There's some debate as to whether or not we should be celebrating anyone's death. There's even a Martin Luther King Junior (mis-)quote being circulated on the topic.
It's interesting that some of the complaining on these lines is coming from the extreme theocratic Right, who seemed to have no problem with the idea of starting a crusade and torturing enemies to find him. They're pointing their fingers at celebrating liberal moderates and smirking, "You're no better than those you decry." It's a false equivalence, since the Right tend make such anathema enemies far more easily than the Left. You can piss off the left in the same way, but you have to work at it harder to piss off a liberal than a conservative.
There's also a few liberals who are seem genuinely worried that such celebration is a bad thing. They probably should be worried about those who celebrate; it's usually a sign of a lack of empathy. Contrariwise, they might also consider that some empathy may be foolishly placed.
For myself: yes, killing Osama bin Laden is on some level a failure. It would have been a lot better if we could have figured out a way to convince him to change his mind, and to in turn persuade the Taliban to step up and face the challenges of the 20th century (no, I have not forgotten what year it is) like education for women, liberty of religious conscience, and so on. On the other hand, while that might have been possible in some abstract sense, apparently no American was sufficiently clever to see how to accomplish that... or at least, if they did (unlikely though I find it), they also in their cleverness decided there were better uses for their efforts. I'm inclined to believe that the world is a slightly better place with Osama dead than it is with him still wandering about. Yes, there's the risk that he'll be a martyr. Yes, both Afghanistan and Pakistan are still wretched messes. Yes, it was unlikely he could be a further threat. Nonetheless: while imperfect, his death is still an improvement.
Of course, I consider myself more a pragmatist than a liberal.
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