It's been 24 hours, and bin Laden is still dead

Bingo.

 

What, now we're going to 'rank' the most despicable people in history? you know my standard for deciding who 'deserves' the death penalty? it's not dissimilar to how many folks determine whether a player is a 'hall of famer' -- i know it when i see it.

i don't want to threadjack this into a death penalty discussion, since it's apples and oranges, really. OLB is dead. we killed him. and i'm never going to lose a minute's sleep over it.

 

Certain people's existence are the equivalent of a loaded gun. He could be unarmed, naked and waving a white flag, and shooting him is still self defense.

 

Eichmann got a trial.

 

Wrong ...
I have stated several times on two different threads that I have NO - ZERO - problem with what went down and how it went down (some of you could use some reading comprehension classes). NO Problem. None. I'm happy as shit it happened.

I don't think it's erroneous to note people can applaud the "execution" of OBL on one hand and abhor the execution of a serial killer or murderer on the other. Sorry, I fail to see that being anything but hypocritical.

As for Big Mac... I don't (knowingly) argue with sock puppets.

 

Yeah, I mean, you have to put yourself in the shoes of the SEALs who were in the compound at the time. I guess it's coming out that bin laden wasn't shooting, etc., etc. But, fuck, you're in the compound. There are bullets being sprayed every which way in defense of him. It's chaos. You are face-to-face with the target of the operation - who clearly ordered the resistance that you have faced inside the compound. Looking at it from the point of view of the guy in there at the time, it is more than justified to take that action.

 

Then you are being obstinate. I've explained it. Others have explained it. We've been honest about some of the confliction we have felt about it, beginning on the thread where you first claimed no one had addressed it. I am against the death penalty as tool of a state criminal justice system. In a battle situation, I believe that you accept surrender. There is no indication that Bin Laden surrendered.

 

They were on a kill mission. They were doing what they were told to do.

If you have any problem with how it went down (I don't...) then take it up with Obama.

 

Well, I mean, that's why we have elections, right? Presidents and other elected officials make decisions. We hold them accountable on Election Day.

Revenge is not an emotion that drives me unless it's something directly related to me. Even then, I realize that it's not a very mature way to handle things.

I take no satisfaction from a revenge standpoint where it comes to Bin Laden because, for one thing, you've basically just taken away his consciousness. That seems like a tiny price for him to pay, to me, compared to what he did to this country and others.

If anything pleases me about his death, it isn't because revenge was had, it is that a kingpin of international terror is no longer around to push his ideology.

 

P.S. Jon Stewart was pretty good last night. Absolutely no ambivalence on his part. I still can't imagine how different it must be for people who were in New York that day.

 

Despite the bleatings of others, Evil, I can assure you this is my only handle on this board. I am not a sockpuppet.

 

Here is the problem.

I don't think many people would feel bad about a Gacy being executed.

But a Gacy is much closer to a "person accused of one murder on circumstantial evidence" than he is OBL.

And that "person accused of one murder on circumstantial evidence" might be innocent. And if he's found to be innocent four years after his execution, well, then we have a problem, don't we?

So we allow our reservations about the death penalty to cross the border onto other people (like Gacy) because, legally, they are pretty damn close.

But OBL is not across the border. He's in another galaxy. Not just because of the numbers. But because of his admission, his declaration of war, his reach and how many lives his death might save.

He's different. I cannot quantify in a mathematical equation exactly how it is determined that he is different.

But then, I shouldn't need to.