America’s Gleeful Vengeance
Osama Bin Laden was a truly evil man to many, or was he just someone who saw an opportunity to make a name for himself and just took it in a very evil way.
In some ways it is a pity he is dead, as he should be in a Court of Law on trial for his crimes. And when after due process, if the verdict was guilty, he should have not been given a death sentence.
We have had enough martyrs that have inspired evil movements in history. They’ve inspired some good ones too, but I can’t see this happening in Bin Laden’s case.
At least though Osama bin Laden is dead and we won’t get the sort of speculation that we did after the Second World War about whether the truly evil Hitler was really dead.
Incidentally, I have read somewhere that Hitler’s biggest fear was that he would be captured and exhibited in somewhere like a zoo. He would have been tried at Nuremburg and if found guilty would have been executed. Judging by the way we have dealt with the various African, Croatian and Serbian war criminals, who have been found guilty at The Hague, we have moved on in the last sixty or so years.
But has America, where the death penalty is still a major part of the punishment system, as it is in Iran, China and North Korea?
I am also rather worried about the almost gleeful celebrations in the United States. This is sending the wrong message around the world and in my view it is rather disrespectful to all of the good people killed in the attack on September 11th, 2001 and all the other attacks inspired by Bin Laden. I know we celebrated in a similar way after the Second World War, but that was only after the war against Germany and Japan had been brought to a conclusion. We have not completely defeated the terrorists.
It will be interesting to see how Muslim groups and people around the world react to Bin Laden’s death.
I will be holding my breath, but hoping that the good Muslims who just want to get on with their lives in a peaceful manner have more effect, than those who want to carry on Bin Laden’s evil ideology.
As Rachel Harvey has just put it on the BBC, “Bin Laden may be dead, but his ideas are not.”
The Anonymous Widower 
Although generally I don’t approve of killing people, it may be for the best that he was killed in the action in Pakistan. Otherwise there could have been a problem with what to do with him and the constant threat of action to release him (e.g. hostage taking).
It is true that Al Qaeda is not dead, and they have had plenty of time to consider what will happen when Bin Laden is no more. There are also other groups who have followed Bin Laden’s methods, and are unaffected by his death (e.g. Taliban).
The UK and the USA would be in a much better position if we had not had Blair and Bush waging war on Iraq. That was stupid and probably illegal. Nothing will happen to them despite the underhand way they got us into it. If there were real justice, they would be answering for their actions.
Comment by John | May 2, 2011 |
Agreed. America always mixes justice with vengeance.
Comment by AnonW | May 2, 2011 |
It makes much more sense for the Americans to kill him as the last thing they wanted was him drawing attention from a trail box to the US’s own complicity in dealing with oppressive regimes and immense collateral damage in Iraq etc.
Comment by Marc | May 2, 2011 |
Bin Laden is the sort of person, who should be on trial at the Court in The Hague.
But his death as John says, gets us away from hostage situations.
I would just like to see some closure and proper justice, that will stand up to the scrutiny of time.
Comment by AnonW | May 2, 2011 |
I don’t think dumping his body at sea will stop speculation.
And as for the hypocrisy in Obama’s statement:
‘But tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place.’
Comment by Marc | May 2, 2011
I don’t think it will stop speculation either.
Obama to me has proved a great dissappointment.
https://anonw.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/has-obama-blown-it/
We will not get closure until those who still want vengeance for the attacks in New York, Washington, Bali and London, realise that others have already forgiven and have moved on.
Take the Hymans, who set up a charity after their daughter was killed on a number 30 bus in the London bombings.
https://anonw.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/amazing-people/
Comment by AnonW | May 2, 2011 |
I agree, the US wanted to kill him to avenge for the people killed on 9/11. He was an evil man, one of the worst kind who thinks that the evil they are perpetrating will please God. If he had read his Qur’an properly, OBL would have known that what he was doing is not pleasing to God according to the Qur’an or any other Muslim scriptures.
I honestly dont think his death so long after 9/11 will make a difference to alQuaida, as James says, most people have moved on from that, including many who lost loved ones. Hatred only affects the haters, not the hated.
OBLs legacy is more worrying – a considerable number of radicalized young Muslim men ready to die for Allah, who dont realise the Qur’an does not condone what they are doing at all.
The Hymans had the right idea, as did the family of PC Stephen Oakes who was shot in an incident not far from where I live, and various other families who have used their personal horrorif events to do good as a way of moving on.
Comment by liz | May 2, 2011 |