By Francesco Turso
Staff Writer
After President Obama announced that Osama Bin Laden was killed in an operation by the Navy Seals, people gathered at ground zero. CNN was showing footage of people gathering all night in New York city, offering cheers and celebrations to the memories of those we lost, hundreds of people chanted “USA, USA” and waved American flags.
The news reverberated through the whole world. French Foreign Minister, Alain Juppe, was quoted by AFP on Monday as saying that Bin Laden’s death was a “victory for all democracies fighting the abominable scourge of terrorism. France, the United States and European states work closely together to fight terrorism, so I’m overjoyed at the news.”
France’s Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is very optimistic about the news; she believes that this will help economically as well. “The U.S. economy is like the American people. It reacts very quickly either positively or negatively,” Lagarde told France 2 television. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this event prompted a pick-up in confidence.”
In Italy, the embattled Silvio Berlusconi took a few minutes aside from his court proceedings on tax fraud, to make a statement on Bin Laden’s death to AP. “I believe it’s a great result in the fight against evil, against terrorism; it’s a great result for the United States and for all democracies,” Berlusconi said.
“A report on Bin Laden will create a thrill in the market that would reduce demand for a safe haven,” Luca Cazzulani, a senior fixed-income strategist at UniCredit SpA in Milan, told Bloomberg.com. “The impact in Europe could be short-lived. It doesn’t change the bigger picture in terms of debt overhang among periphery countries and the interest-rate outlook.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said “I’m glad that killing Bin Laden was successful,” adding she had felt compelled to “pay my respects” to President Barack Obama for the operation. “I felt a need to do that,” Merkel told a news conference on Monday.
Reuters reported that the mood in Germany has been notably subdued, reflecting a national aversion to violence in the country that launched, and was then devastated by, World War Two.
“He killed my father, so I’m not going to miss him,” Erica Basnicki posted on her website from London, England, where she now lives. Basnicki’s father Ken was one of 24 Canadians killed in the attacks. He had been in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, when it was hit by two hijacked airplanes, according to thestar.com.
“I otherwise think I have gone into shock as my world has just changed quite significantly. Or it’s post-traumatic shock as I am actually shaking. The thing is, my first reaction wasn’t really to break into a celebration dance and I’m not sure why. I guess dancing about someone dying feels wrong. . . although I’d certainly consider an exception this time round,” Basnicki told thestar.com.
