Monday, May 2, 2011

The Death of One Laden

In perhaps the only good news I've heard in years, between stories of nuclear meltdowns and extensive deaths in Japan's earthquake, our southern states having record tornadoes, the economy screwing up with high gas and food prices, bad housing prices, and a host of other terrible things -- the was the successful killing of (Osama/Usama) bin Laden.

There are the naysayers, decrying that such a thing is possible without a complete republican-run operation; the disbelievers, thinking that President Obama is only tricking us in the same manner that he faked his birth certificate; the unbelievers, who believe nothing whatsoever, therefore also do not believe this; the snarksayers, such as Rush Limbaugh, who only believes what large, monstrous, cigar chomping hogs have to say (his own words); and a host of unhappy Islamists, who console themselves by pointing out that OBL was "martyred", thereby having had his holiness multiplied by 72, along with a adequate supply of virgins, or that he is not actually dead at all, but merely sleeping in late.

Also, unhappy, are those who will now "avenge" their great leader by simultaneously lighting their underpants on fire, or by detonating themselves in large crowds of innocent bystanders -- either of which will somehow translate into martyrdom and large numbers of virgins expended for their enjoyment.

There were, to be sure, those who gave President Obama some credit, reserving only the amount by which a black man can only be 2/3rds of a white man or some such racist attitude. And there is also the credit due to the actual members of the CIA and militaries responsible for being the point men in all of this. You have to give them 90% of the credit, for their lives were on the line. 

There were also the interrogations of prisoners, whether we like those practices or not; the satellites and UAVs that fly overhead snapping their shutters to provide lots and lots of 4 dimensional pictures; the computers that enable all those sensors to see through walls and map the locations of people inside thick walls. Technology of all kinds has a say in these endeavors.

But, am I happy about this? You betcha. But not just to kill one terrorist asshole. It is because we can do this, and are willing to do this stuff that makes just a few of the terrorists have to work a little harder to get away with their murderous deeds. In fact, it makes a large number of those terrorists completely impotent.

There are, however, the supposed high tech terrorists, but if they could do that stuff they would already have done it. Or maybe they are saving it for one glorious "take everybody out, including themselves" evening of insanity.

Whatever. If I am going to die anyway, it matters very little what method is used, other than botched things that make you die slowly and painfully -- like nature intended. I don't want my children to suffer these fools, to be sure, but I don't think we need to be afraid of religious fanatics in other countries. We need to be afraid of our own religious fanatics.