Osama bin Laden’s demise is newsworthy, no doubt, but you still surprise me with its excessive coverage in your main leader, briefing, and obituary, not to mention other articles that touch upon it in passing (“Now, Kill His Dream” and “They Got Him,” May 7, 2011). To my disappointment, you join the celebration hysteria. For some reason, I expected a bit more distance and much more prudence from your mighty newspaper. To give you an idea of what I am talking about, the first sentence I wrote upon hearing about celebrations in New York was as follows: “Imagine the Romans celebrating Attila’s demise in 453.” Undoubtedly, he was a huge nuisance to the Roman empire, but its fate hardly depended on either him or his Huns. Similarly, the fate of the American empire hardly depends on the assassinated leader of al-Qaeda or its Islamic fundamentalists. Just like Rome before it, America will be battered by all and sundry until it is eventually defeated and its hubris is forever obliterated. That is the way of all empires, and all their victories are therefore worth a little distance and much prudence.