polkadots--I don't know how all 330 million Americans see themselves. I do know that the celebration of the death of one's enemies in one form or another is universal to human society, and singling one group out to shame them for it is a bit ridiculous. The British didn't take to the streets because they rarely do; their public celebrations can be seen in the headlines of such papers as The Sun, Daily Mail, etc.

I personally did not celebrate the death of Bin Laden, as I did not have much invested in it. He lived by the sword and so he died by it. I also don't think it will change much, but I do hope it provides comfort to his victims.

In terms of eye-for-an-eye, if Bin Laden and his supporters took an eye from the US, the US responded by mauling the entire body of Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. and now reserves the right to extract its vengeance on any nation or people via the Bush doctrine.