Osama bin Laden's death: Opinion and analysis across the country

Posted on Mon, May 2, 2011 : 8:39 a.m.

Osama bin Laden's death: Opinion and analysis across the country

By Cindy Heflin

Columnists across the country have weighed in on the significance of the killing of Osama bin Laden. Here's a sampling of their work:

Washington Post: Eugene Robinson: Triumphalism and unapologetic patriotism are in order. We got him
New York Times: NICHOLAS KRISTOF: After Osama Bin Laden…
Detroit Free Press: Ron Dzwonkowski: Fitting that American forces took bin Laden out
New York Times: Jane Perlez: Bin Laden’s Death Likely to Deepen Suspicions of Pakistan
Washington Post: David Ignatius: The pursuit of bin Laden: His narrative of American weakness was wrong
Wall Street Journal: Operation Is Blow to al Qaeda, Taliban

Comments

BhavanaJagat

Tue, May 3, 2011 : 4:55 p.m.

I am an advocate of Capital Punishment and support the penalty of imposing a death sentence for an act of murder. I view death as just punishment or just retribution if a person violates the Commandment that asks man not to kill. However, I am deeply appreciative of the Muslim sentiment and Islamic faith which emphasizes that man must live in strict obedience of God and His Commandments and seek His mercy, grace, and compassion for acts of belief in God. Osama bin Laden could be a good Muslim who had believed in God and yet he had failed God and acted in disobedience of God's great Commandment. I interpret this death as not that of a verdict against Islam or Muslim belief in God. I would join Muslims and seek to worship God and I would remind all people that death is a just punishment for the crime of Murder.

Billy Buchanan

Tue, May 3, 2011 : 3:48 p.m.

Thanks to President Bush, Obama was able to complete the mission of removing the devil incarnate from the face of the earth "Osama Bin Laden". Had it not been for President Bush building up our intellegence agencies after the Clinton Adminstration almost destroyed them Obama would never have gotten Bin Laden. Some people who haven't kept up with the news since 9/11 now will think Obama is the one who got Bin Laden. You can recognize those who voted for Obama by this fact. Let's give credit to both Presidents Bush and Obama and our brave men and women in uniform and intelligence services.

CASnyder

Tue, May 3, 2011 : 4:21 a.m.

I still have a heavy heart, because even if its true and Osama bin Laden is dead & all of his followers believed it, I don't expect that at this point in time it will change much. Had America shown Mr. Obama's restraint in waiting for actionable intelligence and had focused its retaliatory efforts on surgically assassinating Osama bin Laden immediately after 9/11 instead of rushing into two wars against nations that (it turns out) were not directly responsible for 9/11, the Terrorist message of hatred of the west might have died out with Osama, but that is not the likely result now - it is likely he's been awarded martyrdom in the eyes of his followers. Instead of the once possible path of restraint, far more americans have died in the wars we have waged since 9/11 than died in the original terrorist attacks, and worse yet, way more civilian deaths than american deaths resulted from the wars in Afghanistan & Iraq, which has done Osama bin Laden's recruiting for him. The wars are nowhere near over, and our enemies are way more numerous than they were before the wars began. We still aren't going to be able to extract ourselves from the quagmire anytime soon, but will continue pouring more lives and the rest of our $ resources after what we've already thrown into the bottomless pit of hatred and retaliation. I wonder if I will live to see the ends of these wars - will the "Mission" ever be accomplished by force? Can it ever be? What would a path to true peace look like from this point in history? I'd like to see us focus on these questions next.

bedrog

Tue, May 3, 2011 : 3:45 p.m.

Fair enough on the big picture face of it....but please cut a bit of slack for understandable enthusiasm , in a grim news era, at the fact that one epicenter/perpetrator of pure evil is now sleeping with the fishes. ..Or in them, given the high shark population in the arabian sea....(ive got the jaws of a 14 tiger shark from those waters in my study, from the days when i was doing research on the pakistani coast).

Jeff Gaynor

Tue, May 3, 2011 : 12:45 p.m.

Well said. It saddens and upsets me when people look upon war, and react to killing, as though it were a sporting event.

FreedomOfSpeech

Mon, May 2, 2011 : 6:13 p.m.

A multitude of respected intelligence officials and heads of state have publicly and privately asserted Osama has been dead for years. <a href="http://www.infowars.com/inside-sources-bin-ladens-corpse-has-been-on-ice-for-nearly-a-decade/" rel='nofollow'>www.infowars.com/inside-sources-bin-ladens-corpse-has-been-on-ice-for-nearly-a-decade/</a>

Jim Nazium

Mon, May 2, 2011 : 5:58 p.m.

Ok, I guess I'll be the first to say it. I don't believe we are being told the truth here. -Conflicting reports say he was killed days before in an air strike. -The AP and others released a fake photo of his dead body which was an obvious fake when seeing the images that were super-imposed, one from a 1998 file footage pic and one of some dead guy. The Ap later removed the photo and said they couldn't confirm it to be legit. So far no photo of his dead body. - DNA confirms it..... says who? The Government that nobody seems to trust? For the record, I didn't trust the govt. under Bush one bit and still don't under this guy. -The body was washed, covered in linen ( what like Jesus ?) and gently dumped into the ocean because no other country wanted his body? And in keeping with Muslim tradition to boot? Yeah, let's not do a number of DNA tests to be Absolutely sure we got the most hunted man on the planet, or at least not be so hasty and destroy the evidence so fast. Some of you may believe what the news is telling you and I don't want to rain on your parade or deep feelings of pride and patriotism and stuff. I am just saying that something smells fishy about this to me. I am not name-calling or trying to be political, but some of you won't be able to resist and I'll forgive you for it now and show my tolerance for those who may feel differently about it than me by not responding. P.S I am not going to post links, you have the internet, look it up yourselves.

1bigbud

Mon, May 2, 2011 : 4:52 p.m.

Yes i am GLAD the bugger is gone But Gas at the pum just went up 22 cents while i was pumping We just paid again & again & forever $4.07 to $4.29 11.30 am

bedrog

Mon, May 2, 2011 : 4:23 p.m.

david briegel- I share your evident pleasure at bin laden's demise . But I , very much unlike you - based on all your previous posts on such matters ( and , at the other extreme, all republicans!!)- have always felt Obama was a capable commander in chief on the 'war on terror' front. So i very much agree with 'stan' that your turning this into a partisan accomplishment by a democrat ( which i happen to be) is particularly unseemly.

David Briegel

Mon, May 2, 2011 : 2:18 p.m.

Hey Bush, Obama Accomplished YOUR Mission!

1bigbud

Mon, May 2, 2011 : 4:56 p.m.

Got to blame someone don't they If they wanted out they should have done it 2 years ago Now this is on O Blame A 's head

cinnabar7071

Mon, May 2, 2011 : 4:34 p.m.

Spoken like a true Democrat. Really weak David!

stan

Mon, May 2, 2011 : 3:39 p.m.

Really, David? Is it necessary to try and score cheap political points? The Navy SEALS accomplished the mission. They were able to find him as a result of policies put into place the last twenty years. It's a great day for this country, and I believe we should set politics aside for at least a couple days.