Done, And Done

Big stories evolve: who knows what explains it all? Early confusion? Miscommunication? Second thoughts?

As the version of Osama using his wife as a shield is walked back, it's also now being said he didn't fire at the Americans, raising questions about whether he could have been captured. Whatever the preferred image of the end-time, it seems clear that had OBL been taken alive, there'd have been enormous problems, nearly unimaginable ones. Same with having him buried somewhere. Despite anticipating the predictable and inevitable conspiracy theories that already abound as if pre-packaged for the occasion, I'm thinking neither was ever considered an option.

Had Osama been captured, where would they have put him? He'd have had to stand trial at some point: where? In what sort of facility? Would he have been allowed to speak? Would other countries have demanded a crack at him, too? Hard as it is to imagine, in this country our RWS™ would surely have demeaned themselves even further, calling for Obama's head as loudly as they would Osama's (and, given their propensity for confusion of the names, it'd be hard to know about which they were speaking, and when), no matter the direction he chose. I'd like to think that our system of justice could handle it, in civilian court, for the world to see. And, other than the demagoguery from the screamers that would surely besmirch the process, I do. But this, I think, is singular and exceptional. I'm glad not to have to witness what might have happened. I assume it was given high-level thought, and rejected. At the highest level. Much as it goes against my long-held beliefs, I think it was the right decision. No doubt, I'll be thinking about it some more.

Likewise, the burial at sea. Were there to be a site to which admirers could come -- or non-admirers, too -- it'd have been an ongoing and repellant spectacle. Let the conspiracies fly. (And they are, from left and from right.) It was the right decision, too.

I am proud of the fact, though, that bin Laden evidently received a respectful (and brief) ceremony before being slid, weighted down, into the seas. Entirely the opposite of the way bodies of our soldiers were treated by mobs in Iraq, it speaks of a society of ethics and civility to be admired. In the end, it's a more powerful message than a trial would have been. I imagine the order for that to have occurred also came from the verymost top; and I admire it greatly. Others, predictable as sputum from a smoker, do not. Needing it like respiration, they see nefary.

As opposed to the disastrous effects of Bush's approach to fighting terrorism, lauded recently once again by Rumsfeld and touted throughout the echoing halls of right wing screamery, the way to win the war on terrorism -- if it is winnable, and if the date of victory would ever be identifiable -- is by convincing enough people in Muslim nations that we are not at war with their religion. That it's the highjackers of their religion that we reject and seek to destroy. That we, as a nation, comport ourselves differently, and are deserving of their admiration. For the most effective way to find and eliminate terrorists is to have people near to them willing to tell the tale.

I can hear the insane conversations in households around this country: conspiracies, certainties, and claims that it all -- especially the ritual burial -- shows, somehow, that President Obama is still an America-hating secret Muslim. To me, it shows an intelligence and sensitivity to the real issues, even as he's continued programs and done things that I strongly dislike, that was sorely lacking until he took office.