Political Commentary, War Commentary

Honoring Osama

9 Comments

The Washington Times is wondering the same thing I did:

All of this goes to show that President Obama is walking a fine line in what he wants two different groups to understand about bin Laden’s burial. There are those who question why a millionaire mass murderer who was disavowed as practicing a reputedly inauthentic version of Islam received an Islamic funeral. Sea burial itself is an American honor for which only service members, their dependents or outstanding U.S. citizens are eligible. This group is to trust that the decisions made by the Obama administration are the correct, “appropriate” ones and stop asking impertinent questions.

Meanwhile, the other group is subtly being courted with the emphasis on “conformance to Islamic requirements” throughout administration briefings. By reiterating, as Mr. Brennan did at least seven times in his Monday briefing, that the burial was done according to Islamic requirements, he has communicated that the President is more concerned about placating the feelings of Muslim extremists than closure for the American people. Families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks who want to see photos of bin Laden’s corpse must be satisfied with a presidential victory lap at Ground Zero, while radical Islamists can be comforted by Mr. Brennan’s repetitive assurances that the burial was conducted according to rites with which they’re familiar—ones which inherently confer dignity and respect to the dead.

I’ve had three radio interviews on this subject this week (including one at 6 AM this morning).

9 thoughts on “Honoring Osama”

  1. By reiterating, as Mr. Brennan did at least seven times in his Monday briefing, that the burial was done according to Islamic requirements, he has communicated that the President is more concerned about placating the feelings of Muslim extremists than closure for the American people.

    This. And to add some more perspective before we get the usual, “but we always done this”. I have no issue with how Osama is buried. I have a bit of an issue with when. But I see no reason to make it a point of even pretending we treated the body with any respect or disrespect.

    Osama was assissinated. No amount of adherence to tradition will change the outrage to some that his assissination will cause. At the sametime, there was a reason that Osama was killed outright. It’s crazy to try and show any compassion at the burial when there was none at the killing.

  2. By reiterating, as Mr. Brennan did at least seven times in his Monday briefing, that the burial was done according to Islamic requirements, he has communicated that the President is more concerned about placating the feelings of Muslim extremists than closure for the American people.

    In regards to the extremists, they already hate us to the point of wanting to kill us. How much madder can they get at us? What are the realistic chances that anything we do short of dying will placate them?

  3. Eh, I’m dubious of the claim that dropping bin Laden’s body off at sea is giving it “military honors.” Seems like a pretty straight forward way to get rid of a body on a naval ship to me. Otherwise the appeasement weaseling from the Obama administration is business as usual.

  5. I think the logic of the placaters goes something like this:

    We got what we wanted (bin Laden dead), but any further dishonoring of him, even if from our perspective the guy was a scumbag, would just lead Islamist barbarians to start rioting and killing people. Why set them off and cause a chain of events leading to senseless death and tragedy when we can avoid it by being diplomatic?
    —
    Of course, this position ignores the fact that we can’t be responsible for the actions of other free and crazy human beings, and placing blame on us for their murderous behavior just encourages it in the long run, and makes innocious actions by people here out to be responsible for consequences that are completely artificial. (If you eat lemons on Tuesday, crazy Bob will snipe a preschooler – how could you do that you bastard?)

    But I can sort of see where they are coming from. Piss them off, and X people will die.

    For me, the fact that bin Laden is dead is enough. I’m not particular about the manner of it, or what you do with the body.

  6. Of course, this position ignores the fact that we can’t be responsible for the actions of other free and crazy human beings, and placing blame on us for their murderous behavior just encourages it in the long run, and makes innocious actions by people here out to be responsible for consequences that are completely artificial.

    This.

  7. Ams is correct. Disappearing the mfer is what counts. Let’s not pretend the meme war is over.

  8. Some of the worst people in history have had a religious burial. The Nazis hanged at Nuremberg come to mind.

    Reinhard Heydrich, who might just be the worst human of the 20th Cent. was reburied in a religious ceremony after the war.

    You bury people according to the rites of the religion they profess. What they deserve has nothing to do with it. The idea is that the sins of the person die with them. We accord the body respect as a symbol of our respect for humanity in general.

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