Diner Buzzes With News of Bin Laden's Death

News that Osama bin Laden has been killed weighed heavily on the minds of customers  at the counter Monday at in Berkley.

While there was a shared happiness over the 9/11 mastermind's death, concern over what comes next, as well as politics, were part of the discourse.

Joel Bacow of Huntington Woods came in for a late breakfast with his son Jack, 13, who overslept after the pair stayed up late watching the news the previous night.

"My son just asked me how I felt – was I happy (bin Laden) was dead," Bacow said. "I'm not sure. I was happy he was dead just for the sake he was killed and that will bring closure. I think it's important he is brought to justice. But, personally, I would have preferred if he had been captured alive."

Jack also wished things had played out a bit differently.

"(Bin Laden) did do a lot of bad things and killed a lot of people," Jack said. "I wish he would have apologized instead of just said, 'Kill me.' "

The development comes nearly 10 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed thousands at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and in a Pennsylvania field where one of the hijacked jetliners crashed. The attacks led to military action in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere that continues today.

"I really wonder what's going to happen now," Bacow said. "It's a symbolic end. It's the end of an era. Now, you have the Arab Spring happening and that's going to shape the next decade, not al-Qaida."

Bacow was referring to a series of uprisings  in several Middle East nations – including Egypt, Libya, and others – demanding more freedom and civil rights.

As Margo Brabant of Royal Oak grabbed a seat at the counter, she asked if anyone had a newspaper she could read.

"It's a good news day, isn't it?" she said, by way of general greeting.

"I'm elated," Brabant said. "This is long overdue for the past administration. I'm very pro-Bush and I'm sure very pleased with the success of this operation. And, the current president, I'm proud of his stance to move when he did and make that decision.

"As far as Pakistan (where bin Laden was killed) is concerned, I do not think we should be funding them," she said. "We've given them, I understand, over a billion dollars and just guess where that's been channeled. And, I don't think they're innocent. I think they probably protected and sheltered him in their country."

Brabant said she still thinks about victims of the September 11 attacks and even watches the made-for-television movie Flight 93 each year to remind herself of the passengers' courage aboard the hijacked jetliner that ultimately crashed into a Pennsylvania field.

She said former President George W. Bush received unfair criticism over his response to the attacks that day when informed while reading to schoolchildren.

"You know his mind was racing," Brabant said. "But I liked that there was a calm before the storm."

She also said Bush took unwarranted flak for wearing his heart on his sleeve.

"He was a faith-based man and that is kind of verboten in this country," Brabant said. "You just don't talk about your beliefs."

 owner Becky Bone, for one, declined to discuss her thoughts on the subject Monday, instead letting her customers do the talking.

"You should have been here at 6 a.m. when the old guys were chatting," she said. "We have people who are Bush fans and Obama fans and they like to push each other's buttons.

"Me, I just stay out of it," Bone said with a smile. "I just talk about the lottery or the weather."