I'm a critic and a skeptic

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Everyone needs an Osama Blog

Is anyone ever going to be happy? We killed Osama bin Laden. The man was responsible not only for the deaths of Americans but as well as people of other nations. An elite team of spec ops soldiers executed a near perfect mission (equipment failure) and took him out. Now everyone is crying for proof and saying show us pictures. Why the burial at sea? Why did they shoot him, he was unarmed? Conspiracy theories I’m not even going to repeat because they are just stupid. What’s it say about us that we feel we’re always being lied to?

I feel that this administration has handled this completely appropriately. There are things the average person will never know regarding this situation or other situations like it. Sometimes security trumps transparency. I think the proof should have been made available sooner but this is a delicate situation for everyone. Everything that happens now has to be met with extra caution. We have always been a terror target and we will always be one.

Why did we kill him if he was unarmed? How was he resisting? Does it really matter? I don’t know of a single person who would have done it differently. Killing him was our best option for many reasons. Had we captured him alive, we would have to secure him in a prison somewhere. The threat level knowing he was alive would always be elevated. Eventually he would have to be moved for trial, Red Cross workers would want access to him to verify he is being treated fairly. With so many people involved with his security, keeping a lid on his location would be extremely difficult. We knew of his death two hours before we were told about it. We would surely learn where he was being kept. Just think of the possible attacks on bases where terrorists think he might be held.

I understand about the bloodlust we Americans felt. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t desired to kill the man myself. We already killed the man most terrorists viewed as the figurehead of Al Qaeda. As Americans we do need to show some resolve when handling his death. His followers are already angry we killed him; we would just intensify the hate by plastering the world news with images of his corpse. Some would argue they hate us anyway and showing the picture wouldn’t change a thing and for the most part they are right. By not plastering the news we are showing that we had a problem, we took care of it, and we don’t need to glorify it. We don’t need to show them what we will do to our enemies; chances are they’ve seen it firsthand.

Why the burial at sea? Why not? The most hated man in the world deserved a lot worse than a sea burial; he did not deserve to be put in the ground. I heard so many things and I am guilty of saying some of them. Bottom line when they had the body he posed the same security risks as if they had captured him alive.

For an administration that I have had a hard time agreeing with just about anything they’ve done, I back this fully. It’s common sense people. Let this victory sink in and enjoy it if you must. Don’t jump to conclusions and start make assumptions and conspiracy theories, sometimes things are just as they seem.

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