Observations in a Post-bin Laden World
This might be a self-defeating tactic for a media guy, but whenever a major event occurs I tend to let some time pass before I start drawing conclusions. I’ll spend the first 72 hours or so gathering information and listening to what other people say. I try not to make a formal assessment about a major event too early because the details usually change. And, as we’ve seen with the raid and assassination of Osama bin Laden, the details can change a lot.
Unfortunately, one thing that has not changed is the sycophantic cry from the Republican and Democrat camps.
The Red Team yells: “If not for the Bush policies, we never would’ve gotten the intel on bin Laden!”
The Blue Team responds: “It was Obama that made the gutsy call to go into that compound!”
Red Team: “Obama wouldn’t even KNOW where the compound WAS if not for Bush’s waterboarding policies.”
Blue Team: “It took Obama two years to do what Bush couldn’t do in seven!”
For a live performance of this stupidity, take a look at the Charlotte Observer’s Letters to the Editor page. It’s all there. What’s worse – it’s been going on for days. As if writing another letter in support of these asinine positions is going to convince a reader that it’s not quite so asinine. I did not offer direct quotes from the letters because I felt I might become violently ill typing some of those words. As it is, my mere rephrasing of the argument caused some flashing pains behind my eyeballs. I’m okay now, though.
So, let’s make this as clear as possible for the Observer readers …
President Obama and President Bush can both take (dare I say: SHARE) the credit for implementing strategies leading to the demise of Osama bin Laden. If you cannot see this as a good thing for America, I’d submit that your hatred for the current or former President blinds you to rationality.
And while O & W may share some credit, the real tribute goes to the men and women in the military and in the intelligence community who went to war, developed the intel over a decade, and carried out the operation. Unless Presidents Bush or Obama grabbed a sidearm and jumped off a chopper in Pakistan the other day, then there’s really no comparison.
And speaking of war-time presidents… I guess we’re all pretty clear now that we are, indeed, still fighting a war against terrorists. After all, you don’t just invade a sovereign nation with a Navy SEALS team, kill some people, steal a bunch of computer hard drives, and sink the corpses at sea, unless you’re at war.
I know this might seem self-evident. But it needs to be said clearly: We are still at war with terrorists. As much as some Democrats want to minimize it (calling it an “overseas contingency” or some other euphemism) and some Republicans want to claim Obama isn’t fighting the war at all (he’s just protecting his Muslim brothers!), I think it’s important to step aside and make the point: had Obama and his administration not believed we’re fighting a war, he wouldn’t have done what he did.
And to that point, can we all agree now that the prohibition on assassinating world leaders is pretty silly? It seems we, as Americans, are okay with whacking a bad guy when we want to. Or is assassination morally acceptable only when the bad guy kills Americans? If so, are we willing to assassinate the leaders of Hezbollah – who, until 9-11, were responsible for more American deaths than any other terrorist organization?
Another point worth noting: Pakistan is either very good at playing dumb or people are, in fact, just as naive as Pakistani leaders believe they are.
Osama bin Laden is a next-door neighbor to our military academy? Get out of town!
The US military launched a raid into our sovereign nation? You guys better not do that again!
Drone attacks inside our borders? We don’t like that one bit!
The USA needs help fighting terrorism? We stand with you, allies!
Al-Qaida needs some safe areas to hide? We stand with you, allies!
It’s pretty impressive how Pakistan is able to spin nearly every event, isn’t it? It seems Pakistan is able to be all things to all parties. Of course, I could be reading that all wrong and the Pakistan government could get overthrown in another Middle East coup. And if a revolution erupts in Karachi, don’t expect to see me commenting for at least 72 hours after the fact.
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