Osama bin Laden was a powerful man, although he used it for vicious ends. He had hard power, the power of explosives and kamikaze strikes, but he also had soft power, the ability to turn young people into ruthless suicide bombers.

The most fearful part of bin Laden's strength is not his unpredictable way to launch terrorist attack, but the charisma that united anti-US forces from all over the world.

"Why do they hate us so much?" was the question that the US media posed the day after 9/11 attack. Here, "They" refers not only to the extremists who run after bin Laden or the ones who show sympathy to terrorism, but also those who hated both bin Laden and the US.

For the US and some Western media, it was bin Laden who was the instigator of such emotions. However, bin Laden was taking advantage of an existing ideology rather than creating it.

It's never difficult for the likes of bin Laden to find and magnify such anger in the Middle East.

For those homeless Palestinians whose homes were burned to the ground by Israeli forces, the whole of the West seemed to be engaged in reenacting the Crusades.

Though US President Barack Obama gave a nine minute speech on bin Laden's death, the only noticeable part was: "As we do, we must also reaffirm that the United States is not, and never will be, at war with Islam.

"I've made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims.

"Indeed, Al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity."

Obviously, Obama was once again trying to distinguish bin Laden from the whole Islamic world just as his predecessor George W. Bush did when he launched the war on terror.

It is clearly needed when some pundits and politicians are more likely to combine the two together. Even if bin Laden is neutralized, such attitudes still persist.

Actions against terrorism should never be questioned when it comes to the safety of the US and the entire human race, but if the deep-rooted hatred of the US and the rest of the West is not completely removed, such safety will never be ensured.

What worries many is that, the negative feelings of the Arab world toward the West are not declining but, in some region, strengthening year by year.

Such tensions can be escalated by domestic economic stagnation, mounting unemployment, corruption and dictatorship.

What's worse, if the West offers a misplaced "helping hand," it can trigger further riots, as witnessed by the burning of the British and Italian embassies in Libya recently.

It seems that we are back to the point where we started: "Why do they hate us so much?"

The US has to choose how to get along with the Islamic world and to convince them that the existing collision is not a so-called clash of civilizations. Otherwise the 21st century will look as insecure as ever.

The author is a senior reporter with the People's Daily. He is now based in Bangkok. dinggang@globaltimes.com.cn