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Following Osama to the Bottom
Osama bin Laden's death is a moment to reflect on the damage he caused us to inflict on American justice in the 'war on terror'
Osama bin Laden's death removes the single focal point that has dominated American foreign affairs – and much of American politics at home – for a decade. And certainly, the United States and the world can breathe a sigh of relief that a dreaded enemy no longer needs to be countered. But the removal of bin Laden also opens up some space for thinking – not just for perpetual reaction, which has been the singular characteristic of the American version of the "war on terror".
Crowds gather at Ground Zero in New York shortly after Barack Obama announced that a US military operation had killed Osama bin Laden. His killing put an end to innumerable conversations that would, arguably, have continued to confound nations and their citizens. In his death, as in his life, we followed his lead when it came to thinking about justice. (Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA)
It is time now, and going forward, to think about the impact bin Laden had on us and on our world, especially when it came to thinking about justice.
At the heart of the rhetoric justifying and explaining our policies has been the notion of justice. In the decade since 9/11, the word has been used to mean many things, including revenge, retaliation, punishment and even healing. So it was used by President Bush when he told the nation and the world, time and time again, that our purpose in waging war in Afghanistan and Iraq and Afghanistan was the bring the enemy to justice. And in Sunday night's statement, President Obama labelled the killing of bin Laden as a moment of justice as healing.
What we need to remember, though, is that the effect of bin Laden's reign of terror on the notion of justice was to pervert it. Under the rubric of fighting terror, the United States rolled back its hallowed notions of civil liberties, its embrace of modernity, and even its reliance on its own courts. We delved into medieval-style torture, we reneged on our courts as a viable option for trying terrorists, and we blindly took aim at a religion, rather than its disaffected hijackers.
It is not surprising – but needs to be noted – that bin Laden was killed in a gunfight. The order was to kill not capture, even in a face-to-face encounter, which this apparently was. We thus forfeited the right to parade his excesses to the world at large – including to the thousands of Muslims whose family members have been killed by al-Qaida attacks. We ran, knowingly, from the chance to hold him in custody, and to punish him by due process and make him account to the world for what he has done.
This, then, was the inevitable ending to the way the United States has chosen to conduct this war. Bin Laden was an enemy so dreaded and so feared that his killing by military execution was the only possible end for a country that had given up so much of itself in his name. This was not a criminal, it was judged, that our courts, even after ten years, could handle. This was not an enemy whose fate the United States wanted to debate with the world and in the world's criminal courts. His killing put an end to innumerable conversations that would, arguably, have continued to confound nations and their citizens. In his death, as in his life, we followed his lead when it came to thinking about justice.
There is no denying that bin Laden's death is the end of the menace of al-Qaida as we know it: that without his leadership, a diffuse network, frayed at the edges by a decade of effective counterterrorism and harried by military interventions, will likely fall further into disarray. But a word of warning may be in order. Many of the pundits and politicians today are warning us not to let our guard down, to beef up security, to remember to be ever-vigilant – even if the immediate menace in our sights has been vanquished.
This is a version of the refrain that has marked the decade since 9/11: in fear, in hatred, in revenge, we need to fortify ourselves by forsaking many of our ideals. With this refrain in mind, we Americans, in the name of bin Laden, have been lured into a compromise with our own principles, whether it's on the matter of torture, of detention or of war without end.
Perhaps, in sending bin Laden's body into the waters of the ocean, we should consider sending all that he represented to us to the bottom of the sea as well. Perhaps we could, in his absence, remember once again who we are, and begin to rebuild our confidence in ourselves – starting with our system of justice.
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39 Comments so far
Show All"It is time now, and going forward, to think about the impact bin Laden had on us and on our world, especially when it came to thinking about justice."
We now have an entire generation who have been trained, indoctrinated, to hate the Muslims. It is an 'acceptable' hatred, proposed by 'reasonable' people in response to an act that was never properly investigated.
We have had a decade of "My country, right or wrong", gunslinger mentality, invasion and occupation abroad, and stripping of basic rights and freedoms at home without even a whimper. We now have a culture that have been turned in to compliant, obedient sheep, who line up in pens to protest, and stand mute as the wolves of the militarized Police are loosed on them in responce.
Is that 'justice'?
During the decade since 9-11, the elected enablers in DC have empowered the global financial industry to inflict exponentially more harm (at home and abroad) than previous harm the financial industry perpetrated to motivate Bin Laden's 2001 actions.
Although Michael Moore's documentary covered the failure of the Dubya Regime to catch Bin Laden, it fell short of telling the whole story...the Dubya Regime and Bin Laden tag team that enabled an already destructive global financial industry to become exponentially more destructive in the US and abroad.
Current economic conditions at home and abroad are just where the global capitalists and their enablers in DC want them to be after a decade of making sure that no crisis is wasted...they milked 9-11 for all it was worth and will continue to milk it at your expense.
Good points! The reaction of Americans, especially the young, is now as predictable as it is disgusting. Apparently, ten years of indoctrination has done it's job of sowing cruelty in the hearts of those who might have yearned to understand. In this "Crusade" that shows no sign of ending after a decade, we have emerged as the winners who have lost everything they had that was worth having.
"My country, right or wrong" - Isn't that a chant I hear in Australia? Truly it is a global sickness.
i don't believe it
simple as that
bin laden was dead in 2001 and so said the brits who killed him at tora bora
this is just another example of the endless lies of the government - lies within lies and it is a measure of the idiocy of the public that they eat it up like pablum - true they have been trained to do so but......
the spectacle of the chants: usa usa - fucking sickness personified
on the other hand we don't have much to celebrate - no jobs, no healthcare, poisoned environment, terrorist bankers, obummer, the donald, fat boy limbaugh, the beckstein
pretty sad when all you got to celebrate the nation is a fake death of a boogeyman but that is what its come to....
I'm suspicious too. If the goal was to "cut the head off the snake" so to speak, that purpose would have been served just as easily by killing OBL and keeping quiet about it. Perhaps Obama could have notified other world leaders through back channels only. That he DIDN'T do that, and instead did things sure to incite increased hatred, tells you something else is up.
Are you saying that in order to "grow" its economy, the USA has to sneer at, threaten, and taunt the world? I guess without viable exports it has few options. Hilarious!
Don't kid yourself, this changes nothing. The country is corrupt beyond measure and no matter how many times the tail wags this terrorism dog, it is clear that America is in deep trouble.
I agree completely, as a US citizen. I caught a glimpse – more than I could stomach – of the flag waving at ground zero, and was thoroughly disgusteed. I predict, even many "progressives" are going to use this b-rate political theatre to beat up those of us refered to as "truthers", as if Bin Laden's death, if even true, would somehow prove anything.
Americans are easy to understand...everything is like a football game.
In domestic politics you cheer for the blue team or the red team and buy whatever stories the media feeds you just like you buy whatever the commercials during half time tell you to buy.
With international politics you cheer for the stars and stripes.
"""But a word of warning may be in order. Many of the pundits and politicians today are warning us not to let our guard down, to beef up security, to remember to be ever-vigilant – even if the immediate menace in our sights has been vanquished."""
****************
I would expect this kind of political claptrap from our elected avaricious dolts to use the 'vigilant' label when it suits their corporate pals of the mic.
Too much to use that word when trying to protect a democracy of a republic through that 'accepted' lack of eternal vigilance which is exactly what those dolts want, they don't want the people keeping an eye on the corporate shenanigans that are going on and exemplified most recently by Monsanto bribing or is that lobbying state legislatures to make it a high crime felony for any one trying to investigate or record the crimes these corporations commit, with a possible 30 year prison sentence. How fucking right is that?
But I digress, Miss Greenburg has much to say and nothing also. It is just too evident the no one in journalism will touch the false flag idea of the attack on 9/11/01 with a ten foot pole, thus we get -
""We delved into medieval-style torture, we reneged on our courts as a viable option for trying terrorists, and we blindly took aim at a religion, rather than its disaffected hijackers.""
This is the crime and one that is and will cause the most damage to just 'unvigilantly' pass over any kind of thorough investigation into the events on the attacks of 9/11 which should have been done not long after, which ostensibly it did and the u.s. and world get the 9/11 kangaroo commission's report of that attack most all of some sort of science fiction story. So the u.s. loses.
What you just quoted was their goal in the first place. The EVENT gave them the reasons for the Patriot Act, the TSA, the continual stripping of our civil rights. And we should start a poll about the next FF attack. These sheeple dancing in the streets. What a site. Not! How can so many remain clueless after building 7 when they say "Let's pull it" is just beyond me
Absolutely on those spectator sport crowd all out beating their chest as if they were invincible. Wonder how they would react if they were all of a sudden shipped over there to fight in those hell holes.
SAMO: Right on! And note the author's title, "Exec director of the Center of LAW and Security" In NY. I wonder if she's an "asset." Her glib reinforcement of all the acceptable memes is troubing to me.
What does Glenn Greenwald have to say about all this? Now he's a TRUE Constitutional law SCHOLAR, not an insider, or nouveau political version of a "made" man!
This:
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/05/03/propaganda_bin_laden/index.html
Ah yes, that fawning media that gives 5 minutes of time for congressional news and at the white house another 5 minutes for the day in washington.
What hogwash! bin Laden has been reported dead for years.
Most people don't remember that he was a kidney dialysis patient (see NYT and other newspapers of the time) not likely to live long in 2001. CIA visited him in the hospital in July 2011 - - perhaps his old handlers - - and likely told him they were going to use his name after he died.
Bush Jr. and Bush Sr. were/are close friends with the bin Laden family and Sr. was still in the Carlyle Group with bin Laden's father for a long time after 9-11.
And, of course, as millions of us know (and as I said as I watched on TV the second tower go down in real time), "The government did this."
Obama is running for President, so this may just possibly, maybe, perhaps have something to do with the announcement of the death of some unknown who was almost immediately tossed into the sea so we can't see who it really was.
So, to my mind, the best things we can do is ensure our families' basic needs - warm shelter in winter, clean water, healthy food - and then spend our lives talking and writing in whatever venues we can to expose the lies, and proposing alternatives to the filthy corruption that is.
,
"CIA visited him in the hospital in July 2011"
good trick.
time travel?
Karen Greenberg says:
"This was not an enemy whose fate the United States wanted to debate with the world and in the world's criminal courts."
No kidding. Osama Bin Laden, former CIA asset and operative, could not be allowed to set foot in a court of law any more than a Mafia capo could. Just like the Mafia, the US government covers its tracks by rubbing out its own hit men.
His killing put an end to innumerable conversations that would possibly have led to Dick Cheneys' bunker.
Karen Greenberg says:
"Under the rubric of fighting terror, the United States rolled back its hallowed notions of civil liberties, its embrace of modernity, and even its reliance on its own courts."
Not to mention an explosion of war spending and the virtual suspension of the US constitution. Mission accomplished (with the help of OBL).
"There is no denying that bin Laden's death is the end of the menace of al-Qaida as we know it: that without his leadership, a diffuse network, frayed at the edges by a decade of effective counterterrorism and harried by military interventions, will likely fall further into disarray."
I'm denying it. First, I do not think Osama bin Laden headed up a command structure; he provided no leadership at all. And second, his death will have exactly zero effect on al-Qaida--none at all. Individual cells will carry out terrorist actions for the sake of revenge, but basically nothing has changed. It is typical of American thinking to see everything in Wizard of Oz terms: ding-dong, the witch is dead! In fact, political, religious, and economic conflicts are not settled so easily; they painfully bleed out over decades. This is just one event in a long conflict to come.
Good one, Drosera. The attacks on teachers appears to have the effect of exciting your more radical nature. Bravo!
Oliver Stone, where are you?
I heard the news late last night, and expected CommonDreams to be wall-to-wall Osama today.
I also expected a gush of inane, tendentious claptrap, and this article is a representative example. It implicitly buys into and perpetuates delusional and mythic memes manufactured and relentlessly disseminated by the Amerikan Imperium's overclass and the corporate mass media which serves it.
It's truly not worth the trouble to pick through the pompous and serious-sounding cant embedded in this article and most of the others. But just to cite one egregious example of the solemn nonsense that passes for sober analysis and wisdom:
"There is no denying that bin Laden's death is the end of the menace of al-Qaida as we know it: that without his leadership, a diffuse network, frayed at the edges by a decade of effective counterterrorism and harried by military interventions, will likely fall further into disarray."
This fantastic perception is straight out of the Establishment's comic-book and fantasy meme of the Evil Super-Villain, the Dark Lord who is the metaphorical head of the snake. This myth has a corollary: the Super-Villain or Dark Lord holds his vast network of minions in psychic thrall, such that they unquestioningly obey him and are animated by their nefarious devotion.
So when the head of the snake is cut off, the body of followers will inevitably falter, curl up, and die.
The dystopian reality is the exact opposite of this puerile mush; it's the authoritarian, imperialist state or hegemony that needs its "Goldstein", and maintains a military force and a burgeoning clandestine state security service to nurture and sustain an "enemy" with one hand so that it can ostentatiously battle it with the other.
Only a fool, dupe, or jingo-sotted idiot doesn't get this.
This is the kind of credulous drivel being dished out by the bucketful all over the mass media, corporate and alternative alike. It's as if the commentariat reacted to this dubious and problematic news by swallowing a triple-dose of extra-strength Stupid Pills.
It's gonna be a long week.
How could we expect someone from American academia to explain the whole truth ?
Our centers of "higher learning" were purged long ago leaving only worthless establishment talking heads. Can't CD do better than this ?
Bin Laden was the result of America's Big Oil foreign policy.
Quite simply the U.S. military has been used to expand private access to global hydrocarbon resources throughout the 20th century and to protect corporate global markets.
Afghanistan is all about marketing Central Asian hydrocarbon resources throughout Asia, with India as a primary market. This can only be done with pipelines through Afghanistan. Afghanistan also has oil and natural gas as well as $Trillions in mineral resources.
There is no plan to leave Afghanistan anytime soon as one of the largest U.S. embassies on earth is being built in Kabul. And other is being built in Herat near the border with Iran. These embassies will support the interests of American corporations.
It is also worth noting that Bin Laden is now a martyr.
O.S & GONZO: Terrific posts! Your points reinforce my sense that this writer is an (CIA) asset... her position added to the superficial level of her analysis suggest as much.
Wait!!! Where is Glenn Peckerhead, weighing in, with his insane comments?
If the American National Security State really wants peace, now is its chance to have it.
David Ray Griffin, for one, has researched 9/11 thoroughly and cast serious doubt regarding bin Laden's role (if any) in 9/11. Here is an important link: http://www.wanttoknow.info/050504davidraygriffin
It should be obvious that we have been in the Middle East primarily because of the oil in the region; official reasons have been merely "cover."
Bins usefulness had run out. Mission Accomplished Bin. With a few box cutters you and your comrades brought a mighty Empire to its knees, of course your pals GW BV$H et al. did exactly as you wanted and completed the job.
"remember once again who we are"
sorry Ms. Greenberg, you were never who you thought you were.
your apologistic "the damage he caused us to inflict" glosses over the damage freely done before; since founding.
Dead men tell no tales....and cannot rat out their paymasters in the CIA
Why isn't anyone questioning the dumping of the body at sea, and so soon after the assassination?
Since when has the US showed respect or restraint towards Muslims?
After all, I'd like to see the body, or remains thereof. Otherwise it
could have been any sack of potatoes thrown overboard.
Hey, WTF! you ask:
Why isn't anyone questioning the dumping of the body at sea, and so soon after the assassination?
it is because we have passed the time for questions...
the questions were long ago asked, and either ignored, or answered with lies and vitriol...
no more questions...it is time for action...
Global Start Date: September 22, 2012...unanimous, planetwide rejection of the modern world...cessation of industry and energy use...negation of property ownership and contractual obligation...return to local living, individual engagement in management and defense of neighborhood resources...
Osama was the excuse, not the reason.
Resource wars and empire is the reason.
Power and profits rule America today. Power of the Military Industrial complex / and the Multi-national Corporations using it to seize and protect profitable resources.
Name a country without a large natural resource base that we are currently fighting "terrorists" in...I am not aware of any.
"...the effect of bin Laden's reign of terror on the notion of justice was to pervert it."
No.
It wasn't OBL's "reign of terror" that perverted justice but our response to it.
"medieval-style torture"... Really? They racked the terrorists? Well, now that you mention it, okay, medieval style interrogation for a medieval style enemy. Fine rack them. Actually that was Bush's problem, he was just an old softy. Water boarding? Please.
I don't think Ms. Karen really objects to enhanced interrogation. She objects to the entity for which it employed to defend. If she got her world installed she would use it quick enough to defend that world.