The American Spectator : We Have No Cause to Lecture Happy People

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We Have No Cause to Lecture Happy People

By Patrick O'Hannigan on 5.6.11 @ 6:07AM

Was it wrong to cheer the news of Osama bin Laden’s demise?

Should baseball crowds at a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets have chanted “USA! USA!” on hearing about Osama Bin Laden’s death at the hands of U.S. Navy SEALs last Sunday night? Should college students at the White House gates have done the same thing?

Critics are right to note that the chant was ill-suited for marking the death of any man, even one who had it coming. That said, if going to hell in a hand basket were a new phenomenon, Germany would never have lent the word “Schadenfreude” to the English language. The recrimination now voiced by sensitive souls is not necessarily the beacon of righteous indignation that it wants to be.

While the “USA chant” is usually heard at international sporting events and no commando operation entailing risks like these will ever be mistaken for a game, the line between competition and combat is not as bright as people who’ve never enjoyed a Rocky movie, darkened the door of a dojo, or watched a mixed-martial-arts fight might think. Color commentary in the National Football League is rife with combat metaphors, yet all concerned realize that “trench warfare” between offensive and defensive lines would be orders of magnitude more lethal if guns were involved. No one expects football people to beg pardon from professional warriors for co-opting the imagery of battle.

To the apparent disappointment of self-consciously progressive friends, I’m no good at filling the Claude Raines role in Casablanca, so I could not even feign shock at the celebration of Bin Laden’s demise. What too many are quick to lose sight of, however, is that the people chanting USA were not doing that to glorify murder: our country’s initials can as easily acclaim the professionalism of Special Forces operators, or signify approval of a gutsy presidential decision. Last Sunday night, they did both of those things.

In other words, it is uncharitable to interpret gladness at Bin Laden’s death as a sure sign of moral degeneracy. Quiet satisfaction would have been a more decorous response to the news of his passing, but ours is not a culture given to quiet satisfaction. Instead, we send children to public schools where administrators keep a wary eye out for tee shirt slogans or designs that someone somewhere might regard as divisive. Some of us have forgotten that when a weight is lifted from our shoulders, the impulse to celebrate with passerby of goodwill is wonderfully human.

The fog of war is nothing to the dark of willful blindness. We were told by apologists for Islam that bin Laden was not “a true Muslim.” Despite that assertion, the U.S. Navy gave him at least the semblance of an Islamic burial. Whatever ceremony attended that burial was supposed to placate Muslims. Like most such gestures (and as George Neumayr noted in this space), it backfired. “Militants” who think they’ve suffered an exquisite insult now quibble impotently about whether Bin Laden’s burial was Islamic enough. Let ‘em quibble. That’s an argument it’s nice to be able to have.

What we know for sure is that by his own confused lights, Bin Ladin was a leader in an allegedly noble cause, out to kill as many Americans as possible. His bid for leadership in the Arab world had failed, but the armchair quarterbacks now trying to induce a twinge of guilt in America’s military-industrial complex by calling the late al Qaeda chief a “fringe” character have yet to explain how a fringe character could enjoy the name recognition and influence Bin Laden had, or why special forces were needed to go after him. No less an observer than German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared on live TV that she was “delighted” by Bin Laden’s death. Meanwhile, pundit Christopher Hitchens reminded everyone less versed in geopolitics of the obvious: “In what people irritatingly call ‘iconic’ terms, Bin Laden certainly had no rival,” Hitchens wrote. “The strange, scrofulous quasi-nobility and bogus spirituality of his appearance was appallingly telegenic, and it will be highly interesting to see whether this charisma survives the alternative definition of revolution that has lately transfigured the Muslim world.”

Part of what I think Hitchens means is that there’s no reason for anyone to feel morally superior to the people who greeted Bin Laden’s death with repeated shouts of “USA!” As blogger Tom Maguire points out, crowds would have been shouting the same thing if President Obama had announced just the capture of Bin Laden. When that is understood, several corollary assertions fall into place: “Maybe we aren’t tastelessly celebrating [Bin Laden’s] death. Maybe we are just celebrating the end of his era and the triumph of the good guys over the bad guys (sorry for the cryptic reference, libs — Team USA is the good guys.) In which case, the handwringing is utterly misdirected,” Maguire wrote.

Let me put it this way: Notwithstanding the truism that “no man is an island,” one can welcome the efficient dispatch of a terrorist without hating that terrorist, for much the same reason that one can welcome the removal of a cancerous tumor without hating cancer.

Another item complicating reaction to Bin Laden’s death is that eager beaver progressives have dammed the river of American culture with so many protected classes that few expressions of patriotic pride can still be used in polite company. What’s an assembly to do when welcome news breaks while hardware stores that sell American flags are closed and country singers are home with their families? Some people sang the Star-Spangled Banner, but our anthem is famously tough to sing well. Ray Charles could always be counted on for a goosebump-inducing rendition of “America,” but he’s no longer with us. And absent a cover version by the cast of Glee that will never be made, the Battle Hymn of the Republic isn’t likely to reclaim its lost mojo.

Even a Buddhist meditation teacher who worries about the perils of misdirected jubilation and collective failure to realize that there is “no such thing as us and them” might be persuaded to see shouts of “USA!” in a more forgiving light. The Buddhist I am thinking of said she would rededicate herself to the idea of brotherhood, even brotherhood with people who want her dead. Fortunately, the connotation of that USA chant helps us both, because it’s a chant that signifies brotherhood without applying religious litmus tests that anyone holding a disfavored creed might otherwise flunk.

Christian faith tells me that Osama Bin Laden was a child of God. Reason and observation tell me that he made discord and murder his life’s work, doing his best to ignore both his own dignity and the dignity of others, especially if they were not Muslims. Given those realities, it really doesn’t matter why President Obama approved the lethal strike, whether Bin Laden was armed when found, or if a military dog accompanied the SEAL team. The salient fact is that Bin Laden died in a war that he himself had started, killed by brave men with a precision rare in the annals of military operations.

To welcome Bin Laden’s passing or feel pride in the martial prowess of fellow citizens may be indelicate, but it is not wrong. That feelings of relief or admiration sound coarse when filtered through a three-letter chant says more about the limits of our public vocabulary that about the morality of people doing the chanting, at least some of whom I hope and suspect are now praying for Bin Laden’s soul.

About the Author

Patrick O’Hannigan is a writer in North Carolina.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (64) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 5.6.11 @ 6:24AM

The alleged facts of Bin Laden's demise were controlled by the White House and the media.

The contemporaneous response was controlled by the public. It was enthusiastic and real.

When Hitler died the world cheered. Osama Bin Laden was another psychopathic murderer. Who wouldn't cheer his death?

The White House for one. They were over cautious actually giving Osama an alleged Muslim burial, which apparently didn't follow procedure anyway.

True to Obama's nature, he claimed we shouldn't spike the ball. Why not? It would have been spiked for the world.

Surely the death of Bin Laden was a cause for celebration. No, the White House continues to be guided by their offend no Muslims under any guise campaign.

It explains their weak response on Major Hasan and the placement of high level officials in the Justice Department who represented terrorists. That includes Eric Holder.

Tomas| 5.6.11 @ 11:51AM

How did the author feel when Muslims cheered the destruction of the WTC?

Eric Cartman| 5.6.11 @ 1:07PM

Dumb question. We hunted down and killed the bastard, dope. And have been bombing the other bastards ever since. But this is what passes as an intelligent response from liberals. Its a wonder these dumb shits survive to the age of majority. But then they have conservatives fighting the scum bags that want to kill them. Liberals - if they truly believe the crap festering in their heads - should go over to Afghanistan and Pakistan and start there preaching over there. The world would be a better place with a few thousand headless Democrats lying around.

Laura| 5.6.11 @ 2:28PM

Dumb response. We should model the example we want to see in the world, not emulate those whose ignorance led us into this war. Your ignorant attitude is no better than theirs. Shame on you. You make Americans look bad with your dismissive attitude.

Curtis Rasmussen| 5.6.11 @ 3:18PM

No, idiot. You have to dehumanize the enemy to make them easier to kill. The seals did not kill a man, they killed a rat vermin POS.

Bin Laden deserved more punishment than 2 swift bullets. They should have wrapped him in pig feces soaked rags and shot him into orbit to burn to a crisp upon reentry.

Occam's Tool| 5.6.11 @ 6:24PM

Dear Laura,

has being all sensitive to our enemies reduced their homicidal rage and actions? No?

Remember what it took to stop the Nazis and Imperial Japan. War is killing.

emo| 5.7.11 @ 7:36PM

Laura:
Muslims wont follow our "moral high ground". Your response is filled with self loathing and moral equivalence. To you OBL was not morally different than the Marsh and McClennen employees on the 92nd floor of the north tower. WTC.

Eric Cartman| 5.8.11 @ 12:17PM

Dumb ass. Laura thinks Osama and ilk will swoon when she sows them her ACLU membership card. What's funny - and I mean funny as in HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHHA! - is when they behead her. Oh, wait, Laura will just suck it up and paraphrase Nathan Hale: "I regret I have but one head to give to my Liberal ideology! Viva ACLU" Isn't hat right, Laura? You'll be willing to go over there and teach these people all about Democracy, right?

Darin| 5.6.11 @ 6:53AM

Is Bin Laden was "not a true Muslim," than why is the Muslim world mourning his death? Civilized people view what Bin Laden did as evil. Civilized people also don't stab 3 month old children in their sleep. Muslims do. Islam teaches hate and celebrates the death of "non believers." Until Islam as a whole renounces this philosophy of death (and we are sure such a pronouncement is not an exercise of taqiyya or kitman (lying condoned)), I'm not buying it.

Appleby| 5.6.11 @ 7:15AM

If President George W. Bush had been killed instead of Bin Laden, would we be having this discussion?

The one thing that the world will never understand about America, and that I understand only because I live in a country where it is not the case, is that in our heart of hearts, Americans are Americans. The hyphens disappear when something happens that strikes our collective hearts. Americans take ownership of what America does. And what Americans do when somebody messes with us is throw it back in their faces and cheer when we have beaten them. America is not Oxford or Cambridge; it is not the Playing Fields of Eton. As General Patton said succinctly, *Americans love to win and will not tolerate a loser.* And when we win, we all win.

The rest of the world isnt like that. The only time we in Canada ever celebrate like that is when we win Olympic gold in hockey. In Canada at othr times the hyphens never disappear.

The Grey Piper| 5.8.11 @ 11:39AM

NPR and PMSNBC would sure as he11 be cheering for the death of Bush,

"Blame Bush!"*

*Copyright Hussein Holdings Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Soros, Int'l.

Brubaker| 5.6.11 @ 7:32AM

When I heard that bin Laden had been killed, I cheered. For that I make no apologies whatsoever.

Brian Mc| 5.6.11 @ 8:10AM

Spiking the ball is one thing, doing an endzone dance before the spiking occurs is another. No one here wanted that dance. If you want dancing, go watch the videos again of the mob dragging the lifeless bodies of our fallen through the streets of Mogadishu!

I cheered right alongside you, B!

Occam's Tool| 5.6.11 @ 3:07PM

Sorry, this one deserved spiking the ball, and a huge endzone dance. Our enemies MUST learn fear and terror of US. Only then will they stop.

We killed a subhuman.

richard ryan| 5.6.11 @ 5:04PM

Not me. I'm happy for the Navy Seals and proud of our military's efforts. But this is a positive in Obama's reelection column. I've said it before, 2012 is our last chance to save this nation. If we do not capture the WH and Senate, nothing will get done and our debt level will reach the point of no return. Soon after that, terrorism will be a threat secondary to widespread poverty and chaos. We will implode. So no, I'm not jumping with joy as BHO takes credit for this one.

Occam's Tool| 5.6.11 @ 6:25PM

Richard,

this won't help Obama one bit when gas hits $6.00. I'm happy we killed him, and I'll be happy on November 3, 2012 as my Ruth's Chris $50.00 certificate comes my way from the West Coast.

Mimi| 5.7.11 @ 10:56AM

Believe me Richard....This will not help "O" one bit, even though his numbers are up NOW! They have bungled their "STORY" so bad...you have to believe , the way they change it...a lot is untruthful. Soon ... the good guys will pitch us the WHOLE truth of details of the event, and what really went down. Hint... RECALL the Situation Room pictures....The"O" scrunched up...scared or even maybe ANGRY...small, ......not standing TALL.... not CONFIDENT. The TRUTH has a way, either leaked or put out boldly of getting OUT! Bet on it!
Maybe theres a chance he won't RUN or may surprise us and RESIGN ....(To spend more time with the family)

FastJohnny| 5.6.11 @ 8:06AM

Was it improper to cheer when the news that Hitler was dead? If not, then this is no different. This post-modernist thinking is killing me, this guy was a bad guy, period. A really, really bad, bad guy. His death was a victory for the Western World and not just the US. With his death, the dreams and aspirations of those who want the total collapse of the United States took a big blow. This was a major victory against a very, very strong enemy 'center of gravity' . Sooo, to all of you who like to think the US has no resolve to follow through with its plans, it is time to rethink that reasoning.

Nunya| 5.6.11 @ 1:54PM

FJ, I'm with you on this. Unfortunately, in our "post-modernist" world, there are no absolutes. There are no "bad" people, only people who had rough childhoods, or whose mommy was mean to them, or maybe didn't get breast fed for long enough, etc. I've had discussions with people who have basically told me that the fact that muslims in the middle east murder others is because it's their "reality", and we can't judge them for that--as well as, had we been raised in that same environment we'd be exactly the same. To which I replied that they were full of s---, and they need to reevaluate their own values as murder is not something which we should gloss over.

Frankly, I'm glad Bin Ladin is shark poop. I wish all of his followers the same fate.

Louis Jenkins| 5.6.11 @ 8:19AM

Well, I for one didn't cheer. Maybe I'm getting to old to cause a ruckus, maybe I'm too involved with courtesy, or maybe I don't care. I cared about the 3000 people who were slaughtered on 09/11, and I cared about the people on their last plane ride going into a building at 200+ mph. No, I'm worried about the next Osama character, the next Muslim bomber, the next terrorist. We are at war with them, and Osama is just another notch on the gun. It has spiraled to the point of no control even before Osama's death. Except for the loss of a valuable stealth helicopter it was a bloodless operation on our part. We're just in the beginning of a war and it may very well involve the world before it is finished.

txn4ever| 5.6.11 @ 11:17AM

Muslems are causing problems in something like 60 countries. In many of those they are killing people and performing acts of terror. In others they are using the host countries own laws to wreck havoc on the hosts. So, the whole world is already involved in WW III but nobody wants to call it what it is because the war has a taken a shape that is beyond our normal comprehension of what a world war is supposed to look like.

WJ| 5.6.11 @ 8:33AM

The celebrators looked stupid. They looked to me like a bunch of little kids, most of whom never served in the military, celebrating an accomplishment they had no part in.

It's easy to chant USA in your Guccis while sipping a Starbucks. There is not a lot of sacrifice involved there.

However, killing Osama was a good thing.

Larry| 5.6.11 @ 9:11AM

Going by your logic, people should never cheer for or be happy for anything in which they had no direct participation.

Not cheer for the accomplishments of our great military? Not cheer because an enemy of this country is dead?

Perhaps you could explain you point of view.

Laura| 5.6.11 @ 2:44PM

Well said! Meanwhile, Wall Street fatcats keep getting fatter, corporate America dictates drives politics, and the sons and daughters of John Q. Public go off to fight in the name of the almighty dollar.

simon templar| 5.6.11 @ 7:41PM

You really need to get beyond this simplistic and knee jerk view of the world. You are living in a world of half truths and distortions you probably picked up in your public education by left overs from the sixties who taught you and who knew even less about how the world works. I would suggest you do some reading and research of your own before you waste any more years...start with some business courses.

Occam's Tool| 5.6.11 @ 3:08PM

Actually, the cheering is what our military deserves, EVERY SINGLE DAMN DAY.

Larry| 5.6.11 @ 8:38AM

I'm glad that he's dead. I went to bed with a smile on my face. And for the lib scum that say it was a "gutsy move" on the part of Comrade Golfer- WRONG! It was the only move that a president could have and should have made, even after sleeping on it for 16 hours. I'm sure that he figuratively dragged screaming and kicking before giving the order.

Sam Levi| 5.9.11 @ 2:09PM

Must be nice to have a job that lets you sleep for 16 hours, especially to avoid a project. If I tried that, I'd be unemployed.

JP| 5.6.11 @ 8:56AM

I would be the last person to lecture New Yorkers on cheering the passing of Bin Laden. They, and especially the firemen and policemen earned that right.

David W| 5.6.11 @ 9:39AM

Obama, oops, sorry, Osama, was a true, pure muslim. He followed the teachings of mohammed to the letter. Though born a son of God, he died a son of satan, as did the 19 hijackers.

It is imperative that we as humans (Christian or not) recognize evil wherever it exists - whether it is in someone like Osama or in some of the libtards who believe that Osama and Bush or the Palestinians and Israelis are morally equivalent. When the evil is recognized we need to fight it. In most cases we just need to speak up (notwithstanding the desire by the libtards in the media, Congress, and the Supreme Court wanting to stifle it). In some cases, as in Osama, it may be necessary to physically fight it. I see no problem with a Christian fighting evil, regardless of its form.

Dee See| 5.6.11 @ 9:40AM

---Great piece.

And for more fun RE the world media
buried Fukishima disaster, CHECK OUT
Alan Watt 'Humiliation of Information'
part 2 on Youtube.

HE details an item from England about a
retired nuclear official who's taken off the
chart radiation readings in his backyeard
garden. He even has burns on hands and arms
from working there.

Remember kiddies, England is twice as far
from the source than we are.

Remember also, Berkeley was reading 180X
radiation levels before gov intervened and shut
the monitors down.

Remember too, though you won't hear a peep
about it from our 'EUGENICS friendly' controlled
media, Fukishima is to spew at this same rate for
the next 10 months -----AT LEAST.

AGAIN, really time to look at those life, cancer
and sterilization insurance policies -----for your kids!

NOW, ----back to your regularly scheduled DENIAL.

The Grey Piper| 5.8.11 @ 11:42AM

Bu11sh1t.

Don| 5.6.11 @ 10:02AM

I am 56 . I feel as if a cloud I didn't even realize was covering me, has been lifted with the death of Bin Laden.
These kids at the White House and WTC were only children when their lives were turned upside, and their innocence was stolen by this vicious 6th century murderer and his minions.
They deserve to cheer, as the architect that stole their childhood was dealt justice, and yes, vengeance, from the American people.
The sky this morning seemed a little bit brighter to me.

simon templar| 5.6.11 @ 10:32AM

I think this article and many like them is a significant sign of the times we live in and the moral relevatism and moral confusion that is now rampant in this generation. We are now at a point that we have to explain ourselves and apologize for our patriotism and our exuberance and celebration of our victories over evil and our enemies. It should be obvious to anyone with half a brain that the exuberance for most Americans was based on the capture and justice killing of a mass murderer and not the act of killing itself, nor the glorification of violence. We do not typically run in our streets and celebrate the killing of our enemies in war when news comes out that we were successful in a particular battle on the field of war. We do not attempt to kill families in their beds and celebrate their deaths nor celebrate the deaths of civilians by accident in times of war. This self obsession for navel gazing on our possible guilt and shame in these matters is not only ridiculous, unproductive, but is also dangerous. America, you need to stop apologizing for your self and second guessing everything you do. This is unhealthy behavior when taken to this extreme. Like King David, there is a very appropriate time to dance in the streets, naked if you wish, over the long awaited victory over evil and one's enemies.

Occam's Tool| 5.6.11 @ 3:10PM

Simon, you are a saint.

Essentially, we need to stop worrying about what THEY do, and make THEM start WORRYING about what WE do. Hell, it would have been appropriate to show the SEALS playing hackey sack with his decapitated head.

Sam Levi| 5.9.11 @ 2:13PM

To quote a great man, "No poor bastard ever one a war by dying for his country. He won the war by making the other poor bastard die for his."

simon templar| 5.6.11 @ 10:34AM

Sorry, typo, meant moral relativism.

PolishKnight| 5.6.11 @ 11:04AM

It's fascinating how the attitudes of radical Muslims who condemn the killing, and burial at sea, of Obama are similar to leftists in the states.

"Offense" to such muslims is anything less than the infidel bending over and offering his throat to be sliced. Resisting or even criticizing jihad is an offense and, therefore, justification for the jihad to begin with. If you didn't lock your door, we wouldn't need to break in to paranoid people's homes, would we?

The same thing with the left: Those who oppose the left are "bigots" and "cheaters" who deserve to be targeted for marginalization by the government and special vote counts made to "count all the votes" (which doesn't include military ballots they disagree with) and when they lose, especially a close election, it's "robbery." ALL losses by them are "unfair" by definition.

In other words, they're ***holes.

Sadly, ***holes seem to have some kind of evolutionary edge. They DO seem to get ahead more often then not, yes? So many bosses and successful managers got up the ladder by stepping on little people or cutting corners on ethics. It's the social system of many high schools. They think that playing by "the rules" (or for that matter, even by their own rules) is for suckers.

cuban pete| 5.6.11 @ 12:13PM

PK
Dobry!!
Have a great weekend.
cp

1/75| 5.6.11 @ 11:14AM

As a Ret Vet, USA, (1979-2001) I learned very fast as a private, that to antagonize my team member's by considering myself bigger than them would have been considered an oxymoron. Another words, a quick swipe to the head via fist or gun butt. I carried this tiny but may million other bit's of training mentality throughout my career, all the way to being a very successful SNCO. It played a big factor in my survival roving around miserable Third World Country's. Especially coming home afterwards to America, my family and friend's. I was and became a humble man. As for you civillian's running around cheering your head's off, go right ahead. I am inclined to believe that when your shouting and screaming came to a halt afterward's, there was a serious run on cough drops from your local pharmacy. I would just rather continue to learn to walk a walk for the rest of my life with nothing ever specific to say as to why I do so. No, I did not cheer Bin Laden's demise. I felt nothing. R.L.T.W.!, and Go Easy............

Bill| 5.6.11 @ 11:36AM

I suspect that even among those of us who have assumed the responsibility of bringing lethal forces to bear on our enemies there was an occasional "Hooah!" or two.

1/75| 5.6.11 @ 12:41PM

Bill, the Federal Benefits for Veterans, Dependents & Survivors, 2011 Edition, has Vet Center's within your local area. If you are who you say you are, go to you closest Vet Center, and put yourself in the "Group Setting." Repeat your comment above within the setting, regardless of format, and you will receive three distinct responses; folks of my caliber; stoic and unresponsive; the gabby vet(s) who want to ramp up the emotions with you and others; and the select few who will glower with rage and want to rip your throat out. Then, if the counselor is not in full control at the time, he/she always has to close down the session for a few minutes for everyone, thanks to a select few to settle down, and take a coffee break.

Occam's Tool| 5.6.11 @ 6:28PM

As a former VA psychiatrist, I am aware that combat takes a horrible emotional toll on those who must do it. But, 1/75, will you may be modest about yourself, I'm NOT modest about you. Well done.

Occam's Tool| 5.6.11 @ 3:12PM

I appreciate your service, and allow me to shout at the top of my lungs my appreciation for you 1/75.

JimH| 5.6.11 @ 11:23AM

Should we be glad he’s dead? Certainly. We should take satisfaction in the accomplishment of a necessary task done well. I will not condemn all of the emotional responses to it, but there is something to be said for the stoic way. John Wayne and Randolph Scott did not jump around doing happy dances and exchanging high fives after beating the bad guys. Who was the football coach who told one of his players to act as if he had been there before after scoring a touchdown? I guess this is just the result of all this modern teaching of how people being should not hold in their feelings.

Occam's Tool| 5.6.11 @ 6:29PM

Also, there was no problem with maintenence of patriotism in John Wayne's day. Now we get moral relativism garbage all day long from the Apologizer in chief.

cicero| 5.6.11 @ 11:47AM

The truly amazing thing about the entire venture was that it took the commander in chief of the American forces 16 hours to make up his mind. It should have taken all of 16 seconds once our guys told him that they were ready to go.

GW| 5.6.11 @ 12:02PM

The cheers were of "USA" not "We killed bin Laden" or "Die Muslims." Too many old, "civil", "intelligent" commentors across the web and elsewhere have used this event to go after the youth of the country. Even many conservatives who undoubtedly believe killing OBL was a good thing feel so-called gloating is inappropriate for whatever reason.

To all this I can only cringe. What this has shown is that young Americans instinctively celebrate a clear American victory. Without much thought, those in my generation (I'm 23) took to the streets to cheer the fact, after nearly 10 years, the US has won a clear victory over al-Qaeda and Islamic terrorism. The reaction was spontaneous--this is how we know it was genuine. Today's youth isn't as post-modern post-American as many would have you believe.

To the older generation "offended" by "showmanship." Your time is passing. Whether you like it or not, under your leadership American influence and self-determination was hijacked by internationalist groups and radicalists (like the UN or Arab-bloc). Young Americans may be more liberal in certain areas--and for that reason I am still wary for the country's future. But I am not worried about the US having a future. As long as the millenial generation has a say, America will defender her interests and not be told what to do.

Open, unbridled displays of patriotism should never be discouraged, especially in this day in age.

simon templar| 5.6.11 @ 7:23PM

You are a lot older and wiser than you know.

Ed| 5.6.11 @ 12:29PM

A pundit on the "O'Reilly Factor" last night made an interesting comment about why the kids celebrated Osama's demise on Sunday night. She said that the Millennial generation grew up in the shadow of 9/11 for most of their lives and that Osama's terror has greatly affected their psyches. When Osama got whacked, it was like the death of Voldemort; it provided a catharsis for an entire generation.

figusja| 5.6.11 @ 12:52PM

The only gripe I had was just explained to me very poignantly. Now my only problem is that it is the only news anywhere. I am dying a slow death to this media blitz. Even from The Blaze. Come on is there NO OTHER news? It sickens me to see this. A spineless Prez Hussein tricked Gates and Paneta into launching this attack as scapegoat if they failed. But they succeeded and the spineless one is a GOD now. Sheeezzzz!!!!

Pat| 5.6.11 @ 1:37PM

When our armpits reek, we use deodorant, when our breath smells like putrefied road-kill, we gargle with Listerine and when we experience genuine emotions our chattering media monkeys quickly rationalize some emotional hygiene spray so we can once again “feel fresh”. If raw hatred and strong yearnings for revenge tend to upset any American, then he or she should quickly turn away.

Osama was responsible for the death of thousands including small children and infants, those angelic innocents who constitute the most unlikely of ideological enemies. If we had leisurely skinned Osama alive and then slowly roasted his corpse on a spit at Ground Zero for all to see, we would be demonstrating our strong commitment to life, to the survival of our children - and not forgetting our own survival.

But America’s intellectuals here in the year 2011 have a problem admitting to strong emotions – each self-nominated “thinker” feels a compulsion to determine why it is or is not permissible to experience some measure of satisfaction at the death of an enemy. Had we tortured Osama’s family members for information using methods less kind and less gentle than prolonged waterboarding, an intellectual suffering from a deep seated inferiority complex will immediately condemn it as “wrong”.

And these poor, demented souls simply pronounce it “wrong” without giving sufficient reasons – they conclude their personal morality is enough of a reason for the rest of us.

“God is dead”, so it can’t be the Almighty who serves as the final authority on what actions are “wrong” – or so we’re constantly reminded. And the modern day followers of Charles Darwin claim we evolved apes don’t possess a “moral sense”, so our biological makeup provides no inner guide to “right or wrong”. So what motivates these intellectuals burdened with an overdeveloped streak of Self-Righteousness? Simply put, they desire to be noticed, to be respectfully heeded by all as a ready-made crutch for their anemic self-esteem. Our only response to these pitifully deluded arbiters of justice should be an emphatic “Shut-up”; we Americans still have much revenge to mete out, it will be very ugly and certainly not “fair”, so take the hint if it upsets you and bury your face in the sand.

Eric Damon| 5.6.11 @ 2:45PM

Not to quibble, but where in your Christian faith does the teaching that OBL was a child of God come from? Not to get all theological on you, but we are NOT all the children of God. We are all creations of God, created in His image...true. But we only become the sons and daughters of God by accepting Jesus the Christ as our personal Lord and Savior; by proclaiming Him publicly and allowing Him to rule our hearts and spirits. That's when we become God's children, not before. And as Osama bin Laden practiced a religion that denies the very divinity of Jesus, relegating Him to the status of a prophet who prepared the way for Muhammad, bin Laden was never going to be a child of God unless he renounced Islam and accepted Christ. That's why we can pretty much rest assured that when he went to sleep on earth Sunday night, he woke up in Hell.

simon templar| 5.6.11 @ 7:30PM

In fact, Christ made it quite clear that there are "Sons of Light" and "Sons of Darkness" and that there are those 'born' of their Father, the "Father of Lies."

Oldefarte| 5.6.11 @ 4:48PM

I personally cheered for our military/Seal Team 6 members [and all past and present military members, ie the Normandy beach invaders, the brave Viet Nam Marines, Rangers and Army infrantry members, etc] who TYPICALLY and SUCCESSFULLY carry out their assignments, and this assault in Pakistan was no exception. Bravo, well done! It's amazing to me that the faces of the celebrators over this doing the exhibited cheering appeared to be mostly twenty-somethings college/high school kids mostly. Were they cheering for their beloved El Chosen One outside the WH or in NYC's Times Square or were they cheering for our Seal Team 6? My guess is that it was for the former, and if so, they might want to contemplate the fact that with our current 10-20% unemployment rate and the economy in the toilet [all or most of which was caused by their El Chosen One and his Democrat collegues], that their chances of finding a job/employment upon graduating are SLIM & NONE [so they might wish to sedate their enthusiasm a tad!!!!!!

Occam's Tool| 5.6.11 @ 6:31PM

I remember my meeting an Omaha Beach survivor, permanently paralyzed from his experience, in the 1990s.

G-d Bless them.

Mimi| 5.7.11 @ 11:30AM

A lot of rumors out there...about the WHO'S, WHATs, WHERE & WHENS.....Bottom line the TOP-DOG is gone. We are so grateful to all our troops...and especially to those 43,000 injured, and to the families of those who gave their lives. We will pray for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. NOW we must be deliberate, bold and use all we have to destroy for all time this EVIL ENEMY

Ed Green| 5.7.11 @ 9:07PM

Bin Laden's death, soberly considered, was a necessity, and no more. To those who are given to displays of joy over this, I would say: revenge is a dish best served cold.

Jones | 5.7.11 @ 10:01PM

I am personally delighted that bin Laden is dead. It pleases me to think that the last thing thru Osama's mind (other than that bullet) was a feeling of profound and dreadful surprise at finding a SEAL team in his house.

It is perfectly appropriate to be glad that one's enemy met a bloody death. It does not dehumanize us- I submit that it is very human to want to kill one's mortal enemies, and to take satisfaction at their passing.

America is a good country and people. We are patient- and though our temper has a very long fuse, at the end of that fuse is sometimes found an atomic bomb or a wave of cruise missiles or a heavily armed SEAL team, come as phantoms in the night.

martin j smith| 5.8.11 @ 8:15AM

Short answer: NO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Long answer--So now what will Obama's war on terror be--Will he call it a war on terror ? Will he stop apologizing for America ? Will he shut up when he needs to and call things as they really are --Like Hamas is a terrorist org ? Will he stop bowing to dictator? Will he recognize freedom movements in the middle east and not allow Muslim Brotherhood to coopt ?Or at least to expose them for they are are. ?

Short answer--I doubt these very much.
SIONARA

Richard Baker| 5.8.11 @ 10:00AM

My idea has always been that this Islamic nonsense will stop when they cower in fear in their homes instead of us in ours. Remember, we're not dealing with a rational religion here but one which celebrates and demands war on non-Moslems. In doubt? Read the Koran.

Oldefarte| 5.8.11 @ 2:31PM

If UBL would have been captured instead, his civilian trial under the D of J might have resembled the following:

http://youtu.be/Hu6uR_XA59Q

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