completely unnecessary "service", the TSA.