Binned Laden

Monday morning in Bangkok, the English-language version of 'The Nation' shouted the news '...World on Alert', which got my attention immediately. It only took a few moments more for the wheels to crank until I recognized why the World was so alerted - Osama bin Laden had been killed by US forces inside Pakistan. Way inside Pakistan. Killed. And his body dumped at sea. After Muslim funeral rites.

My faculties could barely stand the wave of contradictory emotions and thoughts crashing around in my noggin.

Like most people around the World, I am happy the man is no longer the leader of a deadly terrorist organization. I am also not broken up that he was killed rather than captured. But a part of me is a bit ashamed at our Country for implementing a national policy of assassination. Watching throngs of gleeful celebrators on the news later only added to the uneasiness.

Should we be celebrating anyone's death - even bin Laden's? If his death was necessary, so be it, but why make a Holiday of it? And apart from the questionable morality of the celebration, I am also leery of the precedent this may set for the future. Licensed national hit squads anyone? (OK, I hear some of you whispering this is already the case, but I'm talking overt here, not James Bond stuff). This smacks of cartel behavior, not that of a democratically elected government.

But the deed has been done, and there are many who have good reason to be happy bin Laden is no more. President Obama is happy. This will lift his credibility with the hawks ahead of the election, and more importantly, make him look like he's won something to the general public. (A feeling of 'winning' is definitely lacking in Afghanistan). I'm not too sure George W. Bush is happy; he says he is, but there must be some regret that it didn't happen on his watch. Not that he appeared to try that hard. (The bin Laden family was close with the Bushes, before 9/11 at least)

And now, just as with Saddam Hussein, bin Laden the evil terrorist will fade to vague memory (more so, since he's been hidden for so long already). But the problems of Al Qaeda and terrorism in general will persist.

And we've opened another can of worms too: what to do about our 'ally' Pakistan? Certainly someone in that country harbored bin Laden, right?

I am inclined to forgive on this issue. Pakistan is not a small country, and there are lots of factions with complicated loyalties. America has many partners within this fractious cultural soup, but enemies too. Determining who you can trust with really crucial information is difficult, but so is assigning blame. It appears the Obama administration is trying to strike the appropriate stance by shutting out the Pakistani's before and during the mission, while publicly lauding their assistance over the years with intelligence that made the assault possible. Media scrutiny is turning this stance into more of a high-wire walk over the Grand Canyon, but I admire the administration for trying it.

And we did send bin Laden off with some ceremony: a Muslim funeral at sea. Odd that we'd shoot him dead (unarmed the reports say) yet respect his religious beliefs. The burial at sea, we are told, was needed to honor the muslim requirement that the dead be buried within 24 hours. Honorable, then, what we did.

Convenient too, though, and that self-servingness takes a smidge off the honor. The actions also feed into conspiracy theories; like one that bin Laden is really alive and in custody, renditioned to some godforsaken part of the world like Newark, or Bakersfield. Being forced to listen to Lady Gaga and watch 'Married with Children' reruns until he spills his guts on every connection Al Qaeda has ever had. After all, why would you kill bin Laden when you could force him to betray every terrorist cell in his network?

But never mind any of that, our great nemesis is gone (it appears). Will the national angst return to pre-9/11 levels? Will the eternal orange terrorism alert drop to yellow, or even green? Will regular airport irradiation no longer be necessary?

I surely hope so ...

Bye-Bye bin Laden. Good Riddance to a nasty little human black hole.