First let me thank you Mike for allowing my post on this forum.  I appreciate your willingness to allow this discussion and for your candor in your comment.

I want to be clear here. I don't believe that there was really any other alternative to what happened here.  As a nation we must protect ourselves.  Osama bin Laden made every effort to make it impossible to do anything but kill him.  I am truly grateful that we had the ability to find him and the well-trained, patriotic soldiers willing to sacrifice their lives for my safety.

I guess the real issue for me is how to make his death something that furthers the real goal, peace.  There are a multitude of misunderstandings in the world related to religion, race, and culture.  The offense of the celebration of his death is indeed small in comparison to the evil that bin Laden wrought, but these celebrations are the images the rest of the world sees.  We were horrified when some in the Muslim world celebrated 9/11.  Not every Muslim celebrated, but we painted the Muslim community with a pretty broad brush as a result.  The Muslim community doesn't see all our good works.  All they see is us having a party.  That's not really who Americans are.  I want Muslims to know this.  We cannot stamp out terrorism alone.  It will only end when every religion, every race, every culture says no more.

I know you are not alone in how you feel Mike.  Thank you for sharing your thoughts.  I think we can both agree that the real party can start when killing terrorists is no longer necessary.