Column for May 5, 2011

Proverbs 11:10 “When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.”

I am writing this on Monday close to noon time. I just got back from UNC Children’s Hospital where my son had minor surgery. Because of that, we were up very early this morning to have him checked into the hospital by 6:30. I tried to go to bed early as well. That means that I cut myself off from all media at an earlier hour than normal last night. When I woke up early this morning, I found the big news that Osama Bin Laden has been killed. I was elated.

I listened to the news, read some quick news reports online, and even put something on Twitter and Facebook about my “shouts of gladness”. With my gladness, I must give credit where credit is due. President Barack Obama continued the policy of engaging Al Queda and gave the order for the raid upon the compound where intelligence sources say that Bin Laden was hiding. I am proud of our military for the job they did and grateful that President Obama had the courage to whack this scumbag. Congratulations.

The Defense Department has said that this was a kill operation, not a capture operation. From what I have heard thus far, Bin Laden’s body was given a rapid burial at sea to accommodate the Muslim custom of burial within twenty-four hours. So, to quote my all time favorite movie, “The Godfather”, Osama “sleeps with the fishes”.

Personally, I had hoped that Bin Laden would have been captured alive. Granted, he has been fairly ineffective and out of play for a while, mainly because of the manhunt for his head. However, his capture would still have been a great symbolic victory. I would love to have had him paraded like a captured king. Then, I would love to have had him executed and the execution be made available on a pay per view basis on television and the internet with all the proceeds thereof to go to the families of the victims of 9/11/2001 and the families of the US soldiers who have died in Afghanistan.

Since Bin Laden’s execution has already happened (and ultimately I am OK with that), I would have preferred that his body not been buried at sea. This is first and foremost to deny him any consideration towards Muslim tradition. Most Muslims seem to deny that Bin Laden is a true Muslim (as I just heard on the radio yet again from a Muslim cleric) and not representative of their false religion. Thus, why bother giving him that dignity? I would rather the body have been preserved in some liquid preservation tank like he was an alien at Area 51 and taken on a road show across the country like a carnival sideshow. We could have charged admission to see his corpse with the proceeds again going to the families of the victims of 9/11/2001 and the families of the US soldiers who have died in Afghanistan. I would have even liked the idea of his corpse being permanently on display at the new World Trade Center when it is rebuilt in Manhattan.

I listened to one whining liberal woman today decry how much money it cost the US to find and kill this one man. When I got the chance to speak to her personally, I told her that it was worth every penny. She decried how other radicals will just take his place and we will have some retaliatory attacks against our country as a result. Well, there was a string of replacement waiting anyway, and I say, “Bring it on”. They attacked us ten years ago (not the other way around), and I have not forgotten. I have also not forgotten all the other attacks by the likes of Al Queda and other such groups belonging to the falsely so called “religion of peace”. I am so tired of the “let’s not tick off the Muslims lest they retaliate for the least little offense” mentality.

Legend has it that in 1911, General John “Black Jack” Pershing used brutal tactics in The Philippines when dealing with Muslim warriors, including burying their dead with pig entrails and dipping bullets in pig blood. It is said that to some Muslims, dying with unclean animals like will deny them entrance to Paradise. I am all for such intimidation tactics if they work. It is worth a try today. Radical and extremist Islamic zealots only understand the use of brute force. Since the days of the Crusades (which were in response to Muslim invasion and slaughter) all the way up to the Somali Pirates of present day, we have found this to be true. I am glad that we just showed the resolve to follow through. I pray that we have the spine to stay the course. Either way, I rejoice in the death of a scumbag and found the celebrations in the streets of New York City to be just fine with me.