The Killing

David Swanson on the killing of Bin Laden:

"(Regarding)...the morality of cheering for the killing of a human being. A decade ago that would not have seemed as natural...The automatic assumption would not have been that there could be no dissenters to that celebration. A decade ago torture was considered irredeemably evil. A decade ago we believed people should have fair trials before they are declared guilty or killed. A decade ago, if a president had announced his new power to assassinate Americans, at least a few people would have asked where in the world he got the power to assassinate non-Americans..."
He goes on: "As we put bin Laden behind us, can we put the degradation of our civil liberties and our representative government, and our honesty, accountability, and the rule of law behind us too? Can we recover the basic moral decency that we used to at the very least pretend and aspire to?
Not while we're dancing in the street to celebrate death."

It's so intensely disheartening to see the jubilation at the death of another human. It becomes more and more evident, I think, that we are a savage and bloodthirsty people. Those traits are not only noted, but celebrated, as the worship of the military is. I turn away from this unseemly joy and often, I despair of my country. Where are we headed? To oblivion, I think, and sooner rather than later.
A question: Why, why, why, after this deed was done--if it was done--would the body be buried at sea? Will it not foster, now and forever, the belief that he's not really dead, just in hiding? And will not someone rise who purports to be his emissary? And won't he become even more of a prophet and a saint to his followers?
Idiotic decision and I wonder who made it. And why. Maybe to continue the carnage, our way of life, after all, as it has become.
No, I'm not celebrating.