Musings on the Death of Osama bin Ladin

According to a just released NBC poll, 80% of the American Public believe "it was the right decision to kill the al Qaeda leader" rather than capture him.  11% felt it was the wrong decision and 9% were unsure.  While my own opinion would be among the 80% (based on the information available to the public), it really isn't a matter to be decided by public opinion polls. 

As a matter of international law, there is little doubt the United States had the right to kill bin Ladin absent action on his part to unambiguously surrender when faced with the armed force of our military.  By his own words, bin Ladid declared war (jihad) on America.  This was not just words.  He also acknowledged being the person directly responsible for the al Qaeda terrorists who followed his orders to commit the murder of people in the Trade Center buildings in New York on 9/11 and other terrorist actions as ACTS of that war.

By doing so, he became an "enemy combatant," a term much abused by the Bush Administration, but one that certainly applies to Osama bin Ladin.  As an enemy combatant actively involved in the process of warring against the United States, bin Ladin was a fair target for American armed forces the same as he would have been if he was himself actively participating in an armed terrorist attack.

Now, if he HAD voluntarily (and unambiguously) surrendered when confronted by Navy SEAL team 6, they would have been obligated to accept his surrender and not kill him the same as they would have been obligated to accept the surrender of any armed combatant who surrendered on the field of battle.  But (at least so far as the public can ascertain) that did not happen.  He did NOT surrender, making it proper to kill him in battle.

I also agree with President Obama's decision not to release "death photos" of bin Ladin.  Most of the public did not need such visual confirmation to accept the reality of bin Ladin's death.  After all, within days al Qaeda itself confirmed bin Ladin's death which helped satisfy most of the arab world.  Those inclined to believe the American government would lie about the matter were not likely to be persuaded by a photograph (which they would argue had been faked).  One only needs to consider those who remain unswayed by the release of the President's long form birth certificate as an example of my point. 

Although the killing of bin Ladin apparently DID involve something like the mythic "black helicopters" of conspiracy theory lore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_helicopter), those who see conspiracies behind every tree are destined to continue to wear their "tin foil" hats (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_foil_hat) regardless of whether the United States publishes a photo or two.  Publishing a photo would just have inflamed the islamic extremist enemies of the United States and helped to preserve images of their martyr.  We are better off without them.