The Activist

There was one moment during the Democratic debate this Sunday that really stood out. Of the multiple stupid questions that leeched out of Wolf Blitzer’s mouth in the course of two hours, none was as stupid and misleading as this hypothetical: Would you kill Osama bin Laden if you were in a situation where there would be civilian casualties in doing so? You would lose his location in 20 minutes and could only call an air strike.Kucinich gave the best answer: No. Of course, other candidates scored easy points with the party right by recalling the horrors of 9/11 and saying a few civilian deaths were warranted.

American “common sense” appears to be that we should kill bin Laden. This is just plain stupid. There is nothing the radical Islamists could use more than the American government to kill bin Laden in an air strike. Here’s the picture on their next recruitment poster: Large imperial West uses high-tech weapons to kill bin Laden, taking innocent women and children with him. Better than any TV ad.

Of course, after bin Laden dies al Zawahiri will just take over.

Bin Laden becomes a martyr for the cause. His death inspires a new swarm of attacks.

Of course the message to Islamists is clear: Mess with the US, and they will send you to paradise and the virgins that await you there. In their eyes, bin Laden was fighting jihad-thus his death in this fight leaves him an earthly legacy of greatness in his death, along with a next life in paradise. Why is this the message? Because, like many religious fundamentalists-these wackos really believe this crap-that is why it is called religion.

So the US would simultaneously make bin Laden glorious and inspire a new generation of aspiring Islamists. We haven’t even started talking about the overall image of Western impediment on “holy” Islamic land that such an air strike would send. Further the image of disregard for human life in the “collateral damage” of killing him.

Of course this whole episode undermines the principles of law and due process that the West finds so important (and encourages Muslim countries to follow).

Kucinich was right-we should only capture bin Laden. Nothing would do more punishment to him than to deny him his martyrdom and delay his (believed) trip to paradise.

The best punishment is humiliation-subject him to WESTERN Law (as opposed to Shir’ia, which he wants the whole world to abide by) in front of a woman judge.

But no, Kucinich is a crazy left-wing terrorist who believes that bin Laden should be given the rights that any human being should have to due process.

Until this common sense changes, the US will never overcome the threat of radical Islamism.