Last week, President Obama fulfilled a campaign promise and killed Osama bin Laden. Well he didn't actually do the killing himself. It was carried out by a very brave and excellent team of Navy SEALs. Not only does Mr. Obama have the overwhelming support of the country, I think there are millions who gladly wish it could have been their finger on the gun that took out bin Laden.
When I heard the news a week ago Sunday, I immediately felt great. I felt relief. I thought of those who lost a loved one on 9/11. And I was glad we finally had a president who got something done.
Being near Ground Zero that night, I decided to head over there and join with others who saw this event as a chance to have some closure.
But before leaving to go to the former World Trade Center site, I turned on the TV, and what I saw was a frat boy-style party going on, complete with the shaking and spraying of champagne bottles over the crowd.
I can completely understand people wanting to celebrate - like I said, I, too, was happy - but something didn't feel right. It's one thing to be happy that a criminal has been captured and dealt with. It's another thing to throw a kegger celebrating his death at the site where the remains of his victims are still occasionally found. Is that who we are?
I remember my parents telling me how, on the day it was announced that Hitler was dead, there was no rejoicing in the streets, just private relief and satisfaction. The real celebration came six days later at the announcement that the war in Europe was over. THAT'S what the people wanted to hear - not just the demise of one evil madman, but the end to all the killing.
We are a different people now, aren't we? Well, sort of. There was no bloodlust euphoria on the day Timothy McVeigh was executed. We were silent. The families of the Oklahoma City dead were silent, relieved. What is the difference between McVeigh and bin Laden, other than the number they slaughtered? I wonder. I think we know the answer.
Meanwhile, we - me, included - get lost in the weeds of how this one madman was killed. The official story from the Pentagon changed four times in the first four days! It went from bin Laden firing on the troops with one hand and using his wife as a human shield with the other, to, by the fourth day, not a single person in the main house, including bin Laden, being armed when killed. Instantly, this created a lot of suspicion about what really happened, which itself was a distraction.
In a perfect world, I would like the evildoers to be forced to stand trial in front of that world. I know a lot of people see no need for a trial for these bad guys, and think trials are for sissies. Well, that is the exact description of the Taliban/al-Qaida/Nazi justice system. I don't like their system.
In fact, the reason I like a good trial is to show these people how it's done in a free country that believes in civilized justice. It's good for the rest of the world to see that, too. Sets a good example.
The other thing a trial does is establishes a very public and permanent historic record of the crimes against humanity. This is why we put the Nazis on trial in Nuremberg. We didn't do it for them. We did it for ourselves and for our grandchildren so that they would never forget these horrors and how they were committed. And we did it for the German people so they could see the evidence of what their elected leaders had done. Very helpful. Very necessary. Very powerful.
And for those who wanted blood back then - well, the majority of the Nazis all hanged in the end. So, it doesn't mean the bad guys get away - they still swing from the highest tree.
In the end, we did exactly what bin Laden said he wanted us to do: Give up our freedoms (like the freedom to be assumed innocent until proven guilty), engage our military in Muslim countries so that we will be hated by Muslims, and wipe ourselves out financially in doing so. Done, done and done, Osama. You had our number.
If we really want to send bin Laden not just to his death, but also to his defeat, may I suggest that we reverse all of that right now. End the wars, bring the troops home, make the rich pay for this mess, and restore our privacy and due process rights that used to distinguish us from any other country. Right now, our democracy looks like Singapore and our economy has gone desperately Greek.
Hideki Tojo killed my uncle and millions of Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos and a hundred thousand other Americans. He was the head of Japan, the Emperor's henchman, the man who was the architect of Pearl Harbor. When the American soldiers went to arrest him, he tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in the chest. The soldiers immediately worked on stopping his bleeding and rushed him to an army hospital where he was saved by army doctors.
He then had his day in court. It was a powerful exercise for the world to see. And on December 23, 1948, after he was found guilty, we hanged him. A killer of millions was forced to stand trial. A killer of 4,000 (counting the African embassies and USS Cole bombings) got double-tapped in his pajamas. Assuming it was possible to take him alive, I think his victims, the future, and the restoration of the American Way deserved better. That's all I'm saying.
Good riddance Osama.
Come back to your ways, my good ol' USA.
• Michael Moore is the Oscar and Emmy-winning director of "Roger & Me," "Bowling for Columbine," and "Fahrenheit 9/11." He can be reached at his website MichaelMoore.com.
soricobob posted at 5:50 am on Wed, May 18, 2011.
You're right, times have changed. All your examples of how past leaders were treated, put on trial, and thought about do not take into account a few things. The extremists of today would think nothing of throwing bombs at a trial. They would look forward to blowing themselves up (which few of us would mind) taking the lives of innocent bystanders. This is a crazy world, not a sane one. A trial today is a focal point for opposing views, not a lesson to be learned. I'm not in favor of short-circuiting the system, but I am in favor of frustrating potential bombers.
Masterrogue666 posted at 5:53 am on Wed, May 18, 2011.
Michael: You raised some interesting points. However, you are comparing apples and oranges when you mentioned Hitler and Tojo and then OBL. The first to mentioned were in uniforms. OBL did not wear one. His "warriors" do not either. In my book, that makes them spies, and they all should be treated as such.
How many LIVING Americans have been put to death by beheadings? Personally, I'd like to see OBL's head placed on top ot the flagpole at the White House. Overkill? Yes. But certainly an interesting message. His body was treated with a lot more respect than it deserves IMHO. Interesting that you didn't mention anything about that.
As for the war, would you rather fight them over there, or over here in our streets? As for our "freedoms" being curtailed, I don't see it that way. I see it as a way to prevent another such incident, which is probably would have happened if everything remained the way it was.
However, I am against helping out the people of Libya and Syria. Their people hated Americans for years. Now they call out for our assistance? They made their choice, they should live (or die) with it....
Leon Ceniceros posted at 8:41 am on Wed, May 18, 2011.
Michael Moore must live in a Liberal/Progressive "Dream World". Can you imagine the cost of a trial for Osama bin Laden....it would be in the 100's of Millions of Recession/Depression Dollars.
There would have been ...."fatwa's....Muslim Death Threats" ...on all the Jurors. There lives would never have been the same again. The safety of the jurors would have been at risk from the minute they were chosen to be on the jury onward...the same for their families. The disruption of streets and highways around the Federal Courthouse where the trial took place. Fear for their lives and the lives of loved ones would have been a "huge" factor in the jury's deliberations. How could it not be? We have seen the same thing in Mafia and Gang-related juries. All it would have taken would have been for Al-Queda to have "turned" one juror and you would have ended up with a mistrial...then another and another.
Michael Moore, as with most Liberal/Progressives lives in an "Ivory Tower" World......not the one that you and I live in....or the one that most Americans live in.
Osama bin Laden orchestrated some of the most infamous and tragic events that Americans have ever experienced. I am glad he is dead. I could care less about how he was killed. Call it...."Frontier" or "Cowboy" Justice...to me....the end fully justified the means.......Justice was Done.
God Bless our Navy Seals and all of Our Military Men and Women, here and abroad.
sockratties posted at 9:02 am on Wed, May 18, 2011.
As strange as it seems, it is possible to agree with Michael, soricobob and
masterrogue666 all at once. Maybe it's because there are only so many reasons
to kill someone; cost, deterrent, revenge, justice or safety.
With ObL cost was not a factor and al Qaeta will probably not be deterred
by the fact that he was killed so his death will probably not make us any more
safe than if he was taken alive, except as masterrogue666 said, it doesn’t provide
additional opportunities to the radicals.
That leaves revenge and justice as reasons. Both are good enough but on the
spot, as we did, seems more like revenge, and having a trial seems more like
justice. I’m okay with how things worked out and think taking him alive may
have been riskier for our Seals, who were already at a high risk threshold.
As an American we have the privilege of second guessing our leaders but I wasn’t
in the war room and I wasn’t one of the brave Seals, so second guessing, as a
lot of Obama critics have been willing to do, would just be a cheap shot.
The one thing that nags me is that al Qaeta has managed to get us to give up our
ability to brag about living in a country that lives by the rule of law. We now hold
prisoners without charging them for years, call torture “enhanced interrogation”
and assassinate the enemy. I don’t know that I would do any different. It just
bothers me that we no longer can claim we’re much different than the enemy.
I don't agree with leon that we should change our justice system because we are
afraid of the criminals. That has already happened in some Central American
countires and soon the criminals are running things. Intimidation of the courts is
the first step to collapse of the entire system.
Steve7 posted at 9:11 am on Wed, May 18, 2011.
"Final" thoughts? yeah, right....
Cerulean posted at 4:46 pm on Wed, May 18, 2011.
I agree with all of the above except Steve7. And I would like to thank the Tribune editorial, or whom ever chooses the guest commentary. This is one of the better columns that you have published.
VofReason posted at 1:49 pm on Thu, May 19, 2011.
Micheal Moore's take on the killing of OBL? What Lady Gaga or Bugs Bunny were busy? Who cares what Micheal Moore has to say about anything, much less something important like taking care of terrorists. If you want an opinion that matters in your newspaper, why not get one of the family members of the 9/11 victims.