A lot of people, left and right will disagree with me, but the killing of Osama bin Laden was the loss of a tremendous opportunity. We lost the opportunity to demonstrate to the world not only that we are strong enough to win, but that we deserve to win.
Returning him to the United States in shackles, making him stand trial in the full public eye, would have demonstrated to the world that we are not only strong, but just. Yes, it would have been a magnet for trouble. His presence would have incited radical Muslims to try and free him, prolonged the ordeal not only for him but for all of us, It would have been messy and a pain in the ass. But guess what, that is what justice is.
He would have been exposed to the world for what he is, in the way releasing home videos never will. And our insistence that he stand trail would have been a demonstration to the world that we are a nation of laws, even when those laws are inconvenient. Essentially, we would be telling the world that George Bush and Dick Chaney do not represent the United States, that we are better than that.
Now having said that, I do not fault the military who carried out the execution. I don't know what their real order were, but given the circumstances, a covert mission in a fortified facility, I believe that they are justified at the slightest hint of danger to open fire. They found weapons caches and barricades inside the compound, it is not unreasonable to expect Resistance. So if somebody has to leave in a body bag, I would rather it be Bin Laden than one of our troops.
Still, if Bin Laden had been arraigned on Tuesday morning in front of a judge, that would have sent a powerful message to the whole world. It would have told them that although we are the most powerful military force in the world, we are not a lynch mob. We practice what we preach.
