First Principles

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!  That’s thought one.  GOOD.  It’s nice when justice is served.  That’s thought two.  But this great moment is worth more comment and thought than that.  There are important political and policy lessons to be learned from this as the election to choose our next Commander in Chief heats up.  So, in no particular order…

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There are few things I think President Obama is doing or has done better than President Bush.  But one of those few things is his aggressive posture in Pakistan, with lots of drone attacks over the border.  Now it’s clear there were boots on the ground of some brand or another.  I hope the President, whose foreign policy has been so feckless in almost every other area, learns the right lesson from this.

Bush turned his focus away from Bin Laden, since he (mostly correctly) believed that as a single person his death would have only been symbolic, and wouldn’t actually be that disruptive of actual operations in an organization that utilizes decentralization so well.  But what he forgot was that bin Laden’s persistence in breathing the air that only human beings should be allowed to breath told barbarians everywhere that America couldn’t do it.  In order for such a diffuse group of bad guys to be deterred by our strength, they need to know we can put a bullet in the brain of anyone, any time, anywhere on the face of the globe if they threaten America and kill Americans.

That’s not always true.  But it needs to be as true as possible.  And now we have a lot of following up to do – there are plenty more of these vermin who need to share this fate.

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It would be fun to see the look on Osama’s face when he realizes it’s WAY too hot to be heaven, and there ain’t no virgins to be seen…

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Obama succeeded where Bush failed because he acted more like the lefty caricature of Bush as a war monger than Bush actually ever did.  But Bush laid the foundation.  Thank God Obama continued and expanded these policies, and stayed on offense overseas.  Had he listened to the clamor of many and simply pulled out of Afghanistan, this never would have happened.

The President will get a bounce in the polls from this.  Good – and I say that as someone who desperately wants the man NOT to be re-elected.  Good policy is usually good politics, and I don’t really care who actually executes good policy.

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On a related note, which occurred to me since the good doctor was here in Reno this last week:  this never would have happened if Ron Paul had been the president.  The greatest nation in the world doesn’t stay that way by retreating home and hiding behind our borders as if they could protect us.  Isolationism isn’t just economically stupid, it’s deadly.  Ron Paul is one of the few Republicans I would be forced to vote for Obama over, because Obama takes this particular existential threat to our nation more seriously than Paul.  And as disastrous as Obama’s economic policies are and continue to be, they don’t compare to a nuke going off in a couple of our major cities.

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I just watched a rerun of the President’s speech – I missed it live (the downside of DVR).  It was probably the most presidential I’ve ever actually seen him.  He spoke about George Bush without taking a cheap shot at him.  He didn’t sound apologetic for doing what needed to be done.  It was short and sweet.

One minor complaint – he mentioned the “fraying” of our unity post-9/11.  I hope President Obama understands he was a huge part of that fraying, and often in grossly unfair ways.  I hope even more he remembers that when (as it will) Campaign 2012 starts getting nasty.

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A friend of mine posted on Facebook that he wanted to see Osama bathed in pig’s blood and buried in a bacon lined coffin.  He then fretted about offending anyone, although to his credit didn’t apologize for what he said.

I say this – the day we don’t strut a little when our nation achieves a significant victory over murderous barbarians is the day we hang it up.  It’s the day our decline is irreversible.  No thanks.

I don’t give a damn if people are offended by zealous expressions of joy over this death of our sworn enemy, or the wish for more justice than the bullets provided – Osama got better than he deserved from us.  And I truly don’t understand those who are sayign we need to treat his body with some respect for Islamic tradition.  If I were a Muslim who felt al Qaeda’s murderous ways were a perversion and desecration of my religion, I would be doubly happy to see the primary pervert desecrated himself by whatever means necessary.  And quite frankly, if you think Osama deserves any kind of special respect or consideration, dead or alive, you’re on the wrong side of this war, bub.

My only problem with his statement is that lining his coffin with bacon is a waste of yummy, yummy bacon.

We need to never be afraid to stand up for our culture and our nation.  Ever.  America is America because we historically err on the side of swagger.

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A lot of liberals told us throughout the Bush years that killing terrorists only bred more terrorists, as did doing things like posting pictures of their dead bodies.  They explained that covert assassinations overseas undercut the idea of international law, and turned other nations against us.

Those people are, of course, moronic idiots, complicit in the evil of bin Laden and condescendingly racist in their belief that these particular murderers aren’t responsible for their own individual actions by virtue of their culture, religion, or nationality.

But I do wonder if we’ll hear those same things now from those same brainless hippies, or if all that criticism was actually a lot more about which political party the President happened to be a part of…

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There is any interesting argument I’ve heard and read that this is the chance to “declare victory and go home” in Afghanistan.  That’s very, very tempting, and might be the right way to go.  But here’s the problem – we MUST have forward, permanent presence overseas in general and in that region specifically.  When bin Laden’s successor pops up, as he will, we need to be able to put a bullet in his head, too.

Whether that presence is a base like we have in Japan, Germany, South Korea, and (hopefully) Iraq, or whether we continue a more aggressive stance there as we’ve been doing for the past decade, I don’t know.  I would much prefer the former.

But one thing is for certain – al Qaeda is not done.  They are still a threat.  Jihadis act in independent cells, and are being recruited – and have attacked – here at home many times since 9/11.  The worst possible thing we could do is pretend this is some sort of final victory, as it was in WWII once Hitler was dead.

We must keep leaning forward, now and always.  Semper vigilans.

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I love that it was the Navy that killed him.  I’m not gonna lie.  I got to work with SEALS a few times when I was in the Navy, and in almost every case, they were simply extraordinary human beings.  Well done, gentlemen.

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With this annoucement came travel warnings world wide to Americans to beware of retaliation attacks.

Meh.

Al Qaeda and their ilk are cowards.  They prey on the weak.  They target those whom they think won’t fight back.

Today, we reminded them – and the world – that America fights back.

Right now the terrorist planners who normally coordinate suicide attacks aren’t finalizing their plans.  They’re thinking, “Holy crap!  If they can get Osama, they can get me.  I need to find a different hole to hide in for awhile…”  They just saw what happens when you get cocky.  They’re wondering what we know, and when we’re going to act on it. That’s why killing one symbolic guy matters, and how it can disrupt even a diffuse and stovepiped network of individual baddies.

This is probably as safe as its been to travel overseas in a long time.

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Back in 2001, I remember seeing this image in E-mail forwards flying around the internet.  I felt it was apt today.  Have fun in Hell, you sub-human vermin.

This image also goes for all the pathetic slime who ever asserted in some way that the US “had it coming” on 9/11.

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Osama was killed in a mansion/compound in Pakistan that reportedly conspicuously towered above the surrounding neighborhood.  He should have stayed in his cave.  A good lesson about getting too cocky…

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We couldn’t have completed this operation without the help of some folks in the Pakistani government.  On the other hand, Osama wouldn’t have lived this long without some folks (probably some of the same ones) in the Pakistani government.

From what I’ve heard and read so far, this was a US operation with minimal or no help from the Pakistani government – apparently it was a secret from them.  In fact, had they been involved and “helping”, something tells me Osama would have skipped out ahead of the special forces who ultimately killed him.

Here’s another lesson – it’s nice to have people who say they’re our allies.  But at the end of the day, the only country we can count on to fight for US interests is the US.  That’s another lesson I hope President Obama learns, and applies elsewhere.  If other countries don’t think we’re willing to stand up – aggressively – for our own interests, national security or otherwise, they certainly won’t.  If anything, they will exploit our refusal to fight for ourselves.  It worth reminding all of our allies from time to time, particularly the more “squishy” ones, that we WILL forcefully defend American interests overseas, and if you’re not part of that, we don’t care a whole lot about your borders where they stand in the way of those interests.

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As I write this, a Fox News anchor just made a version of my “where are the virgins?” crack.  Hah!  This is why I switched to Fox as my primary news source from CNN after 9/11.  There’s never any doubt that whichever political party they may favor, they’re ALWAYS on America’s side.

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Finally, I want to say this.  I was in the Navy on 9/11, having just returned a few months earlier from my second Middle Eastern deployment.  We were torn apart dockside for upgrades and maintenance, and we were the only ship in port that didn’t get underway within hours.  It was maddening to have to just sit there and watch the news, and a little scary to not be able to move when no one knew where or when the next attack would come.

At the time, I spent a lot of time remembering the USS Cole.  I was on a ship of the same class when Cole was attacked, and knew how nearly impossible it would be to defend against a small boat with a hidden bomb in a foreign port.  I remember looking at the pictures of the Cole and seeing my own ship instead.  I remember seeing the names of those sailors who died and imagining my own shipmate’s names instead.  I wondered, as the ship I was on was already revamping her deployment schedule that would unexpectedly take me overseas again, if I would soon be seeing more such images – or seeing the real thing.

Thank God that was never the case for me.  But many other folks who were wearing a uniform on 9/11 or chose to wear one after weren’t so lucky.

I left the Navy 3 years later.  That was always my plan – I didn’t want to do the military career.  But because of the critical fight going on that I was increasingly seeing disparaged throughout the country, it was harder to hang up the uniform than I ever would have imagined.

So to all the people who didn’t leave, and to all those in every branch of service who joined and served over the past decade, thank you.  Thank you so much for being at the pointy end of the spear so I could raise my family in safety.  Thank you for the sacrifices you’ve made so we could kill evil men.  Thank you for the pressure you kept on Osama in spite of the neglect and opposition at home – without all of that, this couldn’t have happened. This is your victory that you earned and then gifted to the rest of us.

God bless you all.  God bless America.