The land of the blind

[fbhjr]

I have very mixed feelings on the death of Osama Bin Laden.
I am certainly not trying to defend him in any way.
But, that doesn’t make me happy about things either.

To some extent I begrudge him being able to go down fighting.  I know any
attempt to put him on trial would have been a circus in the worst way.  I
don’t think there could even be an idea of a fair trial or an agreement on
what a fair trial would be.
While  I still would have liked to see that I know that it would be almost
impossible to do.

I honestly can’t think of a better way to have dealt with him.
And, that bothers me.
As Gandhi said “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”.
The land of the blind is not my first choice for home.

One of my friends growing up was killed by terrorists.  Blown up by a
suicide bomber.
I used to fly on one of the flights hijacked on 9/11 several times a year.
Often on a Tuesday as it was then.
When I was young, my father took me to New York City and we watched them
building the trade centers.
My uncle used to work in the Pentagon and took me on a tour of it once when
I was young.
I have cousins who live and work in NYC, one in the financial district.
I drove past NYC 4 days before the attack and remember seeing the trade
center towers standing there.  I drove past it again a few weeks later and
the lack of those towers was very obvious.

So, I understand.

But, I wish there was a better way.
And I’m sad I can’t even seem to imagine one.

Comments

[pallid-regina.livejournal.com]

Yes, this. I've been mulling the whole thing over and I just can't come up with anything other...on ANY aspect of it.

It doesn't matter that they buried him at sea, the fact that he died fighting still leaves him open to being used as a martyr. And honestly, WHERE would he have been tried?

I do honestly believe that at the core you can't fight terrorism with war. I don't have a clue what one DOES do, I just know that one feeds the other feeds the one feeds the...and on and on and...

[palusbuteo.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with you.

I am conflicted on how I'm supposed to feel. I do not feel "happy", but I have this deadened 'relief'. But I know all too well this is
not the last straw, not the last killing, not the last cause to 'justify' more killings.

What makes me sadder/worried is that we, or our Gov't at least, essentially "created" him, "made" him into what he was, and gave him
a reason to despise our very existence, down to every innocent man, woman, child, dog, cat that walks on this side of the planet, and for everything we "stand" for and represent....All because of our Gov't insidious, secret (and blatant) meddlings in affairs that we probably should never have been involved in the first place, but hind sight is always 20/20.

I also agree with Pallid_Regina, after all of these years, it's obvious our tactics of fight fire with fire is not effective. It has been too time money and life consuming with no result but continued tensions and complications.

I am always conflicted about the idea of a "withdrawal", but that we should not see it as our "defeat". There has to be batter tactics and options, some way to reach into these hate-filled and frustrated young minds that despise us so much to say "Look, we want this to end, but you can't have it with us all being dead, too. We have to learn to tolerate each other's existence"

But that is of course, too simple an answer for too complicated a problem. I know I don't have any real answers either.

[evrgreen.livejournal.com]

I agree - there could not be a trial of this man that wouldn't turn into a long drawn out media circus. And I am positive it would also have provoked more violence around the globe and where ever the trial would be held. I'm not once to dance on graves, but I am glad that this may mark the end of at least some of the waste of blood, money and time expended on trying to find him.

I disagree that our government made him. We certainly gave him information and training on how to use weapons and the mujahadeen on how to wage asymmetrical warfare. But, we didn't teach this guy to hate. We didn't compell him to turn his hatred to the mass killing of innocent civilians around the world. Ultimately, every man is responsible for his actions, and he at least has paid a price for his.

The facts coming out now tend to indicate that he didn't go down fighting, but was shot in the head anyway as he struggled to resist. I know some will disagree, but again, this simple act probably saved the world many more lives and vast sums of money by avoiding a trial. I know that I wouldn't be happy if it were my tax dollars paying to incarcerate his ass for 1000 years either when there are poor, hard-working people starving and much more worthy recipients of those funds. The fact that he was holed up in the backyard of a Pakistani military academy just indicates that we really cannot trust many/if any in that area. That is what makes me sad.

The universe seldom provides clean endings. Some people need clean, tidy endings for 'closure'. I've long since given up looking for closure or tidy endings. Relationships often die in long drawn out pieces, people die without having a chance for any final farewells, and crap reality TV shows seem to go on forever.... there is no "neatness" to the world, and I'm a much less stressed-out person since I've given up looking for reason, closure, or neatness to things.