Osama bin Laden is dead. I'm glad the motherfucker is no longer sucking oxygen, to be sure. This complete and total douchebag killed 3000 Americans and terrorized my goddamned country, especially New York City and Washington, D.C.
I was actually relieved when I heard the news, because bin Laden's death may mean that the 9/11 victims' families could very well get some closure now. Closure is good, it's healing. I'm totally a fan of closure.
But spontaneous celebrations extolling the death of another human being? Really? SERIOUSLY?!
That's something I expect from Republicans with serious lacks of conscience, not Democrats. I perused weatherdude's diary reporting the death of bin Laden and, about 10 comments in, we have a "WOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!!!" type of comment. That is seriously gross to me.
As someone else said in a comment I read not 10 minutes ago, this is not justice - this is vengeance. How many Iraqi and Afghani citizens were killed on behalf of Bush's "war on terror", huh? Was it worth it? The 100s of thousand of civilian deaths (and perhaps, at this point, millions) ... was one innocent Iraqi or Afghani child worth the death of Osama bin Laden? That is the question I pose to you now.
Because, seriously, our wars with both countries have been absolute disasters to the local populations. Have you guys forgotten about these people? These "casualties"? They had lives and families, too, and they deserved them more than Osama bin Laden ever did, certainly.
Osama bin Laden, at the very end, was more of an al Qaeda figurehead than a true leader. Sadly, the United States has increased al Qaeda enrollment exponentially, thanks (in good part) to our war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States fucked up here, big time. And my personal opinion is that we did it to save face - once you start something, you're not supposed to stop it midstream, lest you look like a Sarah Palin-esque quitter.
So, what's gonna happen now? Are we gonna finally close Guantanamo? Are we gonna pull out of Afghanistan in 2011? Can we bring the troops from Iraq home? Where are we with George W. Bush's supposed "War on Terror"?
I don't know.
But, as someone who is fairly anti-death penalty, I am extremely uneasy with these bizarre "celebrations" of sorts. Somebody died. This is not a happy occasion, people. 3000 Americans died on 9/11. We killed the dude who masterminded this mass murder. Was said dude a mass murdering dickhead? You bet. Am I glad that he's dead? Yes, I am. I make exceptions to the death penalty in cases of mass murderers and/or mass rapists. That's how I roll.
I'm glad, honestly, that Barack Obama targeted him and then killed his dialysis-needing ass. I truly mean that.
But do I think we should be celebrating Osama bin Laden's death?! No. That is fucking disgusting, people. It truly is. I believe that we should be contemplating what happened, why it happened, and how we can prevent these attacks in the future. Really.
So don't be like bin Laden, peeps. Do not celebrate death! That is what Osama bin Laden would want you to do.
And you know I'm right.