Dead.
I have really mixed feelings – I think that there’s just something wrong celebrating any death. But on the other hand, I feel like this does give some closure (although I’m not naïve enough to think that this will end radical Muslims hating the US and wanting to do us harm).
It definitely is the end of an era. It will be interesting to see what the Pres does now in regards to our wars in the middle east. I really wish we’d clear out of there. Fighting “terrorists” is a losing battle there. I think that we need to use our resources to truly protect our citizens the best we can – which is not what we are doing with TSA and taking off our shoes. Don’t even get me started…
I was thinking about the decision that had to be made whether to kill or capture him and realized that they really could not bring him back here and put him on trial. It would have made him more of a hero for his supporters & would have dragged on for a zillion years and cost us a friggin fortune. And the Fox “News” & other hawks would have been screaming that we should have killed him (although, I’m sure they have already found something to criticize about this already – I was watching last night to see if they were criticizing him yet but they hadn’t figured out their angle. I have no doubt that they will.
I just hate the idea of killing people. Even as revenge. But I think that in this circumstance, it was the right call. I just can’t go out and cheer “U.S.A.”. It’s not in me.
Some interesting quotes from Andrew Sullivan:
1.12 am. Isn't it wonderful that Osama was killed in a mansion - not a cave, but in a grand mansion in the heart of Pakistan. That should help rob him of allure for the Muslim poor and help present him as he was for so long, a rich plutocrat who became engrossed in a violent perversion of Islam and killed thousands. And he died in splendor, with an American bullet in his head.
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12.21 am. The more I hear the more Obama seems very close to this over the last few months: in weekly meetings, deeply involved in five national security meetings recently. This was not a lucky break. This was the end-point of several weeks of coordination. And Obama's cool throughout. As Donald Trump was birthering out, Obama was aiming right at this country's deadliest enemy.
Everyone in both the Bush and the Obama administration who helped make this happen deserve our thanks, especially the unsung federal employees in the CIA and the special forces who are loyal to no party but to the constitution. But it remains obvious that the president who kills Osama bin Laden is a president who is going to be almost impossible to beat in 2012.
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12.03 am. This sounds like a highly dangerous, immensely courageous act of daring, a military and intelligence coup that will be taught in high schools for as long as America exists. This wasn't just a lucky bomb or a drone attack; it was an elaborate, carefully planned and successfully completed operation - deep in an urban area in deepest Pakistan. This was one badass achievement.
