Reactions to the Death of Osama Bin Laden

From the left:

We might ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush’s compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic. Uncontroversially, his crimes vastly exceed bin Laden’s, and he is not a “suspect” but uncontroversially the “decider” who gave the orders to commit the “supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole” (quoting the Nuremberg Tribunal) for which Nazi criminals were hanged: the hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of refugees, destruction of much of the country, the bitter sectarian conflict that has now spread to the rest of the region.

There’s more to say about [Cuban airline bomber Orlando] Bosch, who just died peacefully in Florida, including reference to the “Bush doctrine” that societies that harbor terrorists are as guilty as the terrorists themselves and should be treated accordingly. No one seemed to notice that Bush was calling for invasion and destruction of the U.S. and murder of its criminal president.

Same with the name, Operation Geronimo. The imperial mentality is so profound, throughout western society, that no one can perceive that they are glorifying bin Laden by identifying him with courageous resistance against genocidal invaders. It’s like naming our murder weapons after victims of our crimes: Apache, Tomahawk… It’s as if the Luftwaffe were to call its fighter planes “Jew” and “Gypsy.”

There is much more to say, but even the most obvious and elementary facts should provide us with a good deal to think about.

….and the right:

What saddens me more than people carelessly declaring their glee for another human’s death are the pronouncements that they hope he is burning in Hell. At least in America, a country which prides itself on being highly tolerant, this is perhaps one of the most ostentatious and outrageous displays of our truly fallen nature. For Christians, it is an even more despicable action, because we know and accept Hell as a very real place; not just a landing spot for the evilest of the evil, but for the everyday rejecters of God and his commandments. Are we really so far from the gates of the garden?

It occurs to me that the readers of TIC may have a more humane way of looking at this death, long anticipated since the manhunt began almost a decade ago. Does it not sadden any of you that Osama Bin Laden did not have the chance to repent before he was killed? Does it not hang on your hearts that this man was not really brought to justice? After all, death is not justice. Death is not even final.

One may say, I am sorry he is dead, but I cannot help feel relief. Surely you think the world is a safer place now that Bin Laden is dead?

Which begs the question, what are we even protecting, that we need to make the world a safer place? The obvious answer in my mind is the undebatable sanctity of human life, and the ever pressing discernment of what it even means to be human.

So, now, thanks to America, Bin Laden is dead– but still our country persists in publicly funding and supporting abortion providers and embryonic stem cell research. A physical manifestation of evil is dead, but evil ideas rage on, turning even the best of intentioned people into the very monsters they deplore abroad.

This year’s Divine Mercy Sunday was another special event in the Roman Catholic Church as well—the beatification of Pope John Paul II, officially making our beloved JP II now Blessed JP II. I do not think there could there be a more obvious juxtaposition than the recent earthly celebration of a soul who is surely arriving at sainthood in Heaven, and the readily acceptable and earth-bound condemnation for another soul.

If we conservatives are to claim the high road – if we truly believe humans have dignity and that our civilization is worth preserving – then we must walk it. We must preserve our cause out of caritas, love, and not the brutalized force of popular opinion, remembering “ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est” (“where charity is true, God himself is there”). When we celebrate one death, we discredit all other pro-life efforts. When we give way to hate another person, even one so culpable of hate himself, we allow hate to manifest and grow in ourselves and in society. And if we ever truly wish another person’s soul to go to Hell, we’re halfway there ourselves.

…and now; my reaction:

The death of Osama Bin Laden is an unavoidable consequence of war. A war declared on the American people at the start of or in the middle of the first gulf war that lasted from August 2, 1990 till February 28, 1991. During that time period, Osama Bin Laden became enraged that the United States was using an air-force base in Saudi Arabia. There were other motives, such as The United States support of Israel, Sanctions against Iraq and believe it nor not, globalization. This prompted Osama Bin Laden to declare war on America. Because of this, the United States of America was brutally and viciously attacked by radical Islamic terrorists on 9/11.

Radical Islam is, indisputably madness. Osama Bin Laden was the leader, creator and center energy of that madness. Osama Bin Laden wholeheartedly believed that he was doing the work of his god. He was willing to take that madness, of a backward religion that denies the exist of the Lord Jesus Christ —- to his grave. A fitting end of a mad man and his Satanic Religion.

This posting is dedicated to the memory of the 2,977 victims of the 9/11 attacks. May their memories be kept strong and may they not have died in vain. God Bless America.