I’ve seen television coverage of big celebrations over the death of Osama bin Laden. I can’t say that I feel motivated to join, however. It isn’t that I will miss bin Laden, but rather that I don’t like the idea of the United States people being at war with a single individual in a suburb of Islamabad. Our concerns as a nation should be larger than any one of us or any one of “them”.
(Related: I wrote a few times about how it upset me that George W. Bush would directly mention Saddam Hussein or angry Iraqis in speeches (example).)
[Separately, people have been asking me about the Black Hawk that was crashed during the raid. I explained that it cost about $20 million and that if I were flying around a leafy hilly suburb at night it wouldn’t be long before I put my tail rotor into a tree or wall. “I heard that they had a mechanical failure,” responded a friend. “That would be my mechanical failure,” I replied. “My tail rotor failed.” (So far the details about what happened to the helicopter have been sketchy, ranging from a random mechanical failure to a grenade.)]
I heard a defense analyst (nbc’s I think) say that an unnamed pentagon source told him the mechanical failure was caused by hitting a wall.
The description of the compound is enormous, but when I google earthed it, I was immediately wondering how they put 2 helicopters down in it.
That said, I think there is a difference between a Bin Laden, a non-state entity terrorist, and Saddam Hussein, who like it or not, is recognized as head of a sovereign state.
Our concerns as a nation are bigger than one man.
That doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate when justice is served to a hateful lunatic who has directly victimized thousands of innocent people.
I find it interesting that most Americans will celebrate the death of someone that they never knew. Yes, his ideological views are different from ours but so are most of the worlds. To celebrate death of any form is to hate; hate only breeds hate and nothing good will come of it. Sighs at peoples ability to understand that other cultures want us to stay out of their land and stop ravaging it for oil. We get upset by the BP oil spill but learn nothing from it. Our governments greed in the name of freedom is something that every American should be ashamed of, not something that they should celebrate.
CNN showing picture of tail rotor hanging on the wall.
We get upset when we see images of an aggregation of people in the streets of some foreign city celebrating the deaths of, say, Americans. When I see Americans in NYC or D.C. shouting “U.S.A., U.S.A.” over news of the death of Osama bin Laden, as if we’d just heard the news of the German surrender at the end of W.W.II, I just shake my head and turn off the T.V.
I saw a friend on Facebook proclaim that the technique used to find Bin Laden was waterboarding, with an exclamation point, like he was proud of the fact we use torture and happened to get lucky. I really looked around to try to verify this and found nothing, so lord knows which site he found this information. I found myself incredibly ashamed when this sort of act brings up feelings like that in people I know to be able to justify our actions.
I like how many news sources made it a point to quote Obama on saying that no civilians were hurt in the raid, neglecting to mention that our 10 year war against this man did, in fact, kill many tens of thousands of civilians, regardless of whether this one specific raid did. I hardly feel any less bitter about the war on terror because of it.
chris o@5 “CNN showing picture of tail rotor hanging on the wall.”
Hmm. Does Phillip have an alibi for the time in question??
Now we know the helicopter was a secret stealth version with a non standard tail rotor, IR suppressing paint, & a reduced headspeed to reduce noise. Surprised anything that advanced would even have a tail rotor. Just when you thought the Comanche was over, another one appears, that you never knew existed. Can’t wait for for the East Coast Aero Club to offer those rides on Groupon.
Interesting article: Bin Laden’s war against the U.S. economy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/bin-ladens-war-against-the-us-economy/2011/04/27/AFDOPjfF_blog.html
The point is obviously not the single individual outside Islamabad. The point is the psychological damage done to the al-Qaida and the fact that the US won’t let itself be played by Pakistan. i.e. “We’re not stupid, OK?”.
Personally, I find it almost barbaric that
we (Americans) would celebrate another
human being’s death. Further, it’s downright
troubling.
This reminds me of the Iraqi playing cards. Not one of our finer ideas. Life and death should require a higher level of reverence.
Bin Laden and KSM were the two masterminds behind a well planned out, deliberate plan to kill about 3,000 innocent U.S. civilians. Bin Laden actually boasted that he was responsible. Of course we should be glad he is dead. I would LOVE to be the guy who put a bullet between his eyes.
Even better would be if we captured him alive and then let me handle the interrogation of him. Waterboarding would have a new meaning after I was done with him.
And of course we should have celebrated with Germany surrended. What would you prefer, that Germany did not surrender and more people on both sides continue to die?
My own belief it that the taking of a life should not be taken lightly. Did Bin Laden take it lightly when he orchestrated or supported the killing of thousands of lives? Another way to look at this might be that the taking of Osama’s life might have saved countless other innocent lives in the future from horrific deaths. Is this too pragmatic? Too unemotional? I’m glad he’s gone. Not happy. Not joyful.
Fred: I wasn’t arguing against killing the guy. I was saying that I didn’t want to go to a street party to celebrate the killing.
Phil: I’m not arguing against killing him either. Just because I believe the taking of a life shouldn’t be taken lightly, doesn’t mean in this case, it shouldn’t have been done. I too am not celebrating his death in a party. My point is that it’s a pragmatic decision, not an emotional one, as far as I’m concerned. OBL has helped caused a lot of needless pain and suffering in this world and would have likely caused a lot more.
Phil –
Good sentiments. Good to have the guy gone, but dancing around his grave is a tad macabre & petty.
From Wired Magazine….Black helicopters are real!
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/aviation-geeks-scramble-to-i-d-osama-raids-mystery-copter/all/1
Thanks, Phil, for articulating an opinion that I have felt for years.
I would have liked the briefings to be held by a Navy Master Sergeant. This guy was a criminal who got ran a 50 person conspiracy which, through our bad luck and lack of preparation, did a lot of damage. His name passing our President’s lips only glorifies him and encourages his followers.
Winston Churchill said “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”
Considering how much valuable information the former commander of al-Qaeda must have, is it possible that the story of OBL’s death is just misinformation?