Freedom/Privacy

Bin Laden's death, the end of a 21st Century Hitler

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by Jane Briggs-Bunting

Osama Bin Laden is dead.

The first news reports gave me an eerie feeling to know he died with a bullet to his head. It seemed more like a hit than a battle at that time. My Christian sensibilities rebelled at the thought of assassination and murder even of such an evil person.  My human sensibilities applauded the death of a man who orchestrated the murders of so many others, a 21st Century Adolph Hitler.

I felt much better when I learned Navy Seals killed him in a firefight. Good riddance to a mass murderer. Burial at sea, once the proof of his identity using DNA was incontrovertibly established and in accordance with Muslim religious observances, was a brilliant tactical decision.

No body to become a shrine. No high security trial. Sadly, this won’t end the threat or reality of transnational terrorism, and heightened security measures are being taken to protect U.S. citizens and U.S. interests.

It’s up to a higher power now to decide his eternal fate. Or, if, as Buddhists, Hindus and some Native American tribes believe, reincarnation occurs, he will have many lessons to learn in his next life.

And the best news is the Navy Seals escaped uninjured and unharmed. To them, thank you for your courage, training, meticulous planning and a successful mission.

Categories: Freedom/Privacy, History, Politics/Law/Government, Religion & Philosophy, United States, War/Security

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3 replies »

  1. Oh, come on. A 21st century Hitler? Give me a break. Let’s not do the false equivalence of a man who killed 3000 with a man who organized the mechanistic slaughter of 3 million.

    Let’s not give bin Laden more credit than he deserves.

  2. All right. OBL wasn’t Hitler’s exact equivalent. But he was bad enough and, I believe, had to be exterminated – much as we try to get rid of cancer cells.
    I liked very much Joan’s juxtaposition of her responses, her religious sensibilities and her human response.
    In reading about the various attempts to assasinate Adolph Hitler in the 1940s, it’s pretty clear that some drew back from participating in the plots because of their own religious sensibilities/belief systems. Perhaps some of these ‘unexamined’ religious beliefs can become inadequate for dealing with obvious threats to a society.

    Peter B. Martin

  3. I second Brian. He did not lead a nation, or command armies. He never conquered a single piece of territory, and one major terrorist attack (along with a few minor ones) does not equal “Hitler.”

    That comparison just goes to show how childish and neurotic the United States has become.