One More Dispatched To His Virgins
Bin Laden is dead. We give full credit to President Obama for stepping up and issuing the order, and to our forces on the ground for the flawless execution of the plan. It was an opportunity that had eluded President Bush 43, and one that President Clinton had passed on. Justice has been served. This will give a measure of closure to the survivors. Still, in the end, it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter because the dead are still dead, the maimed are still not whole, and the survivors still have an emptiness in their lives where memories are all that are left of loved ones. It doesn't matter for those who fear sleep more than exhaustion, and who for those who console themselves with mood altering substances.
It doesn't matter because Bin Laden was only one man. The snake will grow a new head, and the terrorists will keep coming at us. They will never, NEVER stop. They do not want peace, they want victory. They want us to be afraid.
Why rain on the congratulations being handed out like cheap cigars? In answering that question, I speak only for me. I have a personal stake in this. I was born across the river from Manhattan, in the 6th borough - New Jersey. As a boy I watched in awe as the towers rose out of the ground. As a grown man, I watched in horror as they crumbled back down. Bin Laden killed three of my friends directly that day. He killed another indirectly two years later, when a friend from my boyhood could not bear the loss of his wife any longer, and volunteered to join her.
Don't get me wrong - I am glad that Bin Laden is dead. That's barbaric, but so what? Bin Laden was a barbarian. Sometimes fire must be fought with fire. Sometimes an individual, a group or a nation cannot be persuaded or negotiated with, and needs to be put down. Bin Laden was one such case. There are others. Even if it can only be called vengeance, it is a justified vengeance.
I am also glad of the manner in which he was killed. Carpet bombing the compound would have been the easier choice. It could be done remotely with no danger to US troops, but we would never have proof of Bin Laden's death, in much the same way that many survivors of 9-11 received no final remains of their family members and friends.
Bin Laden was shot in the head, measured, photographed, identified, and had his DNA run. Proof of death. I have a wish beyond that proof - a fantasy really. It would be that a video exists of Bin Laden crying, pleading for his life, and wetting his pants like the coward that he was as a Colt 45 is held to his head and the trigger squeezed. It would serve justice for him to be as aware of his impending death, as those on the upper floors of the World Trade Center were on that fateful day nearly 10 years ago.
The rumor mill is swirling already. That also doesn't matter. It matters not if he was killed on Sunday, or a week ago, or even 7 years ago. He's dead. It doesn't matter if he got a Muslim funeral at sea. He's dead. It doesn't matter that there are 2 year-old doctored photos circulating. He's dead. And he will stay that way. He has been dispatched to his eternal fate which I imagine that he will find disappointing.
Life for you, and life for me will not see a change from the death of Bin Laden. We will still remove our shoes at the airport. We will still think twice before getting in an elevator bound for the top floors of a skyscraper. We will still get news of yet another heinous act of vulgarity committed against an innocent by the next rabid terrorist. We will still have in the back of our minds the faint whispers that some day those protecting us will miss something, and the terrorists will one day again succeed here.
Common Sense Dictates
We hope that as President Obama takes his victory lap for himself and his predecessor, that he does not consider this job done. He did say that the primary objective of our actions in Afghanistan and Pakistan was to "capture or kill" Bin Laden. The primary objective is not the only objective. It would be a mistake to declare victory and close up shop.
We do not need to run a major war effort. We do not need to build viable nations anywhere. We do need to keep killing terrorists and disrupting their plans. We do need to keep bringing it to them so that they stay incapable of bringing the fight to us. The Delta Force / Seal Team 6 model has reportedly been used. It seems a likely scenario from analysis of available information. Adopting that model as a basis for further action in Afghanistan and Pakistan seems like a reasonable shift in strategy.
We will need a forward base that is defensible, and the personnel and equipment required to support those operations. Their only mission would be to hunt terrorists. If Afghanistan wants the current corrupt government or a brand new dictator, let them figure it out for themselves.
Let our message be that we really don't care what you do in your sandbox or your pile of rocks, but if you screw with us we will rain down hell on you. If you are helpful there will be benefits, if not keep out of our way.
We know that President Obama wants out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Since we seem to be getting out of the business of supporting corrupt repressive regimes (Egypt, Libya), we can see him looking for the exits where we are still committed. We hope that President Obama resists the urge to use the death of Bin Laden as a pretense to get out.
We at TPP would support rethinking the mission. Recalibrating our goals, and adjusting troop levels in order to maximize success in meeting the goals of the newly defined mission is definitely in order. We do not find the current mission to be realistically achievable with the tools in use. We are of the opinion that our military resources are being squandered, and our diplomatic resources have proven ineffective.
This situation has arisen out of several years of neglect for the actual mission that was tasked with responding to the 9-11 attacks. It has been noted in these pages that our detour into Iraq came at the expense of our mission in Afghanistan. We support a return to that mission. No one envisioned an eternal war of nation building in the autumn of 2001. We would support President Obama should he decide in favor of a responsible return to our original mission, and a real plan for success.
As for Bin Laden, the only thing left is to install a reminder of him at Ground Zero, the Pentagon and in Shanksville, PA. We suggest a spittoon.
RLB
Categories: National Security, Foreign Affairs, Terrorism, political leadership
Tags: foreign policy political leadership terrorism war on terror
Or a urinal. Sorry for your personal loss. At least this is a small measure of justice. Time to hang KSM down in Gitmo now.
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This has been a hard time for a lot of people since President Obama made the announcement. I didn't know anyone who died on 9/11, but I was in shock for days afterward anyway. I think that Osama deserved what he got, and that the President did the right thing.
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Perhaps he could have two memorials at each site...a toilet in both the mens and ladies rooms with a brass plaque that reads "Flush twice, it's a long way to the Arabian Sea!"
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It's nice to see that Obama has done something that finally meets your approval. I'm actually with you on this. I was born and raised in Queens. OBL met his fair fate. Let Allah explain to him where he went wrong.
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You're right in a lot of areas. Delta force should be our primary weapon. Targeted, focused, and aimed at the goal of neutralizing terroists. We went horribly wrong when theneo-cons got us into nation building. That was always a fool's errand. It's not that it wouldn't be nice to do, or that they can't handle democracy. It's just not our job to hold their hands with our military. It is the military's job to keep us safe. I hope that Obama does change the strategy, otherwise we will only take on a wider war.
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I agree that Osama needed to be killed, and that the President did the right thing. I'm put off by the cheering demonstrators though. The crowd outside the White House and at the Trade Center looked a lot like those Arab crowds chanting "death to America" every time we do something that offends them. It just seems like we droppoed to their level.
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I'd feel a lot better about this if they kept the body instead of dumping it at sea. I have no reason to think that Obama is making stuff up, but I'd just like the absolute proof of the body. Then I'd like his head removed and put on display at Ground Zero.
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The reports are saying that the body was buried at sea to avoid having a shrine created around the site of his grave. That makes enough sense for me. I credit them showing the respect of doing a Muslim burial as well. It underlines the differences between our culture and what the terrorists call Islam. We give individual respect even where none is called for.
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I would have liked to see his face when he realized he was going to die.
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All that matters is that he will never again threaten the citizens of the USA. What they needed to do for Obama to give the order was fine by me.
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EXCELLENT article, Robert, and so well thought out. I would, however, not want a spittoon at our 9/11 memorial sites. I think a PORK barbecue stand would be more appropriate.
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This is very true it will go on, But what stains me is that the Papaers at least some call "O" brave, For what doing the right thing no this is not Bravery! the SEALS were brave, The ARMY pilots were brave but for signing an order "NO". When one knowingly goes into a situation that one knws is of great risk to ones own life that is bravery! Now i give props to "O" for doing the right thing, But also give credit where it is due proper credit. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/05/osama-bin-laden-dead.html
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Wow - spellcheck CMORE, and maybe a little punctuation. You want to appear a little bit literate if you want to be taken seriously.
I think this whole conversation has gone off the rails out there in medialand. Obama did the right thing, plain and simple. It's not his job to carry a gun and Rambo up the place. It's his job to send men into harm's way to kill a scumbag. I don't know about you, but if I ordered men into danger and even one died in the operation, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. You may like Obama or hate him, but I don't think he took this lightly.
I'm not apologizing for him. I don't even like the guy much. His economic policies are a disaster, and he's an arrogant SOB, but in this he was right. How about we just accept the good news that OBL will never again hurt an innocent American?
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See, I could give the big O credit with no problems, except that before I could offer it, he grbbed it out of my hands. His announcement had more"I" and "me" in it than anything else. You said it yourself John - he's arrogant, and has no sense of decorum. People go around thinking that Bush was stupid, but he always addressed the American people with "we" and "us". It wasn't his personal one man show of amazement. That's all I'm complaining about.
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I went down to Ground Zero yesterday, and it's still hard to be there. I don't care what Obama's motivations were or who gets the credit. It was the right call. God bless our men and women in the military. I hope bin Laden is enjoying hell.
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I don't know - something smells funny about all of this. They send a six man team in to a fortified compound, shoot Osama, then dump the body in the sea. What is this - an episode of The Unit? Now Obama is going to release a picture. There are already phony pictures of Osama being dead circulating. I'm not buying any of this.It's a stunt.
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I'm not sure how I feel about any of this. We do a invade an ally to assasinate a bad guy in the middle of the night. We don't do that kind of thing. He should have been subdued and brought to trial. Cowboy Bush was wrong in his methods. they are no more right when President obama does them.
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This whole thing is a stain on us. Osama was killed as a result of information that was gotten by methods that President Obama called morally wrong when running for President. Torture. Illegal cell phone taps. Renditions. It is disgusting that Obama would sacrifice his principles to score some political points.
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You don't have to have your moral problems with this. Osama is too big an asset to kill. He's coling his heels in a CIA hole somewhere being convinced to cooperate. That's why we get a picture, not a body.
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Entertaining crowd you have this week. For me, Osama is dead and Obama made the right decision, and our military has once again proven it is the greatest on the planet. Anything beyond that is just people gossiping.
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I don't have even a little problem with any of this. OBL was evil and needed to have a direct conversation with God. Glad we halped him get an early appointment. Obama made the right call, and might even get some street cred back on the worldstage if he follows up well with the next crisis. I'm finding it a little funny that the Republicans have less of a problem with this than the Democrats. Maybe Obama will discover the benefit of doing a Clinton.
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Reports are coming out now that Osama wasn't even armed. How does that require deadly force? This is not what we are about.
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The mission was "capture or kill". Osama didn't want to be captured. He chose his own option. I wouldn't have risked getting a hangnail over this mass murdering piece of crap.
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A friend of mine is a retired Navy SEAL. He didn't have any specific info on this mission, but he said that the choppers hold 24, so if there were 2 of them it could have been up to 48 guys going in. That's a sizable force for busting into a compound.
Now the funny part. The SEALs train in San Diego, but are based in Virginia. So, Osama didn't get 72 Virgins. He got sent to allah by 48 Virginians. Maybe it's just a typo in the koran.
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So Obama wasn't armed. BFD. Neither were the people in the World Trade Center. To hell with him.
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Obama announced no release on the dead Osama pics. We get to watch the towers go down over and over on TV, but we don't get to see the justice money shot. Maybe Trump can get on this now.
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Personally, I hope they sewed Osama's dead carcus up inside a pigskin before dumping his ass in the ocean. I hope that evil bastard doesn't poison the fish! SEMPER FI, STAB 'EM IN THE EYE!!!
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It's too bad that all the marines who killed him were then killed as well. Could this be Obama's way of making up to the Islamists for giving the order to kill bin Laden just to make us look away from his 2nd fake birth certificate? He is NOT my president, he is NOT legally holding that office & he gets NO credit from me! I hope Obama rots in hell WITH Osama! They are both American hating Muslims. The only difference is one of them sold his soul to sell put our country. The other just hates US because his cult told him to!
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