Comments

1. kevin brennan 05/03/2011 - 3:26 pm

   thank you. i enjoyed reading the comments.

2. Gerelyn 05/03/2011 - 3:45 pm

   What I find “heartening” is seeing how effective our country’s intelligence community is, how brave and thorough the SEALs are, and how cool and gutsy President Obama is. He went through last week, knowing what was going on, but dealing with the idiotic birther issue, rehearsing for and attending the correspondents’ dinner, etc. Very impressive.

   What I find disheartening is seeing people, including Sarah in the paper you linked, calling it “murder”. If bin Laden is a murder victim, who is the murderer? The SEAL who shot him in the head? President Obama, who gave permission for the killing? All of us whose taxes support the military and the intelligence community?

   I think those who need heartening should read the NYT today. And plot their positions on the graph: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/03/us/20110503-osama-response.html

3. Margaret O’Brien Steinfels 05/03/2011 - 4:01 pm  subscriber  contributor

   I thought that what was heartening was that there was none of the rah-rah cheering and jingoism that seemed to overtake people on Sunday evening. Of course, they were probably egged on by the TV anchors pointing them out in front of the White House and turning on the lights so the rest of us could seem them too.

   It has always seemed to me that those closest to the events of 9/11 at least in NYC were the most sober and serious about it and about the decisions being made to vindicate the attack. Back in 2001 there was a ubiquitous stick-em posted on lamp posts, subway stations, etc., saying, “Not in Our Name,” meaning that at least some New Yorkers were not in favor of the attack on Afghanistan. I think the attack met just war precepts, but Bush & Co. seriously messed that up, which is why ten years later we are still fighting there. It would be wonderful if the end of bin Laden means the end of the war in Afghanistan.

4. Gerelyn 05/03/2011 - 4:37 pm

   Hi, Margaret.

   I don’t think people should be criticized for feeling what they feel. Getting out in the street and cheering for your country is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s something that comes from deep within and is never forgotten. Armistice Day? V-J Day? Those who were in the crowds those days never forgot.

   There’s something a little pecksniffian about telling people they shouldn’t be happy when our poor country that has suffered so much in the last ten years finds and kills the man who sent the men with box cutters to destroy the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and — what was the third goal? The Capitol? The White House? Thank God the passengers on Flight 93 derailed the last part of bin Laden’s plan.

5. Margaret O’Brien Steinfels 05/03/2011 - 4:42 pm  subscriber  contributor

   Greetings…. “I don’t think people should be criticized for feeling what they feel.” How about a little reciprocity then?

6. Gerelyn 05/03/2011 - 5:10 pm

   You’re right. Those who think bin Laden is a murder victim have a right to their opinions.

7. Margaret O’Brien Steinfels 05/03/2011 - 5:19 pm  subscriber  contributor

   Glad we’ve agreed! On the point: you will agree that he was killed, would you not? Was he murdered? I supposed that’s what Eduardo’s post is all about and there may be good arguments on five sides.

8. Gerelyn 05/03/2011 - 5:35 pm

   I’ve been against capital punishment always. For the obvious reasons that it makes killers of the executioners and can result in the execution of the wrong person. But also because I would not be able to do it. No matter how evil the condemned criminal, I could not shoot her, behead her, electrocute her, etc., and so I cannot ask someone else to do it for me.

   War is different. If bin Laden had been hiding in my subdivision, and the CIA gave me a grenade and told me to lob it in his window, I could do it.

9. Mark Preece 05/03/2011 - 8:50 pm  subscriber

   “War is different. If bin Laden had been hiding in my subdivision, and the CIA gave me a grenade and told me to lob it in his window, I could do it.”

   Hang on. Is that because “war is different,” or because lobbing a grenade through a window is different from shooting/beheading/executing someone? And, on the present point: is what happened in Pakistan more like lobbing or executing, and does *that* make a difference?

10. Gerelyn 05/04/2011 - 10:12 am

    Hi, Mark.

    War is different.

    In war, we do what me must/can to get rid of the leader. E.g., those who attempted to kill Hitler had a bomb in a briefcase. Was that unfair?

    The patriots who lined the road from Boston to Lexington hid behind bushes and walls. Unfair to the redcoats?

    The SEALs are an elite force. Tough. Smart. The training they go through would be impossible for 99.99999% of the strongest, toughest guys around. (Not sure if they take women.) Wonderful to see how bravely and efficiently they carried out this operation.

    Check out these beautiful students at W. Va. U.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/us/04youth.html?hp

    And Maureen Dowd’s column on “Cool Hand Barack” and the decision to execute bin Laden.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/opinion/04dowd.html

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