Muslim Community Leaders Welcome News of Osama bin Laden's Death

The leaders of two Muslim community organizations in D.C. expressed relief Monday at the news of the death of Osama bin Laden. The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) together called on Americans to close this chapter of history and to put behind them the "perverted" ideology held by Osama bin Laden and the minority of Muslims who followed him.

"His perverted understanding and hijacking of our faith has been a blot in history. And while calling young people to give their lives for empty rhetoric, he sat in his mansion of pity and self-righteousness, guarded by high walls and barbed wire," said Haris Tarin, the D.C. office director for MPAC.

Imam Magid, the president of ISNA, said he found it "disturbing to see someone protecting himself" while sending children to "blow themselves up." And while he did not have details on any possible Pakistani support for the terrorist, Magid repeated that it was "very disturbing" that he was kept so comfortably all this time.

What of the threat of retaliation and retribution by extremists in American and abroad?

Magid said bin Laden's death dealt a "great blow to al-Qaida" that establishes a "very loud message" to extremists that "you cannot do a crime and walk away with it."

Magid said his message to his community is that the Quran teaches Muslims to "stand firm for justice, even if against our own self."

"I would like to remind my fellow Muslims that the community at large has stood with us at the time of 9/11 and differentiated between the terrorist act and Islam," added Magid.

When asked if it perhaps would have been better for bin Laden to have been captured rather than killed, Tarin responded that the al-Qaida leader "had chosen which way he wanted to go."

The terrorist's death makes for "bright but uncertain times" that require all Americans to "continue to remain vigilant" for extremists and terrorists among us, said Alejandro J. Beutel, MPAC's government and policy analyst.

The news prompted greater security at , at and at airports.

"We will turn to each other today united and emerge tomorrow with an even stronger resolve to take every action necessary to protect our nation and to stand firm as one community," Magid said.