Icons

Clearly this is a semiotic victory. Bin Laden represents the very face of evil to Americans, who were handed this enemy by their very own intelligence agencies, and then again by the complete failure of said agencies. We know this jingoism is at the very least awkward and it's something we Canadians see rarely of, but it's necessary to sell the billion dollar war that was initiated in this evil's name. Sure, it's self perpetuating, but in America thing really ARE that black and white.

Democracy is coming

It's late - Mother's day and my anniversary so All I have to say is:
Write on!
I'll be back

release the pics

Not the grizzlies, but the deck-side service done in strict accordance with Islamic tenets.

Stilling my uneasy heart

I have been considerably ill-at-ease with the hoopla over Bin Laden's summary execution.

Surely to God Obama didn't need the minor distraction of OBL's death to draw attention away from the idiocy of his birth certificate, although it was poetic that he pre-empted Trump's program to do so. The many-changing narratives of the action both in Pakistan and in the White House only add to the unease that general incompetence exists at high levels in both organizations, and that political perceptions sometimes take precedence over both common sense and sensible planning.

What good does it serve to make enemies of Pakistan's military when you still need them? Why publicize the death when the most effective tool of statecraft for the USA (if not Obama) would have been for the USA to simply "stand down" the hunt for Osama, while Pakistan seeks to explain the shot-up house, the missing Osama, the stories of the witnesses, the destroyed Blackhawk helicopter and the multivariate Twitter-threads, each telling a different part of the story? That truly would have been fun for the US administration to simply wait for each Pakistani or al-Queda excuse to pop out, and then simply say (through its slavish press lapdogs) "No, that's not what happened." "No, Osama is not still alive and living somewhere in Tora Bora."

No, this whole situation has been royally fucked up by any number of hands, and the result is that the USA is having to explain itself more and more, and getting deeper into doo-doo with every word when all the attention should be focussed on Pakistan.

That said, this article speaks brilliantly to my unease with the situation when Cannon says:

"While I don't believe anyone's death is a "good" thing, it is occasionally a necessary thing, and bin Laden's was about as necessary as they come. Fighting terrorism is not conventional warfare, it is a battle for psychological victories, an unending struggle against a tactic rather than an enemy. Bin Laden's triumph in 2001 was not a military conquest, it was a blow to the American psyche that thought itself untouchable. As the years wore on and bin Laden proved himself beyond reach, only his death would allow us to close out this chapter and begin the painful process of authoring a new, hopefully wiser, narrative."

Couldn't have been said better. Well done Chris.

Waiting now for Part II - who will be the greatest enemy of the USA now? Against whom will the might forces of "freedom, democracy and apple pie" be turned to secure for Americans a measure of protection for "their way of life"?

This whole thing

This whole thing stinks.

Those pics of Hilary and Obama watching his death on TV have been shown to be a lie, It was also Pakistani troops that supposedly got Obama, there was a fire-fight, then no fire fight, helicopter shot down blah blah blah the death pics are old fakes that have been around for over a year, they got rid of his body so fast, where was the dialysis equipment? When one is on dialysis you get skin changes...

I think he has been dead for 9 years at least. The USG lied about Pat Tillman, Jessica Lynch, in Gulf war one lied about Iraq troops on Saudi Border, about Iraq troops killing babies in hospitals etc Gods know what else they have lied about...No wonder some have so much trouble believing the government, yet with all the lies and if you question government you are called a traitor, unpatriotic, taliban lover, conspiracy theorist..

What is more dangerous are those that believe everything they hear on the 6 pm news...

outcome

Now that both Saddam and Osama are gone the US just relieved itself of any alibi it had for being in that region.

So now what will be served up as the pabulum for continually tearing up these faraway places?

Part II has been going on since the Second War. Since that time, America has deliberately interfered with either overtly, or covertly, in more than 220 countries worldwide. Many of those countries had democratically elected governments.
The American “way of life”……?

Over processed starches and sugars labelled as food, golf courses in the desert,3 cars and a boat in the driveway, Hollywood actors as Presidents…..have you seen the latest coin release by the American Treasury? One side has the buffalo and the other side has the American Indian. Now that they are both almost extinct let's put them on display…..

Well done

While we need more journalists who will work for improvement of the human condition, we also need more journalistic outlets, media, that will disseminate their work. This is a thoughtful and hopeful piece.

As a former American

As a former American ('46-'71), I got a spooky feeling watching the dancin'-in-the-streets celebrations after Bin Laden's death. It was much like that back when I was a kid and we all saw our first TV footage of "foreign" people grieving, wailing, waving rifles, etc. They may have been Palestinians, Zulu tribespeople or whatever. Anyway, they scared the beejeezus out of me then just like the celebrating Americans did last week.

It is a strange feeling to have, that my homeland isn't home any longer and that some of the people who live there are chauvinistic wingnuts. But that's okay, I had the same feelings when I lived there in '68.

It is not so much the celebrations of a death that bother me. It is the attitude - much like that of President Bush after 9/11 - that "we are right and we are going to take out everybody who is wrong". Life, let alone governance, just doesn't work that way.

OBL's Death

Supposedly he is dead and gone. Let it go.

Just more senseless war mongering and more promotion of an ungodly world.

The chapter has yet to be written with all our senseless admiration for hurting people and then getting hurt.

As we see the Blue Cons of Canada wants to get involved in the world issues like usa.

Yes we shall see it on our shores soon also. It is written.

Who wins. Nobody.

Just the promotion of more poverty, war, food shortages, unemployment, poor economies, assasinations, head games, arrogance and a need to be in the lime light for some governments. Poor choices eh.

And on and on it goes. Can only get worse eh.

Sure aint benefiting you and me, joe public eh as we spiral down into the unknown of uncertainty.

Chris Cannon

In a generation before you, I served in the Corps. I believed that what I was doing was "RIGHT". I too have, as one grows much older and wiser, learned the awful truth of mass media manipulation and the hidden agenda of those who would use the media for their own purposes.
Great to read the perspective of one who has actually BEEN in uniform, rather than those who just think they know what it is like.

Semper Fi.

Well done!

Thank you so much for writing this article and to the Tyee for printing it. Wow! I feel a strong sense of optimism growing inside me after reading this essay. More please!

Ahhh America!!

"bin Laden's (killing)was about as necessary as they come" America is a country where killing is an accepted everyday occurrence. Even killings of unarmed people without arrest, fair trial and possible conviction.

"the undeniable victory of bin Laden's death" Even educated Americans have been brainwashing into believing that killing a suspect is a "victory".

"I hated Sontag for writing that.... I was in too much pain to acknowledge she was right." So hating someone for being right is an American virtue, attitude or reality? Either way people who think that way are big trouble. Especially when they collectively spend more on weapons than the rest of the world put together!!

Democracy

In a way, I'm glad that bin Laden got to see the ultimate repudiation of his twisted belief system, the outbreak of democracy in Egypt and the movement for civil rights in the rest of the Middle East. It's also ironic that the United States, which views itself as the source of liberty, had virtually nothing to do with that outbreak of democracy, and in fact, probably delayed its development.

As for bin Laden, I'm glad they got him. He was a heartless religious fanatic and murderer whose vision of the world would have been a dungeon to nearly everyone. I don't rejoice in his death, but I'm glad that he's gone.

Terrorism and war crimes

The US Department of Defense Dictionary of Military Terms defines terrorism as:

The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.

By that definition George Bush and his inner circle are terrorists and war criminals. They waged an illegal war on Iraq and killed 120,000 civilians. Norm Chomsky has a good take on this.

http://failedempire.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/noam-chomsky-bush-war-crimes-greatly-exceed-those-of-bin-laden/

Terrorism definition, read the fine print.

"The US Department of Defense Dictionary of Military Terms defines terrorism as:
The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological."

That's the definition but you misunderstood the key word, "unlawful".
America considers virtually all of its offensive wars and killings as "lawful" not "unlawful". Therefore America has never been guilty of terrorist actions. That is why they have gone to considerable lengths to convince us that this killing of an unarmed suspect was "lawful".

In the long war against humanity

we must acknowledge that corporate power has won. The people cannot govern themselves. They live in a violent action pic, assuming the persona of muscled action figures, expressing cave man like slogans, while an elite is working on the next devil for us to consume. Rational intelligence in the world of leadership and politics is reduntant - we have been made into pit bulls on two legs.

They keep lying, we keep trying (to explain that 2+2 still =4)

Some earlier comment-writers have recognized that whatever can usefully be said/written about the outpourings the hate seen over the past week and the relentless repetition of stories (in both senses) about the events of May 1st, OBL has been for a long time - probably Dec. 2001.
Now come calls for Pakistan to be made answer. Attention to comments sections in the MSM show that many Canadians have received the intended message and are keen to 'bomb the Pakis' or even 'nuke em'. So what next? Expect simultaneous war #4 (war#2 is Iraq is not over), balkanization of Pakistan, and a strategic new oil pipeline to by-pass those bothersome, unbeatable Afghans.

Poo, that is

This whole puppet show has been utter horse exhaust from Day One.
"We...are the Watchmen" - JFK, 22-10-63

Growing up starts with self-reflection

Americans - a totally screwed up society, thinking they are the best in the World. Have zero respect for each other, for other cultures and like to bully everyone around. Especially those who have oil.
Being a European - as most of the Europeans - I don't like the American society with its individualistic, idiotic way of thinking. And they call it a democracy. Huh? You can't even say what you want without being sued by your neighbour. Now how is that for tolerance and understanding?

The biggest difference between rich and poor is in the US if I look at wealthy nations. The mentality of 'dig out your own fortune' is totally misguided and the majority of Americans have zero tolerance to their lesser fortunate country fellows in general.

Celebrating on the streets like they did just made me want to puke and turn the TV off.

I'll be happy when Bush is dead along with is megalomaniac oil friends. Altough they won't die from islamic special forces attacking their hide out place. They more likely die of natural causes or old age in their palaces while the rest of the world is sinking into further trouble of deep inequality between people, environmental destruction and species extinction. Thanks to Bush and his gang.

America will never grow up as long as the majority of the people are controlled by media and religion and celebrities (for God's sake get a life of your own). And as long as there is deep social and financial inequalities between people. The road to democracy starts with becoming united regardless of skin colour, social and financial status. It starts with looking after each other regardless of social status.

Beside my opinion - this was a good article.

great thoughts

However, you have fallen into the same trap as the msm has regarding binLaden's "burial".

The "quick disposal of the body according to Muslim law" may be what the White House and Pentagon wishes others to think, but, yes, the burial is to occur soon after death, however, unless the person died at sea, according to Muslim Law, the person is to be buried close to where they died or transported close to where the family lives.

Most Muslim clerics, non-fanatics, agree that bin Laden's burial at sea did not conform to Muslim law.

If one is to strip the current preposterous spin and spectacle from the land of the stars and stripes then one should take care not to assume any of the spin is accurate without doing the necessary research.

If bin Laden's sanctuary was filled with useful information, videos and computers etc then why would US intelligence share this with the world?

One would think, for security and intelligence purposes, this "vital intelligence" would be kept a secret, but perhaps, this is just more of the same bs that the author of the article has exposed.

Why would you tell your enemy you have its secrets? It's like Britain telling the Germans in WW2 that it had captured its coding machine.

How much more of this do we have to endure?

Is the world a safer place to live since bin Laden's death?

Wanted: Dead or Dead. But silence a must.

This is The Wild West.

janetvickers is right - we should acknowledge that corporate power has won.

And the sovereignty of nations if not quite extinguished, barely flickering now. Their bounty of resources targeted and under utmost threat.

As Sontag noted in 2001:

"Where is the acknowledgement that this was not a "cowardly" attack on "civilization" or "liberty" or "humanity" or "the free world" but an attack on the world's self-proclaimed super-power, undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions?"

There is no joy in Mudville to be had. There will be no rest for any of us, when all is subterfuge. You do understand that, don't you?

Because the ever-increasing fluidity of the reality that is being 'presented' here, a very handy-dandy transparency on the one-sided screen of the Empire's overhead projector - is designed to to cover and camouflage.

But this is very sloppy work, and hopefully you realize that you are not looking at what you think you are.

Again, welcome to the unlawful Wild West....as bfearn aptly notes above:

"America considers virtually all of its offensive wars and killings as "lawful" not "unlawful". Therefore America has never been guilty of terrorist actions. That is why they have gone to considerable lengths to convince us that this killing of an unarmed suspect was "lawful"."

All its useful, contemptible sheriffs in place.....here, too now.

Thanks for a great article

I couldn't help thinking of the many captions that might have been attached to that widely publicized picture of the White House audience to this assassination: Killing as entertainment. Or, with Hillary appearing a little shocked: "Oh, you guys! Not a snuff film!"

Regarding the timing, someone mentioned that it served as a diversion from the birth certificate dispute. I thought that had been resolved. I do very much believe that diversion was sought and that it was from the embarrassing questions that were starting to be asked about the Gadhafi kin targeted and killed in a NATO action. If that was so, it surely worked.

Chomsky

An explanation by Noam Chomsky:

http://www.guernicamag.com/blog/2652/noam_chomsky_my_reaction_to_os/

what part of violence begets violence don't we understand?

http://www.guernicamag.com/blog/2652/noam_chomsky_my_reaction_to_os/

I agree with Noam Chomsky's suggestion that we take the high road and incarcerate the man, not kill him and not break a bunch of laws to do so. We will now give hurt and disconnected boys with big guns the opportunity to "defend" themselves when somebody retaliates.

Did anyone read Kite Runner?

Little boys and girls that grow up disconnected and insecurely attached, to greater or lesser degrees, don't develop a means to handle rage and don't develop a means to think rationally.

I wonder what kind of childhood Osama Bin Laden experienced?

...what is highly revealing

...what is highly revealing in Chomsky's article and that I have read elsewhere is that the head of the FBI admits there was no real evidence to connect OBL to 9/11.

Over the years that has not changed.

Believe what you want, but don't be suckered again....

Having been in uniform myself and being in uniform doesn't mean that much to me and many other ex-service persons. So when Cannon writes from that perspective it needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Most of us eventually learned that we were being taken for a bunch of shnooks.
What I don't understand is why a number of posters appear to accept this "hoax" -- which is really part of a series of hoaxes as outlined in Klein's "The Shock Doctrine."

You are giving bin Laden far too much credit for all of the violence that occurred in the States in 2001. Even so he is not, repeat, not responsible for the death and distruction in the Middle East.
As someone who has grave doubts on what was reported on 9/11, it is going to take much more than the report of bin Laden's death to convince me that what has supposedly happened really did happen.

powerful writing

Thanks Chris,
Thoughtful and well written and made much more powerful by your past and what you've been through.

Ramsey Clark interview, Aug. 2001, The Sun Magazine.
www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/308/neighborhood_bully

perplexis

"Until Muslim aggressors were stopped at Poitiers, thousands of native cultures were obliterated, as over 200,000,000 persons were slaughtered. Another hundred million were murdered until the Ottoman Turks were stopped at Vienna."

Oooh, oooh, the big nasty Muslim groupthink is perpetually out to kill off everyone else in the world that doesn't think like them. Sounds like a classic blood libel coming back to haunt them.

But what's your game in all this? It's a certainty there's no monolithic Muslim belief - as many or more find ways to honour the parliament of belief out in the world; certainly as many as Christians who find ways to do the same instead of slaying all who don't happen to fit their particular brand of end-times eschatology.

It's been a long time since Ferdinand and Isabella cut the Inquisition loose on kafirs or "infidels" of a different sort and slew Muslims and forced Jewish conversions until Spain was again pure and clean as the driven snow.... well anyway....

Point out all the war and violence you like - Islam has also been responsible for remarkable acts of justice and mercy: to lump a billion people in with OBL simply because they share a cultural heritage with him is more than extreme - it's frightening. Perhaps Li'l Green Footballs would be happier with your contributions.

A favourite slur

Infidel

Commonly used by Western peoples esp., journalists and talking heads to describe persons sought out for execution by peoples of Islamic faith and/or cultural background.

Merriam-Webster notes:

Main Entry: in·fi·del
Pronunciation: 'in-f&-d & l, -f&-"del
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English infidele, from Middle French, from Late Latin infidelis unbelieving, from Latin, unfaithful, from in- + fidelis faithful
1: one who is not a Christian or who opposes Christianity
2 a: an unbeliever with respect to a particular religion b : one who acknowledges no religious belief
3: a disbeliever in something specified or understood

It was not used by Muslims in reference to Christians until a couple of centuries after its introduction by Pope Innocente in the 1200s. No matter - we dhimmis seem to have a particular talent for turning our wrath and prejudice on those different than us and making it seem as if they've brought it upon themselves.

Chomsky on Death of Bin Laden

Prof. Chomsky reminds us to measure the US lawless assassination of Bin Laden against the Nuremberg Principles and the Rule of Law.

"We might ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush’s compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic."

http://www.guernicamag.com/blog/2652/noam_chomsky_my_reaction_to_os/

Excellent discussion as always.

Just to clarify

...... to disagree with the actions of the US here, is not to defend Bin Laden, but it is important to insist that justice must be determined through truth, through proof, and through substantial evidence - And not through the convenience and deceptive manipulation (some would say the self-interested 'creation') of mere 'belief'.

That is not only lawlessness, but it is it's own kind of fanaticism.

thanks

Terrific article, better than the Chomsky one that's also making the rounds. Much appreciated, and "facebook'd!"

IS Bin Laden dead?

The above is a serious question, not the beginning of a conspiracy theory rap. My point here is very simple. With the history the government of the USA has amassed over recent decades, at least, as its machinations have become more and more exposed, why would anyone believe what is coming out of Washington about Bin Laden? Considering Photoshop, even pictures would not be convincing. As far as I am concerned, one must always consider the source. Anything that comes out of the mouth of someone working for the government in Washington is automatically to be regarded as unproven and suspect. The "fact" that Bin Laden's corpse was dumped into the ocean is just one more reason to doubt what I am hearing. So, what my rant here leads to is: How do we know that Bin Laden is dead? For that matter, how do we know he was not the invention of the pentagon is the first place? When everything is suspect, how does one determine truth? I do not know.

Chris Cannon: A human voice heard over the howling wolfpack!

Chris:

I've been writing critically about the "problem with America" online since the Bush adminstration :

http://americanotstandingstill.com/

Yours is among the few clear-eyed American voices of reason and logic I have heard in disputation to my mean and cynical view of old Liberty!

I borrow an e.e.cumming witticism on my blog [above], when I title it:"America May Be Going to Hell,But At Least She's Not Standing Still!" I've never believed that,though. It was just a nice crumb of peace I tossed to my mostly combative, exercised, Eagle Patriot readers.

I've been believing all along that America really is going down that long dark road to Gehenna, and likely taking the rest of the us with her.

Amongst the numerous sensible respondents on this comment board, I think we should hilight one other especially cogent voice: that of "MJK",an ex-pat, who writes about his "strange feeling ...that my homeland isn't home any longer." HJK recognizes, too, that something dark has been happening down Dixie way, some beast ever slouching toward D.C.

Your piece here on the Tyee changes things incrementally for me. I had totally GIVEN UP on all Americans.

No longer.

Let's bring on more like you!
Good on you, man!

Well done....Chris Cannon

Although I'm a little doubtful that your hoped-for conclusion..."…only his death would allow us to close out this chapter and begin the painful process of authoring a new, hopefully wiser, narrative..." will actually come to pass.

I've seen little if anything - including, sadly, the spectacle of Jon Stewart joining joyfully and uncritically in the celebration following Bin Laden's extra-judicial killing - that leads me to be hopeful that the new narrative you're looking for is going to start unfolding any time soon.

I remember the controversy Sontag - who would be dead in slightly more than 4 years time - ignited with her words about 9/11.

We could certainly use her now.

I hope you'll follow up today's column with another one because I don't think we've seen the last of this controversy. Bin Laden’s death may not, after all, be the necessary pre-condition for American healing and re-appraisal.

I cannot escape the irony that the Bush White House may, in the eyes of history, have found a better and more just way to deal with Saddam Hussein than Barack Obama has with respect to Osama Bin Laden.