For every action, there is a reaction

It has been one week since Britain awoke to the news that Osama bin Laden had been shot and killed by US military forces in Pakistan.

At around 6am last Bank Holiday Monday I was called by our Australian news desk who informed me of the news. Stumbling from my bed to the lounge, still half asleep and with the remnants of an enjoyable Sunday evening taking revenge on my skull, I was struggling to process the notion of putting one foot in front of the other let alone news that the world's most notorious terrorist had been killed.

The first thing I did was fire up my laptop to begin what would be a very long day. The second thing, as I slowly became a functioning human being again, was to switch on BBC News. I was greeted by live footage from outside the White House of what was effectively a street party. People up and down America had come out of their homes to celebrate Osama bin Laden's death.

As a nation rejoiced I looked on with mixed emotions; satisfied as the news of bin Laden's death began to sink in but I also felt surprised and somewhat uncomfortable at the reaction of the American people. I was in London when the 7/7 bombs struck and saw first-hand the terror and destruction al-Qaeda not only inflicted, but revelled in. So it is fair to say that I hated bin Laden to the core and was glad the world was rid of him… but all the same, I didn't feel the need to don my party hat. My mood was one of relief and that justice had finally been done, not jubilance, but perhaps that's just me.

Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks we were shown footage in Afghanistan of al-Qaeda supporters celebrating the news of thousands of American civilians being killed. Watching this I felt sick. How could anyone in the modern world find joy in such barbarism? The one thing that did do though was to galvanise every person and every government around the world with a sense of morality into hating al-Qaeda.

As I watched the American crowds holding posters which read 'Obama 1, Osama 0' and chanting 'USA, USA, USA' I was disappointed that they had sunk down to their enemies' level in celebrating death — even if it was the world's most despicable human. We know we are better than al-Qaeda but that doesn't mean we should stop showing it. As Paddy Ashdown said last week, it is exactly for the reason that we continuously do show it that makes us better than them in the first place.

In Barack Obama's speech he declared the world is now a safer place. It isn't. Just as we were galvanised following 9/11 and 7/7 al-Qaeda will be galvanised in its hatred for us more than ever now that westerners have revelled in its leader's death. Two days later security officials both here and in the US stated that they expect more terrorist attacks in the wake of bin Laden's death.

For every action there is a reaction; bin Laden got his reaction but we shouldn't be so naive to think that there won't be one for us. This was a small victory in a war that will never be won.