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rfmcdonaldI've been so consumed by the Canadian election that I haven't devoted any time here to the death of Osama Bin Laden.
He deserved to die and I don't mind that he's dead: when the Dalai Lama calls his killing justified--the Dalai Lama--it's safe to say that his popularity, at least among the segments of the world population my readers and his followers are associated with, is dim. The possibility that he might make recompense for his crime is trivial, since even if he was willing he just couldn't make up for the tens of thousands who died under his direction. Given the Pakistani government's toleration and even protection of Bin Laden, the American raid may have been the only way to deal with him. And the dumping of the body in the Indian Ocean? Meh; greater respect he got than many of the victims could ever receive.
His superficial banality and actual evil are no more.
I do have some concerns with this. I find it moderately worrisome that a precedent has been set for American military forces to invade a sovereign country with the explicit goal of assassinating someone without a pretense of due process. Yes, he was a special case, but aren't there many special cases? I also noted an article explaining to children why it's OK to celebrate Bin Laden's death: I agree with Maureen Dowd that Bin Laden was far from being a victim but rather died as a result of actions he took and via a military action that took care to spare innocents, and think the celebration was legitimate catharsis. Still, is that all it was?
I wonder. Do you?
He deserved to die and I don't mind that he's dead: when the Dalai Lama calls his killing justified--the Dalai Lama--it's safe to say that his popularity, at least among the segments of the world population my readers and his followers are associated with, is dim. The possibility that he might make recompense for his crime is trivial, since even if he was willing he just couldn't make up for the tens of thousands who died under his direction. Given the Pakistani government's toleration and even protection of Bin Laden, the American raid may have been the only way to deal with him. And the dumping of the body in the Indian Ocean? Meh; greater respect he got than many of the victims could ever receive.
His superficial banality and actual evil are no more.
I do have some concerns with this. I find it moderately worrisome that a precedent has been set for American military forces to invade a sovereign country with the explicit goal of assassinating someone without a pretense of due process. Yes, he was a special case, but aren't there many special cases? I also noted an article explaining to children why it's OK to celebrate Bin Laden's death: I agree with Maureen Dowd that Bin Laden was far from being a victim but rather died as a result of actions he took and via a military action that took care to spare innocents, and think the celebration was legitimate catharsis. Still, is that all it was?
I wonder. Do you?
