An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind.
- Mahatma Gandhi
Osama is dead: Triumph! Glory! Bad Cartoons! Predictable ideas abound: Osama in Hell, maudlin 9/11 meditations, Navy SEAL emblems dripping with the blood of justice, Obama hatred, and sick fantasies of sharks feasting upon the Evil One’s bullet-riddled corpse.
So America is still basking in the joyous news that Osama bin-Laden has been dispatched to his meeting with 72 Virginians…uh, virgins. Great; wonderful news, that…except what, really, has changed? Are we any safer? Has the cause of justice and righteousness been served? Has virtuous Christianity finally triumphed over evil Islamofascism? Will I finally be able to take that 12-oz. bottle of shampoo in my carry-on bag?
I don’t begrudge the overly-patriotic, chest-thumping reactions of some Americans. The death of Osama bin-Laden has represented, if nothing else, a national moment of catharsis, the release of almost ten years of pent-up frustration directed at those who murdered 3,000 of our fellow countrymen. I get that…but I can’t force myself to genuinely share that feeling of catharsis. Cheering the death of another person, even a monster like Osama bin-Laden, doesn’t feel like patriotism to me. It just feels like another violent death, something we seem to take for granted these days.
Like many of us, I lost a friend on 9.11. The death of Osama bin-Laden will not bring my friend, nor any of the other 3,000 back. Yes, we’ve achieved a measure of retribution, but retribution often leaves a hollow, empty feeling behind. I’m certainly not saddened by the death of bin-Laden, but neither do I see his demise as cause for celebration. Call it a victory for American persistence and resolve…but it really changes nothing. We killed bin-Laden…but we haven’t killed the movement that his millions and his hatred spawned. We still find ourselves confronted by a force, of undetermined size and virulence, dedication to the destruction of America and all it stands for. Eliminating bin-Laden may change the nature of the threat we face, but it certainly won’t eliminate that threat.
The good news, of course, is that the bogeyman is dead. We can stop fearing Osama bin-Laden…and that can only be a good thing. The real question that bin-Laden leaves behind is whether or not America is now any safer for his demise.
Outside of the celebrations, there are more than a few Americans who feel that our invading a sovereign country to kill an enemy says more about us than it does about bin-Laden. There are very real questions about the morality AND the legality of the actions of Seal Team Six and the orders given by President Obama to authorize the mission. We shouldn’t be brushing aside these serious and legitimate questions in favor of chest-thumping patriotism.
Again, I’m not going to argue that the death of bin-Laden isn’t a good thing. The world is clearly a better place without his evil and malevolence…but did the ends justify the means? What if, just for the sake of argument, we reversed the argument? What if a noted IRA terrorist leader was hiding in upstate New York, near, say, West Point? And what if British SAS commandos went in unannounced (without the knowledge and consent of our government) and staged a raid which resulted in the death of said IRA leader? The hue and cry would be heard from coast to coast, no? How DARE England violate American sovereignty by conducting a military operation ON AMERICAN SOIL?? That’s exactly what we did to Pakistan. Of course, it’s not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. Pakistan is not exactly a faithful, reliable ally. Nonetheless, it’s a valid question. American soldiers violated Pakistani sovereignty in order to kill bin-Laden. Again, it’s not that the death of bin-Laden is a bad thing…but, really, DO the ends justify the means? Does being American mean that we get to contravene accepted norms of international law and national sovereignty in order to mete out what we define as justice? Is frontier justice OK for Americans, but not for other countries? If we’re to be OK with this sort of double standard, how do we rationalize and justify it?
Destroying evil doesn’t make us evil, but I think we do ourselves a disservice by ignoring the circumstances under which Osama bin-Laden was killed. Were we within our rights to violate Pakistani sovereignty? Did we violate international law? Should bin-Laden have been taken alive if possible? Not being an attorney or even versed in international legal concepts, I don’t pretend to have the answers to those questions. I do beleive, however, that these are questions we should, and must, ask of ourselves. Are we a country governed by the rule of law…or do we believe in the law only insofar as it serves our purpose? Can a policy of targeted killing (not that we currently have one) reasonably exist in a democracy that professes to revere the rule of law? Is frontier justice an acceptable tool for Americans post-9.11?
There’s certainly a sound argument to be made for killing bin-Laden. The memory of 3,000 Americans murdered on a beautiful September morning certainly demands justice, and now we have a measure of it. The death of Osama bin-Laden is a good thing, and one could make the argument that, in the manner of a Hollywood western, some folks just need killin’. It would be tough to argue mercy for someone so demonstrably evil and unrepentant as bin-Laden…and so I won’t.
I do love the fact that the reactions to bin-Laden’s death have run the gamut from chest-thumping celebrations to sober reflection on whether the ends justify the means. This is exactly the sort of discussion and debate we should be engaging in, because to me it’s about us trying to figure out what sort of America we want to be. Pardon me if I decline to share in the chest-thumping, but I’m not going to begrudge it if you see fit to do so. I’m just not feeling it, because I’m concerned that if we become the country where the ends justifies the means, frontier justice and cutting corners may well eventually become the norm.
The rule of law is not about cutting corners. It’s about doing the right thing for right reasons and in the right manner. It’s about having respect for ourselves and being unquestioningly willing to do the right thing. Yes, we killed Osama bin-Laden, and in an emotional sense that’s a very good thing. I do worry about what this might mean for our future, though. America is not a place that takes short cuts. We respect the rule of law…or at least we have.
In the end, I fear that the killing of Osama bin-Laden will have more to say about us than bin-Laden and the al-Qaeda movement he led. If you look at how America has changed since 9.11, it would be difficult to argue that the terrorists haven’t won. I’d hate to think that even in death, Osama bin-Laden may ultimately have the last laugh. This is why we need this national debate about the kind of America we want to be.
Now what??
