I have been trying to figure out what is so wrong with the way Obama handled the killing of Osama bin Laden.\u00a0 This should have been his shining moment.\u00a0 Much of the country rejoiced at the news.\u00a0 Republicans feared this great victory would propel Obama to an easy re-election.\u00a0 However, that has not happened.\u00a0 I wondered why?<\/p>\n
Obama immediately set about on a campaign to make sure he got all of the credit.\u00a0 The Navy Seals were told to keep their mouths shut, while the people representing Obama had diarrhea of the mouth.\u00a0 In their rush to make sure Obama got all the credit, they released information that damaged our national security.\u00a0 The response was\u00a0disorganized and clumsy, but I don\u2019t think that is the real problem.\u00a0 I think the real problem is Obama himself. I believe this incident exposed a\u00a0lack of character.<\/p>\n
President Obama authorized the mission that killed Osama bin Laden. It is hard to criticize that decision, because most of us think it was a necessary decision.\u00a0 We expect,\u00a0a President to make the difficult decisions.\u00a0 Sometimes those decisions result in the loss of human life.\u00a0\u00a0But there is more to the story.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
I suspect that the Navy Seal who actually shot Osama bin Laden is glad he did his duty, but he is not bragging about it.\u00a0 He probably doesn\u2019t even want to talk about this, other than with his fellow Seals who understand how he feels.\u00a0 The people who protect us don\u2019t do so because they like killing people, they do so because it is their duty and because sometimes it is necessary.\u00a0 Harry Truman ordered the use of atomic bomb against Japan, but he didn’t brag about it.\u00a0\u00a0He believed this was the\u00a0right decision and\u00a0he never wavered from the responsibility for making that decision, but it was obvious that the enormity of this weighed on him.<\/p>\n
That is what is wrong with Obama.\u00a0 He does not appear to have the slightest\u00a0moral qualm about this.\u00a0\u00a0That is why he is so willing to talk and talk and talk about it.\u00a0 The equivalent would be for the Governor who signed the death certificate authorizing an execution to go around bragging about it:\u00a0 \u201cYup.\u00a0 I was the one who signed Ted Bundy\u2019s death certificate, just like I promised.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is also a big difference between:\u00a0 \u201cwanted dead or alive\u201d and \u201cwanted dead.\u201d\u00a0 It appears as if Obama wanted Osama bin Laden\u00a0dead, because he didn\u2019t know what to do with him if he\u00a0was captured alive.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to take him to Guantanamo, because that would be admitting that Bush got that right.\u00a0 Yet he couldn\u2019t risk giving custody of him to someone else and he sure couldn\u2019t bring him to the U.S.\u00a0 \u00a0He didn’t want to use an air strike because he wanted proof Osama bin Laden was dead.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ultimately, he authorized a high risk mission designed to just kill him, document the death, and move on.\u00a0\u00a0That is not a reflection on the Navy Seals involved.\u00a0 The Seals did their duty.\u00a0\u00a0If the Seals had been ordered to try and take Osama bin Laden\u00a0alive, they would have done that.\u00a0 No one has ever said the Seals were told to try and capture him alive.<\/p>\n
George Bush had a policy of saying that the U.S.\u00a0would do whatever it took to get Osama bin Laden and if he got killed in the process that was acceptable.\u00a0 But, I think that if Bush ordered the Seals to go on that mission he would have told them to at least try and take Osama bin Laden alive.\u00a0 He would have done so because it would have been an important moral distinction to him.\u00a0 He would also have done so because while killing Osama bin Laden would have been justified, capturing him might just have given us information to completely destroy al Qaeda.<\/p>\n
Let me be clear, with someone like Osama bin Laden there is no duty to put our people at risk to try and spare his life.\u00a0 If Obama had ordered an airstrike that killed everyone in the area, that would have been acceptable.\u00a0 He also would have been justified in authorizing the Seals to use whatever force is necessary to complete the\u00a0mission, including\u00a0killing Osama bin Laden, if required.\u00a0 But, both of those are very different from an assassination.\u00a0 Obama is well aware of the distinction.\u00a0\u00a0That is why\u00a0the U.S. denies that it is trying to kill Gadhafi.\u00a0 We are blowing up buildings all over Tripoli and killing his family members, while solemnly declaring Gadhafi is not a target.<\/p>\n
Those who are\u00a0required to kill, in the line of\u00a0duty, don\u2019t brag about it.\u00a0 They know they have done the right thing, but they are still impacted by the reality that they have killed someone, justified or not.\u00a0 Obama apparently has\u00a0no such qualm, which is why he is so willing to embark on what is now an international victory lap.\u00a0 A truly moral man would never feel like bragging about ordering an assassination.<\/p>\n
I know several people who are genuine combat veterans from Vietnam and have also met several imposters.\u00a0 As a combat veteran myself, the difference is instant and obvious.\u00a0 I have never met a genuine combat veteran who bragged about killing anyone.\u00a0 In fact, they don\u2019t want to talk about that at all.\u00a0 But the imposters are quick to give vivid details of events that did not occur.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If George Bush had given the order to assault Osama bin Laden,\u00a0he wouldn’t be bragging about it.\u00a0 He probably would have deferred questions to the military, just like he did when Saddam Hussein was captured. \u00a0Bush would have accepted responsibility, but he would have deferred credit to those who went on the actual mission.\u00a0 There could not be a more stark contrast between the characters of\u00a0a George W. Bush and a Barack H. Obama.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is why the killing of Osama bin Laden did not help Obama and may actually hurt him. It exposed a lack of character.\u00a0 Even\u00a0if people don\u2019t understand why, instinctively they know something is very wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On this Memorial Day weekend, may we all pause to remember to honor those men and women of character who have kept this country free.\u00a0 May we also be sure to understand the significance of character in those who lead us.<\/p>\n
TDM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have been trying to figure out what is so wrong with the way Obama handled the killing of Osama bin Laden.\u00a0 This should have been his shining moment.\u00a0 Much of the country rejoiced at the news.\u00a0 Republicans feared this … Continue reading