Credit Where Credit is Due

by Keith Cooper

From Broader View Weekly, May 12, 2011

My brother and I disagree about many issues. Unless one has avoided any medium with any bias or editorial slant (which lately would require a complete boycott of television, radio, print and Internet), it is no surprise that a far-left liberal like myself and a right-wing conservative like Gordon would have vastly different opinions about the recent killing of Osama bin Laden. Although there is some common ground there are several points on which we stand at odds. I’ll discuss only a few.

The word “evil” is an emotionally charged term, which makes for effective rhetoric. Former President George W. Bush’s classification of an “Axis of Evil” was used to manipulate the fear and rage upon which much of his administration’s foreign policy was based. Calling his hit list of terror suspects “evildoers” helped him sway public opinion toward unconventional tactics in much the same way as fans of the television show “24” are programmed to support Jack Bauer’s extreme techniques.

But the word “evil” falls short of telling the full story. It eliminates the factors of motivation and justification, which are elements of the human psyche. The nuances are far too complex to cover in the limited space of editorial content, but the implications are important to note. We must realize that as heinous as bin Laden’s crimes are, he didn’t characterize them as evil. Just as madmen before him and those currently plotting and committing atrocities, bin Laden justified his actions as beneficial to a greater good.

Now, I do believe that justice was done on Sunday, May 1, when bin Laden’s countless victims were vindicated at the hands of brave Navy Seals. He willfully murdered thousands and sought to orchestrate the deaths of many more. His trial has been held publicly over the past 15 years and his confessions and other damning evidence is incontrovertible. However, merely labeling him “evil” oversimplifies the issue.

Ignoring motivation and justification is dangerous, most of all, in judging our own actions. When we accept “any means” of warfare or interrogation by speaking in terms of ourselves as the “good” guys versus the “evil” others, we tread on perilous ground. In a heated battle we can see the benefit of using chemical or biological warfare in order to save lives or even protect our shores. Even if the use of such extreme measures were proven reliable and efficient, their use is immoral (as well as illegal by international standards). But the U.S. holds itself to an even higher ethical standard that precludes such actions. That is why, throughout our history, we have eschewed the use of torture. Even if it were proven to produce good actionable intelligence, our collective soul would be tarnished by a violation of our own ethical standards. Or so it was, until the Bush administration, when we sanitized extreme tactics in terms of “enhanced techniques” and began to ask intelligence officers and soldiers to torture captives in our name. Those responsible for taking us down that slippery slope should be investigated, and held accountable.

There is still much to learn about the path to bin Laden, but so far there is little evidence to show that torture techniques led to the courier and then to his end. In fact, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was tortured extensively, downplayed the significance of the courier and gave information that would have set the CIA on a wild goose chase. So we shouldn’t be so quick to use bin Laden as a case for dropping an investigation. It’s a weak argument, regardless of what Fox News says.

I understand why Gordon failed to give President Obama the credit for the decision to move on Osama bin Laden. With 2012 looming large on the horizon, the last thing Republicans want to admit is that a Democrat is anything but weak on foreign policy. It’s a tired and tattered banner, but one that has been waved proudly for decades. And it has worked fairly well in the past. But seeing it trotted out on stage at the Republican mock debate last week was kind of pathetic in light of the news splashed over the entirety of media.

I’d even heard Bush receiving the credit, which is ironic since he admitted that he didn’t really “spend that much time” thinking about bin Laden. That was obvious when, early in his second term, he closed the bin Laden intelligence unit at the CIA. Two missed opportunities in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan had even military and administration officials scratching their heads, and many thinking “conspiracy”. Osama bin Laden did make an excellent bogeyman all these years.

I have to admit, though, that my fellow columnist’s approach was the most interesting I’d heard. He attributed the deliverance of bin Laden to the benevolent hand of God. I would smile wider if that hand had stayed the terrors of 9/11, and the tragic loss of life in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.