Wednesday, June 18, 2008

BARACK OBAMA

Actual AP Headline: 'Obama says bin Laden must not be a martyr.'

Obama has a secret plan to kill Osama bin Laden that somehow doesn't make him a martyr.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday he would bring Osama bin Laden to justice in a way that wouldn't allow the terrorist mastermind to become a martyr, but he may be killed if the U.S. government finds him.

"First of all, I think there is an executive order out on Osama bin Laden's head," Obama said at a news conference. "And if I'm president, and we have the opportunity to capture him, we may not be able to capture him alive."

He said he wouldn't discuss what approach he would take to bring bin Laden to justice if he were apprehended. But he said the Nuremberg trials for the prosecution of Nazi leaders are an inspiration because the victors acted to advance universal principles and set a tone for the creation of an international order.

"What would be important would be for us to do it in a way that allows the entire world to understand the murderous acts that he's engaged in and not to make him into a martyr, and to assure that the United States government is abiding by basic conventions that would strengthen our hand in the broader battle against terrorism," Obama said.

A couple reactions:

1) On our list of concerns regarding Osama bin Laden, how high is, "if we kill him, he'll be seen as a martyr" on the list? Has the "martyrdom" of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Abu Laith al Libi, Mohammed Atef, and Abu Hamza Rabia really been that energizing for al-Qaeda? Don't we want to kill these guys? Isn't that the point of dropping bombs on them and sending Special Forces after them?

2) Does the world really not "understand the murderous acts that he's engaged in"? Would anyone who was unpersuaded by the video of him bragging about 9/11 — and the numerous subsequent videotape and audiotapes of him taking credit for the attacks — be persuaded by a trial?

3) Is the world truly worried about the U.S. might not "abide by basic conventions" if it captures Osama bin Laden?

4) How many Americans would object to the waterboarding of Osama bin Laden?

5) If the moment he was brought to a U.S. base, a U.S. soldier — or better yet, the President of the United States — walked up to bin Laden and raised a gun and executed him right then and there, would the world complain about the lack of a trial? How many Americans would complain?

06/18 06:33 PMShare