I suppose I ought to pop in here once in awhile. :) I started back to school the last week of March. I love my classes, and initially I did pretty well managing my time. However, my research writing class has proven to be quite time consuming, and I between classes and managing my family I haven't had much time for anything else.
However, something got my attention tonight. Tonight, I hear that we (America) have killed Osama Bin Laden.
I have mixed feelings.
People are partying in the street, letting off fireworks, celebrating at the White House. While I understand the sentiments, I am not sure how much I am with them.
It seems so much retaliatory, and not really serving any purpose, other than a symbolic one. Part of me feels strongly that he ought to have been treated as a war criminal and tried for his crimes against humanity. I don't know that summarily assassinating this man accomplishes much.
I hear that we have "custody of his body". I'm not sure how we have managed that, and I'm not sure why, other than to carry out DNA confirmation of his identity. But what good does his body do us? Do we plan to display his head on a stick? If anything, we are likely to greatly anger some foreign communities with this admission.
Some may say that we now are free of his brand of terrorism, but we all know that for every Bin Laden, there are 10 more just like him. I doubt that any of his plans, large or small, will come to a screeching halt with his death. If anything, his cohorts will be even more determined to carry out any forthcoming plan against America or its citizens, or any other part of the western world.
But neither is it my wish to devalue the service of the men and women in our military who are making such enormous sacrifices fighting a war they may or may not believe in. (Sounds familiar.) I always appreciate that the men and women of our armed forces don't get to choose our wars; they only must fight them when so ordered. I value their commitment, integrity, and strength in this war.
I can only hope that there will be something good come of this. Maybe it will be a greater sense of American unity, maybe it will grant us some measure of closure as a people. Maybe it will bring us closer to an end to this war.
