“I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”-Mark Twain (a quote circulating on Twitter last night)
I can’t even say that I’ve read any obituaries with pleasure. Even the death of Saddam Hussein struck me with the grim satisfaction of a terrible job done, rather than joy. It isn’t that I’m particularly pacifistic or spiritual. I just never see human death as a cause for happiness, even if the world is better off with that person dead.
Almost never. I’m happy that Osama Bin Laden is dead. I’m happy that he died violently, at the hands of Americans, rather than of natural causes. And I’m happy that we have his body.
Paraphrasing President Obama last night: Bin Laden was a mass murderer of Muslims and other people. The Americans who killed him are heroes.
To borrow a phrase from Julie: We can hope this year is a turning point for the Middle East, turning away from terrorism and toward growth. Certainly there’s a long way to go, and the potential for great tragedies ahead. Egypt may yet turn out to be a military coup in disguise rather than an authentic democratic revolution. Without Ghaddafi, Libya could become a failed state and a haven for violence and terror. As I write this it’s Sunday night, and the next 12 hours could bring a lot of news, both good and bad.
Still, despite all the reasons for ongoing concern about the Middle East, the great mass political events there of this year and last were not terror attacks directed against civilians and the West, they were strikes against tyrants and murderers like Mubarak, Ghaddafi, and now Bin Laden.
Osama Bin Laden is dead, killed by Americans.
That’s a good way to start the week.
And yet it’s a bittersweet victory. In the past ten years since the 9/11 attacks, we’ve seen a dramatic erosion of civil rights, a permanent state of war, and the transition of America to an empire. We’ve tortured people deemed by our government to be enemies. Distracted by foreign wars, we’ve allowed American schools and infrastructure to deteriorate, retreated from science into superstition, we’re losing our standing as the science, technology and business leader of the world and beacon of freedom, and nearly lost an entire American city to Hurricane Katrina.
Osama Bin Laden didn’t do that to us. Al Qaeda didn’t do it. We did it to ourselves. Let’s get to work undoing that, shall we?
Hopefully, the timing of Trump’s accusations, the release of the long-form birth certificate, and Bin Laden’s execution put an end to both Trump’s political ambitions and the ridiculous birther controversy. There are plenty of intelligent reasons to oppose Obama, but he was born in Hawaii and he’s a natural-born American citizen, and anyone who believes otherwise, or even doubts these things, is foolish. Also, Trump is a clown, he has failed at every business but self-promotion, and he’s not to be taken seriously.
*Very* well put. I’m glad he’s gone, too; the day feels brighter and I somehow hope that innocent people that bin Laden would have killed will now live out their lives. Meanwhile we’ve got a mess to clean up in America, a mess caused not by bin Laden but by ourselves.
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Like you Mitch,
I am happy that Bin Laden died violently, and at the hands of Americans. But it still won’t bring my cousin back on all the others killed that day. My cousin Ronnie was a 27 year old single parent who had so many things still to accomplish in life. On that beautiful late summer morning, Osama Bin Laden Orchestrated a plan that insured that Ronnie, would never see her son grow up; took away her ability to have more children; finish college and live a long life. Her death caused a ripple affect on my family of grief,anger, blame and loss that was a direct result of the death of her brother a month later. While I am glad that he is dead, his death will never repair the long lasting damage his acts caused to my family and all of the other families.He executed those people without a trial, and he was executed in the same manner……
I’m so sorry for your loss, Dawn.
One of my coworkers ran out of World Trade Center on 9/11. Today, she is quiet. The subway was quiet. Downtown seems quiet.
Ten years ago, every corner stand (the ones that sell Statue-of-Liberty headresses, I HEART NY hoodies, gloves, crystals, etc.) also sold long, drifting flag scarves. Many of us wore them tied to our pocketbooks. As the GWOT wore on and the scarves became tattered, most of us put them away as remembrances.
In the middle of last night, I waked and hunted out my scarf. Today, I wore it. A woman saw it dragging on the ground from the subway seat on which my purse rested and told me.
I am astonished at Obama’s poker face. I am…relieved…that one of our enemies is gone. I am profoundly relieved that Osama bin Laden was given honorable burial by Muslim rites because, as we used to say, way back when, “The Whole World Is Watching.” If this is a Crusade, let us behave like Saladin, rather than Reynald of Chatillon, whom he executed.
Congratulations to our troops and Intel community. I should add that World Trade is rising from the ashes fast now. Never forget.
Good comments, Susan. And I agree, giving Bin Laden an Islamic burial was precisely the right gesture.
Mitch, I’d like to see some discussion about the choice of the term “execution.” I see you are invested in using it, and the implications are subtle and large. It’s easy to see why a person would say this was an execution. But unless you are privy to information I have not seen, it’s not accurate. Strong and provocative, but not accurate.
I too feel an opening of breathing room on planet Earth with this monster taken out of the picture. As we set our course of rewriting history, which we do every moment, the words we choose are key. I’d like to see your thoughtful mental path leading you to use this word.
Thanks
Suzanna
Good question, Suzanna. Why do you think it’s an inappropriate choice of wording? What would you have preferred?