Sadly, the falling empire is our own, and the Bin Laden execution is no small part of our plunge from greatness. How could citizens of a democracy, who watch court room justice scenes by the hour, and who profess to be Christians, possibly understand a deliberate act by our own government whereby an alleged criminal is assassinated and all physical evidence about that alleged criminal is destroyed, and his body is dumped at sea? How can we in a “Christian” nation comprehend a raid on a leader of another faith, where every man with him, unarmed or lightly armed, is systematically executed in front of their wives and children under direct order to do so from those who pretend to be the world\’s peacemakers?
Indeed, as a result of our acts many wonder if the real Bin Laden was even present, for the only direct evidence that he was present is the possible testimony of the women and children who we are told are alive, but without evidence confirming it. I can only wonder, based on what the Seals did to the four men, why the ten or more women and children found in Bin Laden\’s compound were not also eliminated. Or were they? We are only told that they were allowed to live… live, that is, in the hands of the Pakistani puppet gang beholden to the US Empire for its daily bread! I would not want to be in their shoes.
Massacres of this kind are not unknown in history. They are common to despotic regimes, including some in the Middle East. But we in America have held that such criminal executions are beneath our civilization. This one was embellished by such a web of already discounted lies as to make every aspect of it unbelievable. Were we not first told the raiders were engaged in a fierce fire fight, that Bin Laden went down in an exchange of gunfire, that women and children were shot because they were used as human shields, that the compound was a billionaire’s mansion-command post, that the targeted victim was ceremonially buried at sea in Muslim tradition, and that our President observed the entire raid on closed circuit TV?
All these lies, which have already been exposed were created to justify the execution. There was no armed resistance. Bin Laden\’s compound contained less guns than the Seals would find in millions of perfectly legal homes in America, including my own; only one shot is alleged to have been fired by the resistance, hitting no one; Bin Laden was unarmed and in his night clothes when he was shot, not once but twice, allegedly because he did not surrender fast enough; the “mansion” was a concrete apartment house of modest value; a “brave” Seal shot Bin Laden\’s wife, rather than grabbing her, because she “charged them”. What Seal cannot restrain a charging wife in her night gown without shooting her? Why did they not shoot Osama in the leg? The actual raid was intentionally blacked out on the White House TV to spare the planners in Washington from having to see the carnage. A logical question might be, who has the power to black out the President\’s TV? That person is the real “president.”The obvious conclusion is that the execution was premeditated. And Israel’s Haaretz Newspaper confirmed premeditation in an interview with a highly placed US insider who asserted firsthand knowledge that the Seals had been on specific instruction to kill, not capture Bin Laden.1
Even if Israel, a state that sees nothing wrong with summary executions, had not done Americans the favor of disclosing premeditation, our logic tells us it could not have been otherwise. Seals represent the ultimate in disciplined warriors; they would never take it upon themselves to summarily execute a man of Bin Laden\’s importance, to say nothing of killing his son and two couriers who would presumably know a lot about the field activities of Al Qaeda and be valuable prisoners. They were not under threat and their acts had to have been authorized. Have no doubt, it was a premeditated execution raid.
Let us make it clear: killing Bin Laden was wrong because murder is always wrong. That is Christ Following…that is Islam…that is civilization!
No wonder Americans are puzzled. I was asked to explain this at a social gathering where political questions are normally taboo. Students told me their high school mates have talked of nothing else, and their teachers offer little in the way of understanding. Worse yet, their churches offer no comfort.
After ten days in which to contemplate what we have been told, I observe with sadness that no nationally prominent Celebrity Christian theologian has publicly objected to the raid on moral grounds based on Jesus\’ words. Sadly, many have justified the summary executions. Their lack of protest is most disturbing aspect of the massacre in Abbottabad. Who, if not America\’s church leaders, should be outraged at the execution? Are they not the voice from within for morality and justice? Do they not stand on Jesus\’ works of love, justice, forgiveness, honor and respect for life, including the lives of our enemies? Do our “Christian” leaders fail to believe their own words, that God breathed life into every soul and it is up to Him to take it away? Do they deny their own words, that every man can repent and be redeemed if God wills it, and that it is therefore their job to love and seek to reclaim all men. Yes, they fail to stand for Christian justice, and then they use fragments of scripture, ripped from its context, to justify the acts of the Seal team and those who commanded them.
What our leaders feared most about Bin Laden was that he was religious in a secular world, and he, unlike Saddam Hussein and Israeli leaders, was willing to commit himself to his religion sacrificially without reservation. That is why he died as he did, executed in an austere home and dumped into the sea so he would be less likely to be an example of commitment to others. Bin Laden could hardly have been feared physically, for he was known to be in a degenerated physical state. This is probably the reason we are denied photos of the corpse. I for one do not believe the “too gruesome” story. Many, including this author, thought he was already dead in 2001, his funeral reported on Fox News and never retracted. Bin Laden was believed terminally ill for years, and at age 55 or so, his body probably resembled someone 30 years older, and more than likely, hardly capable of commanding a warring organization.
Our government simply executed a committed spiritual leader of a movement to avoid having to try him for his alleged crimes, as should have been its goal. I resist calling Bin laden “misguided” not because I judge his faith against mine, but because our own spiritual leaders are even more misguided than he is! Lest anyone think this author is a Johnny-come-lately opportunist, singing at the American spiritual wake, I remind you what we published three days after the terrible event, and before the USA was at war in Afghanistan, “Day911, Americans Pay the Price”:
Already our ignoble Congressmen are calling for escalation of the war against the innocent population of yet-to-be-named Arab countries. They are only waiting for a few scraps of proof that Arabs were involved (in bombing the World Trade Center). The news talk is already turning to retaliation. But this will not end the matter, it will only make it worse. It will also work to hide the crimes of our political leaders who brought this terrible retribution on unfortunate and unsuspecting Americans on Day911.
There is one simple, conclusive way to end acts of war against our civilian population, wrongly called “terrorism“. We must end our own acts of war against Arab populations, and, for that matter, against all other people who are not our immediate concern. We cannot do this without stopping all aid of any kind to Israel, Egypt and any other countries. And, if financial aid is being given to the Palestine Liberation Army (PLO) or any other Arab group, this, too, must be stopped.
If Americans were involved in the bombings on Day911, there are legal means to deal with them, and this should be done. But continuing to kill and starve the mothers and children of Arabs in other countries, as our government has done in the past, will simply convince the world that they are correct about the great bully, and insure that Americans will again have to pay for the evil acts of our government. (Charles E Carlson, Sep 13, 2001)
We must start the restoration of a faith-based America where it was lost, in our churches. Too many are now simply profit making corporations with not-for-profit licenses that provide flimsy excuses not to practice Christ\’s teachings. We who call ourselves by Jesus\’ name have the greater responsibility, and it takes more courage to stay and contest than to leave. Perhaps those who find themselves under teaching that supports war should withhold all but token financial support until the church leaders find a way to be peacemakers, and let a few peers know you are doing so and why. More ideas can be found on our website by searching for “Christian Zionism” and by clicking on Project Strait Gate.
In the next message, we will critically examine the fragments of scripture, ripped from context, that American church leaders have used to justify the execution of Osama Bin Laden and many other deadly war adventures.
1 Haaretz: Dead Only Raid
2 Carlson, “Day 911 – Americans Pay the Price”
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