As most of you know or suspect, I am a vociferous critic of President Obama. However I must give him credit where credit is due. Based on his speech from two days ago, he told the nation that Osama Bin Laden was taken out on his orders. My only quibble was that we shouldn’t have buried his carcass at sea but given him the Pershing Treatment. (Named after John J Pershing, who put down a Muslim rebellion in the Phillipines back in the early 1900s. He executed several rebels by firing squad but before doing so, he allowed them to see that their graves were filled with dead pigs. The mere touching of a swine meant that they would go immediately to hell.)
Anyway, Obama appeared presidential and he solved a problem that had eluded his predecessor. Well done, Mr President. And a hearty “well done!” to our brave fighting forces, still the best in the world.
President Barack Obama deserves to be commended for his decision to “take out” Osama bin Laden by America’s armed forces. Indeed, Obama is a very effective Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. military.
Let’s not forget the intelligence community who labored for years discerning truth from false leads, and allowed the SEALs to arrive at the right location. I believe these deserve almost all the credit – taking nothing away from the SEALs.
Thanks guys.
Regarding the President; at least he didn’t fold when it came time to deciding. For that, I give him credit.
Effective Commander-in-Chief? With ZERO military experience, that is an impossible statement to even qualify, with one caveat – he apparently listened to his military advisors. That was effective.
I doubt that Muslim scholars would consign their fellow Muslims to hell for something committed by “infidels”. Pershing is also famous for his pursuit of Doroteo Arango ( Pancho Villa) haplessly over half of Mexico. We , in Mexico ,still remember that bit of imperial hubris. Let’s not get lost in squabbles about historical events and focus on the present. President Obama’s treatment of Usama’s remains was both expedient and correct , in the circumstance and he should be credited with perspicacity for not exposing Americans to unnecessary vitriol from the jihadis over the treatment of the man’s remains.
George,
As Orthodox we can rejoice that the man can no longer do evil in this world and that his evil organization has been damaged. But, to rejoice in man’s death in and of itself seems, to me, to be highly questionable. He, like us, bore the image and likeness of God. The idea that his grave or remains should be desecrated just isn’t right by any Orthodox Christian standard. How can we pretend to despise the violence and cruelty of our adversaries if we adopt the same behaviors ourselves?
Once again, Osama bin Laden can no longer do evil in this world and that is good. Osama bin Laden, as one who bore the image and likeness of God is dead–apparently without repenting. That one of his last acts of cowardice was to hold a woman as a shield so that she too might be killed reminds us of just what kind of man he was. That he remained that kind of man right to the end should be the cause of weeping in heaven. Any victory for the devil–even the consigning of an evil soul to Hades–is no victory for Orthodox believers.
Finally, yes, our Navy Seals carried out an admirable operation in a time of war. There is no doubt about that nor about the justification for targeting Osama. We just need to be careful not to make it seem that we are taking personal joy in his death. We have to separate the just intent of removing an evil force from the sadness there existed a human being who was so depraved as to commit such awful acts as 9/11 and so many others.
George,
Yes, our seals did well at what they are trained to do…….kill. Let us not be confused here. No justice was done as Obama stated……it took the most powerful nation on earth ten years and between 3 and 7.5 trillion dollars to find one old man, forces of our government violated the national sovereignty of another country and then proceeded to assassinate a man for a crime that he was never indicted for by grand jury. Justice? What war?( I have seen no congressional declaration). What I have seen…….the devaluation of the dollar by 40% over the last 11 years, the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, the TSA, undeclared wars, 40,000 plus American deaths and injuries………
No what was given out to OBL was not justice but murder without due process.
Would it not have been cheaper, easier, saved lives, saved liberty here at home and constitutional to have issued letters of marque and reprisal with a bounty of $1 trillion dollars??
Dead men tell no tells……….
Hear, hear!
Dead men tell no tales, indeed. Not in this world. The next one, however…
I would suggest looking at this from an alternate view:
http://www.vigilantcitizen.com/vigilantreport/binladen-mayfirst/
There are other forces in this.
The fact that you approve of the Pershing treatment tells me all I need to know about you. That was the act of a cruel and bloody-minded tyrant, not worthy of an American soldier, and you think it’s praiseworthy. Pardon me if I discount most anything else you have to say.
Sure got me thinking. Again, George, you can’t be serious. I hope you aren’t and that you’ll prove it by withdrawing this.
I just discovered this list a few days ago, and I’m already about to bail. Close to having heard all too much.
Scott Walker’s response to this entry is justified. A change of heart is required on this one. I think it is a serious matter. I encourage you to speak to your confessor about it. Very disappointed to see this blog entry. I mean this with all due respect.