Are We Any Better?

I am reluctantly weighing in on the Bin Laden assassination. I know that even naming it that is going to aggravate some.

The problem is not that US forces ended his life. I'm not opening the "Should we have forgiven him?" question. We chose retaliation over forgiveness ten years ago, and his demise was, in my opinion, inevitable. I expected he would perish in a rocket attack or gun battle.

I was at the gym on Sunday evening when the killing was reported. People around me were stunned, thankful, and cautiously relieved, as was I. It was the later reports that concerned me - the president smugly taking credit for ordering the operation, and Americans in the streets, celebrating, chanting "U-S-A, U-S-A".

I was immediately drawn back to that horrible day nearly ten years ago when the towers and the pentagon were attacked. I remember the moment and the very spot I was when I heard the news. Even living in Canada at the time, it was deeply disturbing, and people everywhere grieved with the American people. Worst of all were the news images of Arabs dancing in the streets, celebrating this attack on civilians, ending the lives of thousands. "How could they?", I wondered, "Don't they realize these are innocent people?"

I'm not suggesting we're celebrating the loss of civilians in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or Libya. That horrifies us. But we're the free west. We've been taught that we have inalienable rights to liberty and justice. Things like a right to a fair trial when accused of a crime. I know that most of us would say that Bin Laden relinquished those rights when he attacked America. But on what basis?

I wonder at what point do we justify our president ordering a death squad to eliminate someone who attacks Americans? Should we have sent the Navy Seals to take out the Unabomber, Tim McVeigh, Charles Manson? Those men were, after all, out to destroy innocent people in support of their own twisted ideologies.

The work of the al Qaeda network disgusts us. It is evil, demonic, directed from the forces of hell. I want to see it destroyed completely and permanently. I also know we are at war with them, a war we all want to end soon, but successfully. Our service men and women are daily putting their lives in danger to reduce and hopefully eliminate future terrorist attacks on the USA.

I just wonder if, in celebrating the work of the tactical killing team, we've lowered ourselves to the bloodthirstiness of those who oppose this great nation. There's something in the glee of the president especially that disturbs me. The mix of blood and power is frightening elixir that stokes an insatiable appetite.