Osama Bin Gotten

I'm only slightly puzzled at the jubilation. After all, this is how people react in theaters once the bad guy is blown away. But this isn't acting. This is real life, or rather, death. But my primary reaction is sadness. It's not that I think it's a bad thing that he's dead. I don't regret Timothy McVay's execution either, though I'm not big on capitol punishment. When someone is responsible for multiple murders, the world is better off without them. And I'm glad that he went down fighting rather than having our guys going in and assassinating him. They had orders to take him alive if possible, but he wanted the "glory" of death over capture. His choice.

But how do you celebrate that kind of death?

Yes, there is relief. It's over. If it meant that Al Quaida was finished, that no more terrorism deaths would occur, that might be worth celebration. But the logical response to his death is an uptick in terrorism, at least for a while. Al Quaida might continue in a much crippled fashion, but it will continue. Lots of guys out there want their seventy-something virgins in paradise.

I entertain myself with thoughts of what, given perfect justice, those virgins might actually be like. Mostly they should be old and wrinkled, feeble, ugly, and totally sex-averse. Better yet if they were his victims, arriving at his bed with faces half blown away, intestines dragging on the floor, limbs missing and stumps oozing, maggots crawling all over, and stench rising and gagging him. Many of his 9/11 victims should arrive in pieces, most of which are dust particles, flying into lungs and eyes. Imagine being in their company for the rest of eternity!

I could call that justice.