Bin Laden won
Here's a couple essays on Bin Laden that illustrate the good points that often come from the left.
First, from Michael Moore:
"Some believe that this was a "war" we were in with al Qaeda - and you don't do trials during war. It's thinking like this that makes me fear that, while bin Laden may be dead, he may have "won" the bigger battle. Let's be clear: There is no "war with al Qaeda." Wars are between nations. Al Qaeda was an organization of fanatics who committed crimes. That we elevated them to nation status - they loved it! It was great for their recruiting drive.
We did exactly what bin Laden said he wanted us to do: Give up our freedoms (like the freedom to be assumed innocent until proven guilty), engage our military in Muslim countries so that we will be hated by Muslims, and wipe ourselves out financially in doing so. Done, done and done, Osama. You had our number. You somehow knew we would eagerly give up our constitutional rights and become more like the authoritarian state you dreamed of. You knew we would exhaust our military and willingly go into more debt in eight years than we had accumulated in the previous 200 years combined."
Another from The Daily Beast:
"The U.S. went further: we bankrupted ourselves morally. Extraordinary rendition. Black sites. Indefinite detention. Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. The U.S. once stood for—however imperfectly—freedom, democracy, and justice, for standards of fairness and legality. No more. Our financial stature, our military power, our sense of personal freedom, our moral authority—all flushed away, not by bin Laden, but by our government."
It's nice to hear grown-up talk on this subject, in comparison with the mindless celebration.
First, from Michael Moore:
"Some believe that this was a "war" we were in with al Qaeda - and you don't do trials during war. It's thinking like this that makes me fear that, while bin Laden may be dead, he may have "won" the bigger battle. Let's be clear: There is no "war with al Qaeda." Wars are between nations. Al Qaeda was an organization of fanatics who committed crimes. That we elevated them to nation status - they loved it! It was great for their recruiting drive.
We did exactly what bin Laden said he wanted us to do: Give up our freedoms (like the freedom to be assumed innocent until proven guilty), engage our military in Muslim countries so that we will be hated by Muslims, and wipe ourselves out financially in doing so. Done, done and done, Osama. You had our number. You somehow knew we would eagerly give up our constitutional rights and become more like the authoritarian state you dreamed of. You knew we would exhaust our military and willingly go into more debt in eight years than we had accumulated in the previous 200 years combined."
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| You love me. (Edited by Double Birds) |
"The U.S. went further: we bankrupted ourselves morally. Extraordinary rendition. Black sites. Indefinite detention. Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. The U.S. once stood for—however imperfectly—freedom, democracy, and justice, for standards of fairness and legality. No more. Our financial stature, our military power, our sense of personal freedom, our moral authority—all flushed away, not by bin Laden, but by our government."
It's nice to hear grown-up talk on this subject, in comparison with the mindless celebration.
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