Obama values: Kill, but don't question bin Laden

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 5/10/11 | Debra J. Saunders

[SmithL]

At the end of his "60 Minutes" interview, President Obama said of Osama bin Laden's death, "Justice was done. And I think that anyone who would question that the perpetrator of mass murder on American soil didn't deserve what he got needs to have their head examined."

The longer he serves in office, the more Obama sounds like George W. Bush.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd also has started to sound like Bush. In her Sunday column, "Killing Evil Doesn't Make Us Evil," Dowd writes that when Navy SEALs killed bin Laden, it seemed like "the only civilized and morally sound response."

Obama and Dowd long have claimed that it was morally reprehensible for the CIA to waterboard 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Candidate Obama said that waterboarding was "never acceptable" because it "contradicts our values." Obama even criticized his now-Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, for having said in 2006 that she would authorize brutal interrogation measures to prevent a terrorist attack.

Apparently it fits with Obama's and Dowd's values to kill an unarmed bin Laden - as long as you don't waterboard him first to learn possible intelligence that might prevent a terrorist attack.

[Sherman Logan]

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd also has started to sound like Bush. In her Sunday column, "Killing Evil Doesn't Make Us Evil," Dowd writes that when Navy SEALs killed bin Laden, it seemed like "the only civilized and morally sound response."

For a (Democratic) president to issue a unilateral order for the military of the USA to kill without trial an unarmed man is "the only civilized and morally sound response."

However, capturing this man, and then executing him (or anyone) after a fair trial would be barbaric.

[Sioux-san]

Would Maureen be writing these words had all of this gone down in the exact same way under Bush (no UBL photos, continually changing story, etc)? No, I think she would be recommending the type of gallows for hanging Bush & Cheney.

[UCANSEE2]

The SEALS didn’t kill him. The plan was to take him alive.

However, his guards had sworn to kill him and never allow him to be captured.

That is why you see Hillary with her hand over her mouth, and why the DEMS had to scramble and make up so many stories.

To save ‘face’, they decided to claim the SEALS shot him, and that is why you won’t see any video of the action. That is why they ‘claim’ there was a blackout of the video. They can’t be asked to ‘produce’ what they have already claimed doesn’t exist.

[12GA]

And bin Laden’s 12 yr old daughter who claims to have seen Americans capture him alive but execute him at point blank range? Was she in on the administration’s cover up as well?

[HushTX]

Citation needed.

In other words, what is the basis for your claim?

[Batman11]

I’m not saying if that scenario is right, wrong, or something in between. I will say that with this administration anything is possible!

[SECURE AMERICA]

It would have been impossible to capture osama and keep it a secret.
Holding him would have unleashed kidnappings bombings and other mayhem to force a release......

[Buckeye McFrog]

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd also has started to sound like Bush

OBL must have called for defunding NPR in one of his tapes...

[Jacquerie]

I’m reminded of Churchill’s Enigma program.

It was kept secret with a bodyguard of lies.

We are I suppose, too decadent to protect our national interests.

[hal ogen]

nobama...turn in that Nobel Peace Prize!

[UCANSEE2]

And bin Laden’s 12 yr old daughter who claims to have seen Americans capture him alive but execute him at point blank range? Was she in on the administration’s cover up as well?

And just where is his 12 year old daughter? Who 'questioned her' and provided this information to the public?

[UCANSEE2]

Citation needed.

Odd how everyone asks ME for more PROOF than they do the Government or Media.

In other words, what is the basis for your claim?

I can't give you what you are asking for.

Ponder this, however. Given all the evidence we have seen (and not seen) and the changing stories and posed photos and made up excuses (for why Hillary had her hand to her face, for example), which story seems more plausible? Mine or theirs?

Did OBL state in public that he would never be captured alive?

Did OBL make his colleagues swear an oath that they would not allow him to be taken alive?

Had the DOJ already started making plans for where they were going to 'try' OBL ?

[UCANSEE2]

I’m not saying if that scenario is right, wrong, or something in between.

Let's just agree that nobody (except those in the situation room) has gotten/spoken/knows the whole truth yet, not even me.

I will say that with this administration anything is possible!

I totally agree.

[HushTX]

Odd how everyone asks ME for more PROOF than they do the Government or Media.

I can't speak for anyone else, but in MY case it's because I'm aware of your claim. I'm not really aware of what the MSM is claiming, since I pay less attention to those hacks than I do my fellow FReepers. So, take it as a good sign that I cared enough to ask you for the basis of your claim. It means I care about your argument enough to make the effort.

And you did give me what I asked for. I didn't ask for evidence or proof. I only asked for the basis of your claim. You provided it. Whether it stands up to scrutiny is another matter. It might. It might not. But it IS the basis for your statement. Thanks for taking the time to answer.