The expected end

Osama bin Laden was a weird,compelling figure a product of the American mobilisation against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s,he became its most hated enemy. His death,long anticipated,is unlikely to make a tangible impact on terrorist cells,but it is a symbolic reversal.

His family flourished under the Saudi royal familys patronage,creating a colossal construction business. However,this shy 17th son of the bin Laden family was somewhat different. After joining an Islamic study group inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood,and later,Palestinian theologian Abdullah Azzam,his religious beliefs hardened into warfare circa 1979 the eventful year of the Mecca siege,the Iranian revolution and,most of all,the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Osama joined the Afghan mujahideen,and built a reputation as a committed fighter and generous funder of the insurgents. Though this early induction into jihad began with Americas support and guidance,as for so many others,Osama turned against the West after the war ended. In the late 80s,when his ideas about global jihad solidified,addressing Muslim struggles in far-flung parts of the world,he formed al-Qaeda,which operated in Sudan,Somalia,Yemen,Bosnia,Iraq,Afghanistan,etc,and commanded armies of ideologues on the Web.

Osamas most audacious act was the September 11,2001,attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon that sent the US into an interminable war in Afghanistan. Through the fumbling and missteps of the last decade,he periodically reminded the world of his existence through home-made videos,editorialising on events in the Muslim world. It is important to remember that al-Qaeda has been geographically and politically rooted in the Middle East and his talk of overthrowing the corrupt dictators in the region clearly resonated with the disenfranchised young. However,as the Arab spring of recent months has demonstrated,that there is another way. The largely non-violent protests that toppled seemingly invincible regimes in Egypt and Tunisia hold out another path to change,through democracy and the rule of law,not clash-of-civilisations vengefulness.