As much as we hate to see the execution of a sentient human being, al-Baghdadi made a good case for the need of occasionally culling the herd from time to time. Plus, an ethics question: is it appropriate to kill a person to prevent that person from killing still more people? I've heard it said that the Buddha once killed a pirate while sailing to Ceylon to stop him from killing the other passengers, but I've only heard that story orally, never in writing, and then only in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. The story may have been expeditiously made up to Buddhist Americans to justify their support for the U.S. war effort. But it still illustrates the point.
In any event, Barack Obama, the last real American President, oversaw a technically more challenging operation to take out Osama bin Laden (a covert raid into Pakistan) and gave a more Presidential and professional announcement that Trump's bellicose and unhinged rantings this morning ("whimpering like a dog," and "he died in a vicious and violent way, as a coward, running and crying"). And, of course, Trump had to thank Russia for their support (can't miss an opportunity to ingratiate himself to Putin).
Trump's ego couldn't even resist elevating himself over the intelligence officials who planned the operation that he was trying to praise ("They're very technically brilliant. You know, they use the Internet better than almost anybody in the world, perhaps other than Donald Trump. But they use the Internet incredibly well").
As you listen to Trump praise himself for al-Baghadi's death, remember that after bin Laden, Trump didn't think Obama deserved any credit.
No comments:
Post a Comment