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of bin Laden The Murder of Osama bin Laden There are many things which bother me about the murder of Osama bin Laden. Here are some of them. S. Hein Leadership Was Obama leading the USA when he ordered the murder of bin Laden? Or was he instead following? I suspect he was following the American people in their hunger for blood revenge. This is not leadership to me. This is seeking popularity. But since the USA operates in this way, perhaps the best way to stop the cycle of killing and revenge is to make killing and revenge unpopular. In other words, when enough people speak out and say they will not support a political candidate who endorses killing and revenge, then such a candidate will not get elected. If the American president cannot show enough emotional intelligence and personal integrity, then the American public must lead the way, and all of those who understand the problems with perpetuating the same dysfunctional cycle and who oppose killing and revenge must speak out and let their voices and votes be heard. Understanding and Killing I have said before that you will never understand a person by punishing them. Now I will add that you will never understand anyone by killing them. I wonder how history might have been changed if long before 911, when the US government was feeling threatened by bin Laden, they would have invited him into the White House to listen to him, to try to understand him and at the same time help him feel understood. I wonder what would have happened if they would have asked, "How understood do you feel by our president between zero and ten?" I wonder what would have happened if the president would have listened to him until bin Laden reported that he felt understood 8 or even 7 out of 10. I feel very sad knowing most of the people in the world will never understand why he did what he did and felt the way he felt. I feel sad to think we have learned very little from this entire period of world history. And I feel sad to think that the killing and revenge will continue for years to come, with no real leader stepping in to denounce it -- to be the first to stop it and lead us to its final end. Cause and Effect The reason it is so important to understand someone like bin Laden is because the American voters need see the connection between what the US government does and what the "terrorists" do. I am afraid that only a very small percentage of voters could give three reasons why bin Laden felt so motivated to lead violent attacks against the USA. If you are interested here are a few of the reasons... One was America's support of Israel. Another is what bin Laden, and much of the world, believes is a double standard by the USA, or hypocricy in other words. Another was the presence of US miltary troops in Saudi Arabia where the most sacred Muslim sites are located. Another was the US led sanctions against Iran after their invastion of Kuwait. Those sanctions are generally understood to have contributed to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, mainly children. See wiki page on this. There are also several YouTube videos about the sanctions. One is called Iraq Genocide by UN Sanctions Osama, Clinton and Understanding In one interview bin Laden said this about Bill Clinton:
Here is that video clip
I remember bin Laden also saying something like "What the Americans call terrorism is just the level of violence needed to get their attention." But what if people would have given him some attention before 911 by actually listening to him? Could that have prevented what happened? Or what if we had listened to him or whoever had planned the mission, as US politician Ron Paul once wisely suggested? I feel very sad that so few people will ever understand why Osama developed such strong anti-American feelings. I feel sad we will never get a chance to let him speak without fear of being killed or punished for simply talking. I feel sad that he came to believe that Americans, in particular American presidents would not listen to his words, so he felt a need to support and encourage strong and violent action in order to get people's attention and try to change US policy. Empathy Deficit President Obama used to talk about the empathy deficit. But where was his empathy for those who knew bin Laden personally and cared about him or even loved him? He was a human, after all, with a mother. Here his younger half-brother talks about how Osama's mother worries about him, as any mother would..
He also had many children. Maybe they did not agree with what their father did, but he was still their father. Does Obama or does anyone else who feels satisfied now feel any empathy for their pain? Respect, Fear, Mental Health On this page about respect I list the many ways in which we do not feel respected. I can now add, we don't feel respected when someone murders us. I am not even sure what the USA hoped to accomplish by murdering bin Laden. Do they believe their enemies will now feel more respect for them? More fear? I really doubt that many people will be stopped from carrying out deadly killings because they feel more fear of the USA's revenge. I also don't believe the world is a safer place, as President Obama wants us to believe. If we were really safer why would the US and other countries immediately start increasing their security at airports etc? I don't believe there is a huge sense of relief now that the "evil one" has been murdered. I think most people around the world, even the Americans, are emotionally intelligent enough to know that more hatred and resentment will come from the killing of Osama and the problem of terrorism has definitely not been solved. In one poll I checked 72 percent of the people said they did *not* feel safer now that Osama has been killed. So this suggests that Obama's action will gain neither respect nor fear from those who feel vengeful. Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/42825651 What then was the real motive in killing him except for political gain? And there does seem to have been definite political gain for Obama since he has gone up in the popularity polls. It is particularly ironic to see that the American people approve of something which even they realize is not even in their best interest. In psychological terms we might say this is self-destructive behavior carried out by someone with some kind of mental health problem. Judge or President? I did not know that the job of being US President also meant that you could be the judge and jury in a non-existent trial. It seems Obama acted as judge, not president, when he decided that bin Laden was guilty and deserved the death penalty. One reason for a true justice system is to stop people from acting on their own personal impulse or for their own personal gain. In the days of the past, lynch mobs took justice into their own hands. This is no longer accepted practice in the USA, so why is Obama being praised for something similar? It also seems a bit sick that supposedly civilized and educated people, people who like to think of themselves as the leaders of morality in the world, would be celebrating killing and revenge. Due Process I believe it was in my 8th grade US government class that I was taught something called "due process". This included the principles of a right to a trial with a jury of your peers and being innocent until proven guilty. I believe the right to receive legal representation is also mentioned somewhere if I am not mistaken. What happened to these principles, often said to be one of the foundations of democracy, in the murder of bin Laden? Self Defense? The US government has claimed that killing Osama was an act of self-defense, but I don't think many people really believe this. It is quite clear that the main motivation was vengeance. If there is any self-defense involved, it is the US government trying to once again defend itself from the justified world criticism of its short-sighted and narrow-minded actions. Disillusionment I feel disillusioned by Obama. I thought he was really offering the USA and the world something different. I thought he was much more emotionally intelligent than George Bush, for example. I thought he would understand that killing bin Laden would not be in America's best interest. I thought he would understand it would not be in the world's best interest. I thought he would lead with integrity, not follow the masses just to increase his chances of getting re-elected. But in his speech about the murder of bin Laden he sounded a lot like Bush, even copying his "God Bless you and God Bless America" ending. This makes me wonder, would anyone's god approve of a revenge-based or politically motivated killing? Hiding the Body People around the world are understandably criticizing the Americans for disposing of the body at sea. People around the world have also learned not to trust the US government when it offers an explanation for something they have done (or for what they want to do, such as invade Iraq because of the "weapons of mass destruction"). What really were the motives of dumping the body into the sea? I suspect we will never know. But I know that it only adds to my, and many peoples' skepticism, suspicion and distrust. There is also the question of human dignity. Contrary to what some say, bin Laden was a human being. He was not the devil incarnate. He had feelings and those who cared about him did also. So what about the international standard of treating every human with dignity? What about giving his body to his family members so they could have a chance to at least bury him and mourn in dignity? Even if you believe bin Laden was responsible for thousands of deaths, couldn't the Americans have shown that they are deserving of the claim to be the world's moral leaders by treating him with more respect and dignity than he has shown others? Using a hit squad to murder a single, barely protected individual in cold blood, when you are backed by history's most powerful military, then tossing his body from a helicopter into the ocean below like trash from a cruise ship (which by the way is illegal according to international laws), is absolutely not treating someone with any dignity at all. Instead it is insulting and offensive to anyone who cares about human rights and who is not biased by hatred or political propaganda. No one will be surprised if the violence is now escalated around the world. Certainly the resentment, and the lack of admiration and respect will be increased. With his decision, Obama just added more years to the bloodshed. Of that I feel little doubt. |