Before I go any further let me say Osama bin Laden was accused of killing more Americans on our soil than anyone else on 911. He was not convicted of being the mastermind behind 911. With his demise we will never know if he was or he wasn't. All though I approve of President Obama's decision to capture Osama bin Laden, I am disappointed the operation resulted in the execution of Osama bin Laden.
From MSNBC:Are we any safer now? And would it be any different if George W. Bush were making the same announcement four years ago? I submit the answer is NO. We progressive/liberals would be screaming at the top of our lungs as well we should. Can those who were tough on Bush apply the same standards and skepticism to the Obama administration, or is everything partisan and self-serving now?
Four of the five people shot to death in the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, including the al-Qaida leader himself, were unarmed and never fired a shot, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday — an account that differs markedly from the Obama administration's original claims that the Navy SEALs came under heavy small-arms fire in a prolonged firefight.
Why did they first tell us that he “resisted” and therefore had to be shot? Surely, the SEALS and their commanders knew at the time what happened—and communicated that well before Obama’s speech. How did the story get screwed up initially?
Questions lead to more more questions. These are the questions that need to be asked and answered by the media instead of should the pictures of Osama Bin Laden be released:
How do Americans feel about anyone being shot rather than apprehended and given a proper trial? Doesn’t the United States aspire in all of its activities to set an example for other countries to emulate?
Speaking of the pictures I Think They Can Take It Mister President.
A-merry-cans have strong stomachs when it comes to this stuff. Just look at all those people having j a jolly good time while they watched those "strange fruits" hanging from trees. Don't tell me they can't look at a pic of OBL with a hole in his head. Besides, do you really want to give wingnuts another reason to cry conspiracy?
Say have you seen my democracy?
In deciding not to release the pictures of bin Laden's body to prove his death, President Obama made a statement to the effect that his body and the pictures should not be seen as a trophy and that doing things in this way is "not who we are." This then begs the question, who are we? And what criteria do we use to answer this question.
It's not like we haven't been lied to before.
Hey, remember that dramatic CNN footage of that big statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled by U.S. forces in that Baghdad square a few months back, during the "war"? Remember how powerfully symbolic it was supposed to be?
Remember, later, seeing the wide-angle shot on the Internet, the one of all the U.S. tanks surrounding the square and the whole bogus setup of how they staged the event, complete with a big crane and some strong cable and strategically positioned "citizens" cheering their "liberation" as the statue fell, as just off camera, a handful of genuine Iraqis loitered nearby, looking confused and bored?
Where is Bradley Manning when you need him?
The real difference between Republicans and Democrats in a case like this isn't in how the White House would act. The difference is how rank and file Democrats, the so-called antiwar movement choose to react. If this were 2006 or 2007, many would recall the widespread news reports of Bin Laden's death back in December of 2001, and the fact that Bin Laden audio or video tapes had a habit of emerging at incredibly convenient times for the Bush administration, like the eve of the 2004 election. Why should a government and military establishment, antiwar activists would wonder aloud, that told hundreds of well-documented lies to get us into Iraq alone be trusted to tell the truth now?
The difference is, those are questions that don't get asked with a Democrat in the White House. Democrat Barack Obama doesn't just start with a clean slate. Thanks to the president's bipartisan and visionary policy of “looking forward, not back” atrocities and crimes of administrations past are forgiven and forgotten, and all the excuses offered for them enshrined as unquestioned historical fact. The Pentagon says they killed Bin Laden in a weekend firefight, won't show pictures and dumped the body at sea. That's it and that's all. Unless another courageous soldier like Bradley Manning comes forth, we'll never know any different, end of story.
Know Justice
Know Peace
No Justice
No Peace
3 comments:
I am as bleeding-heart liberal as you can get.
But I remember Bin Laden self-satisfyingly talking about how the buildings came down, and how that exceeded his expectations of just killing some people.
Bin Laden was a bad, evil person who given the chance would have brought us more pain, death and misery.
President Obama finished it.
He did what Clinton and Bush failed to accomplish. He cleaned up another mess. And he fulfilled the primary Constitutional function of our Federal Government - to protect us.
Yes, I wish it could have been done differently - but the result is absolute and justifiable. Bin Laden admitted his guilt to God and the world, and wanted to do it again. The bottom-line, as in so many things President Obama has accomplished, is what counts.
Bin Laden will never harm or kill not one more American, or anyone else.
Mission Accomplished!
Yellowdog,
I understand where you are coming from...as I said I don't have a problem with the capture, I have a problem with the killing. Check out today's post.
Check this out
http://hulshofschmidt.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/death-of-bin-laden-mixed-bag/
"I have some very real concerns about a mob mentality of celebration of an individual’s death and the lack of due process. I worry that in some ways we have sunk to the level of those we have accused as terrorists by summarily executing bin Laden without due process of law. I worry about continuing a culture of violence and wonder when does it stop?
I am guessing that the Peace Movement is also asking how do we create a culture of peace and when do we say there are better alternatives to violence. "
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