My (personal) take on Osama's death
Cross-posted at AustinHess.com and UncommonSenseBlog.com
Since Sunday night I’ve been too busy rapturously reading the news to comment on it. I’m so happy that Osama is dead and that the last thing he saw was an American Soldier aiming a gun at his head. The minute I heard that Osama had been killed, I rushed home, watched the announcement and then went out to celebrate with friends and family. I toasted (too much) champagne, and joined in the spontaneous rally of mostly college students on the Boston Common (in my Gadsden flag shirt) and chanted “USA! USA!” with a bunch of liberals for a change. I even took the day off of work Monday to watch the news all day. This is the happiest I have been… possibly ever. And I’m not ashamed of that.
To all the equivocating moralizing liberals masquerading as theologians admonishing us not to be happy or celebrate the death of another human being (however evil) and be more “Christ-like” in our reaction: I’m not Jesus, so STFU. Take your own advice and stop casting stones at other sinners, and if you want some quiet introspection, ask yourself why you AREN’T happy a mass murderer is dead.
Speaking of stone throwing… even worse are the moral relativists that equate the celebrations over Osama’s death to those we saw in the streets of the Middle East (including young children) as the Twin Towers fell on 9/11. The theologians at least have some consistency. These people are just despicable. The celebrations on 9/11 were celebrating the murder of 3,000 innocent civilian men, women, and children. We were celebrating the death of their killer, a great victory for our country, and the fact that justice had finally been served for those 3,000 victims (in addition to all Osama’s other victims).
As an aside, I’m also sick of people saying Osama’s death was somehow illegal. Andrew Napolitano (who is now dead to me) said it was “unconstitutional and immoral.” Osama Bin Laden attacked us, and was a legitimate target in the War on Terror as a non-state illegal enemy combatant. And we didn’t “violate” Pakistan’s “sovereignty” either because it doesn’t exist in the first place. Pakistan is a failing state that cannot control its own country well enough to keep terrorists and our enemies like the Taliban out of it, or their military enough to stop it from aiding them. We have given the Pakistani government ample notice that we would take action without notifying them if we found Osama. The leaders understand that, and (who knows?) may even actually have secretly authorized it (their current caterwauling is meant for domestic political consumption). It there is any conflict with this mission and “international law” it is the problem of international law, not this mission.
Anyways, unspeakably evil monsters like Osama have relinquished any claim on their humanity, and I feel nothing but joy at their demise. If I had the opportunity, I would have disemboweled Osama with my bare hands and strangled him with his own intestines… and then slept soundly, my only regret being that I couldn’t do it again (say, once more for every one of his victims).
Osama deserved to be gunned down like a dog (or preferably worse), and there is nothing wrong with being happy about it. I’ll remember where I was when I heard the news that he’d been killed (watching Mad Men at Kat’s place) just like I’ll remember where I was when I heard about the attacks on 9/11 (in study hall at Colonial Forge High School in Stafford, VA). I cried both days, but this time they were tears of joy. There was some feeling of… closure.
We were all victims of 9/11, and I think we should all feel some measure of closure. I can’t pretend to imagine how the families of those killed on 9/11 feel, but I hope they take some comfort in knowing that the man who masterminded the murder of their loved ones was not able to escape justice.
I’ve had a rather deep seated personal hatred (again, I don’t claim to be Jesus) for Osama for a long time, since about 1995-1996, when I first witnessed his evil. I was living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the time, when the OPM-SANG building was bombed killing several Americans (wounding far more), including the parents of some of the children at my school. Life there was already pretty militarized, but it started to feel like a war zone after that, with the mazes of Jersey barriers our school buses had to drive through while being inspected for bombs and taking secret coded randomly selected routes to school to avoid anyone being able to observe a pattern to develop a plan to attack us. After the Khobar Towers bombing, the families were evacuated, leaving my Dad behind to finish his job. It was a rather rude awakening from the naive sense of security of childhood. I’ve hated Osama and his ilk with a very personal passion ever since.
I watched the news of terror attacks pretty closely after that, but wasn’t personally effected until 9/11. I was in study hall, where the radio was on, and heard what was going on. For some reason the school administration thought it would be best to keep the news from people so as not to cause panic, which I suppose is understandable considering we lived in an exurb of D.C. and every third kid’s Dad worked at the Pentagon, including my own. He was in the Pentagon that day (along with several family friends). I remember the panic building in me during my English class while my teacher blathered on about poetry, until a hall monitor dropped off a note from my Mom: “Dad’s OK.” I didn’t find out until later that night that my Aunt and her family were in New York City on vacation at the time, and had the WTC on their agenda for that morning. Thankfully they were not early risers that morning.
So, Osama has had a profound influence in my life, as he has much of the 9/11 generation. My hatred for him even influenced my choice of career: doing counter-terrorism related research for the Department of Defense at MIT.
I am ecstatic that he is dead.
Beyond my personal animosity, though, we as a nation have great reason to celebrate. We finally got him. He was not able to escape justice. Every day that he lived after 9/11 was a national embarrassment and made us look weak, bolstering his argument that he we were impotent and that he was under the protection of Allah. We have proven our resolve as a nation, and sent a clear message that if you attack us, we will track you down and destroy you, no matter how long or how much effort it takes. It is a great moral victory. Justice has been done.
I am not a big Obama fan, as you probably know, but I will give credit where credit is due. The mission was risky and its outcome uncertain, and I applaud Obama for doing the right thing and pulling the trigger. He also went with a surgical strike with soldiers rather than a bomb, so we could be sure he was dead (and to avoid collateral damage, which he prioritizes), which was a good call. He also put the SEALs' safety first, making sure they didn’t take any unnecessary risks trying to capture rather than kill Osama, thereby sparing America (and himself) the legal headache of a trial for Osama (which would have given him a huge platform for grandstanding and could have attracted more attacks on our soil).
I give even more credit to Obama in his willingness to take the political risk of angering his support base by bending his stringent ideology to reality on many terrorism and foreign policy related issues. By and large, he has continued Bush’s policies (which were a political liability for him), which have proven effective at keeping the country safe, and, indeed, contributed greatly to Osama’s death. The intelligence that identified Osama’s courier was provided in large part through Gitmo, wire-taps, “enhanced interrogation” (like waterboarding), rendition, and CIA interrogations in “black-site” prisons in foreign countries. Obama demagogued the hell out of Bush for these policies while on the campaign trail, but when forced to actually take responsibility for keeping the American people safe, learned their necessity and kept them in place. In that regard, he actually has (despite his inexperience) learned on the job and not been nearly the disaster on security and foreign policy issues that I had feared (though I still have plenty of complaints).
Politically, Obama is probably the big winner here, though I think that Bush is a big winner too, since his policies have been vindicated. I’m only willing to go so far in my praise for Obama, though. For one, his announcement and subsequent remarks have been nauseatingly narcissistic, with a gratuitous amounts of credit-taking “I’s” and “me’s” and “my’s”. You get the impression that going after Bin Laden was HIS idea in the first place. In fact, he had very little to do with it, and when Osama was found, Obama essentially signed off on the no-brainer (pun not intended) mission. He only deserves so much credit for doing what every other President ever would have done in that situation.
In point of fact, people were reasonably sure where he was back in August. Additionally, Obama apparently waited 16 hours while he slept on it over night before saying “ok.” Obama may have had his hand forced because dumped Wiki-leaks documents might have tipped off Osama that his courier had been compromised and caused him to flee. Keep in mind that at any point Osama could have fled. And how badly would that reflect on Obama now, if we had known for a long time where Osama was and he disappeared while Obama dithered? There are also unsubstantiated rumors that Obama was dragged into the operation kicking and screaming by Hillary, Panetta, et. al.
Ultimately, my biggest gripe with Obama’s handling of this situation is the aftermath. First there was the burial at sea. I think the decision was a good one, in that the absence of a burial site precludes a shrine or pilgrimage destination for his followers. I think, though, that the pretense of an Islamic burial is ridiculous. First off, in Islam a burial at sea is only acceptable as a last resort, when someone dies at sea and cannot be brought to land within the required 24 hours for a burial. Many Muslims have angrily pointed that out (illustrating the futility of trying to appease them). Secondly, in America we do not bend to any religion’s requirements for a quick burial when there is important information that can be gleaned from a body, such as a murder victim for instance. I don’t know how much of an autopsy Osama got other than what was necessary to ID him, but we could have gotten all sorts of useful information. This could include forensic evidence of the circumstances of his death (some will no doubt speculate that we’re trying to cover something up). It could also include intelligence. We could tell if intel (and its sources) about his alleged illnesses were accurate. Hell, even his stomach contents might give clues to his behavior. Who knows, maybe he’d been eating at the Pakistani military academy mess hall.
His body should have been brought to an undisclosed location within the US, examined until we were sure there was nothing more to gain from it (without regard for the 24 hour burial requirement), and then unceremoniously incinerated and its ashes disposed of (preferably in a toilet). The “Islamic” burial may have given an excuse for a quick disposal (though that seems suspicious to conspiracy theorists), but the real reason was more political… and more insulting. Osama did not deserve a respectful burial. I personally would have preferred to feed him to the pigs, or better yet tour him around the US for viewing or hang his body at Ground Zero… but I can see how some might find that “offensive.” Obama decided to give Osama a proper Islamic burial, however, so as not to “inflame Muslim sentiment.”
That’s also his reason for refusing to release the Osama death photos, which I find even more egregious than the respectful burial. They also say there is no need to release the photos is that conspiracy theorists won’t believe them, which is ludicrous. Sure, hard core conspiracy theorists won’t believe them (and think Israel is responsible for shark attacks), but there are a lot of people out there who want proof (and are able to be convinced), and the quick disposal of the body and refusal to release any visual proof might seem suspicious to them. It bolster’s the conspiracy theorists arguments and grows their ranks. I’m getting deja vu of the Birther controversy. As with the Birthers, the controversy is politically advantageous to Obama in that he can drag it out for a while and keep people from talking about real issues, and release the photos at a politically opportune time (they’re going to get out eventually, either by him “magnanimously” relenting or through a leak). Maybe we need to get Trump to demand the photos.
The argument that releasing the photos (or not giving him a proper Islamic burial) is going to outrage Muslims and create a violent backlash is ridiculous on its face. First of all, are we to believe that people who would turn violent at the sight of Osama’s bullet-ridden face are shrugging their shoulders at the fact that we shot him in the first place? Secondly, who cares? Flush ‘em out. The CIA should be noting anyone they see turn out in the streets in the Middle East angrily waving those photos. This wouldn’t make our soldiers targets. They already are. In fact, it might be better for any “backlash” to occur while they’re on high alert and expecting it. Thirdly, I thought Osama didn’t represent the true faith of Islam, the “religion of peace.” That’s what CAIR always says. If so, why would Muslims get angry? Shouldn’t they be embarrassed that Osama got an Islamic burial, and be insulted that Obama thinks they’d get angry if he released the photos? We’re in a War on Terror, not a War on Islam, so why would a casualty insult Muslims?
Finally, and most outrageously, why does Obama care more about appeasing jihadists than he does about appeasing Americans? As I mentioned, the best part about Osama’s death is that it sends the message (or ought to) to our enemies. Releasing the photos would show our enemies their future, and the cost of attacking us. The refusal to release those photos for fear of the rage and reaction of jihadists undercuts that message and makes us look weak. Obama heeds their ire more than that of the American people, and that is a terrible message to send, and incredibly insulting to the country which he (temporarily) represents.
President “Transparency” (how’s that working out?) is not only hypocritical (remember the Abu Ghraib photos?) and cowardly in his refusal to release the photos, he is insufferably condescending toward the American people for wanting them released at all. He lectures us about taking victory laps (as he does so at Ground Zero) saying we shouldn’t “spike footballs” and “that’s not who we are.” That may not be who you are, Spock (I’m starting a new birther conspiracy theory that Obama was actually born, not in Kenya, but on Vulcan), but you don’t speak for me. I’m a human, and I’m in the mood for a little grave-dancing. Sure, there’s an element of morbid curiosity and bloodlust, and I do want to put the pictures on T-shirts and coffee mugs, but so what? It’s cathartic. And that’s the most compelling reason to release the pictures. It will provide closure. That’s the same reason victims' family members are allowed to witness the executions of their loved ones' murderers.
Obama isn’t alone in his idiocy either. The House Intelligence Committee Chairman sided with him, drawing an analogy asking how American’s would feel if jihadists release photos of one of our dead soilders. Newsflash: they do! And are you saying that our soldiers are as bad as Osama? See my above comments on moral relativism. And this guy’s a Republican! Truly, stupidity knows no partisan boundaries.
Another reason I believe Obama deserves little credit for the operation itself is that it was so successful, meaning he must not have been involved. Look at how badly he and his team have handled their side of it on the public relations front. Was there are firefight or not? Was Osama armed? Did he resist? Did he use a woman as a human shield? Are you going to release the photos (as Panetta and others said)? They can’t get their stories straight. It’s amateur hour at the White House.
For all these reasons, I don’t think Obama is going to get much of a benefit. He took out Osama, and then turned around at the moment when they should all be with them and started antagonizing them and reminding him of his flagrant incompetence. I’ve been watching the polls, and while he got a bump of a few points, I think that is going to dissipate quickly (as all similar bumps in the past have), especially with all the dire economic news. And I don’t think this takes foreign policy off the table for criticizing Obama either. Every good idea he’s had on foreign policy was originally George Bush’s (and he originally opposed), and every bad idea he’s had has been his own (and all of his own ideas have been bad). He deserves a modicum of credit for this, but that doesn’t mean he’s a good president (he’s just not insane enough to not have done it). I can’t wait until we get a real President.
Obama really had to work really hard to get on my bad side on this. I really wanted to be able to give him a pat on the back about this, but he has screwed it up royally. Only Barack Obama could send Navy Seals on a daring covert mission to successfully kill Osama Bin Laden and come out of it looking like a condescending America-bashing self-aggrandizing jihadist-appeasing hypocritical incompetent dithering pantywaist.
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