My frank opinion is that it was a good thing that the US found and took action against Osama bin Laden. I believe in a country’s right to defend itself. I do not know if it was legal, however—I had a conversation with Mostly A Martha on Sunday that it was probably not a legal action to go into another country to remove a target without that country’s agreement. I have to admit I do not have any moral misgivings about it. I am not sure how I feel about the US killing him—I have not done a lot of research on what actually happened. Perhaps someone can clear this up for me, but what I heard was that he was killed without returning fire. To me the only time that it is right kill an enemy is if the person is trying to kill you. I don’t feel a lot of regret that he was killed instead of taken alive, however. Nor do I feel a large amount of satisfaction or joy. My initial response was more of an “oh.”
I also cannot help to think of all the civilians who had died or had their lives impacted by war in Afghanistan and Pakistan—far more than were killed in the original 9/11 attack. My good friend’s fiancé is Pakistani and has had a horrible time getting into the US to attend school—he missed his whole first undergrad semester because he could not get a visa—or travel to other countries. I have to say that the US’s advances and success in the War Against Terror have come at great cost to other countries. War is too complicated to make it worthy of celebration.
