Yesterday I was talking to a friend whose politics make mine look thoroughly leftist about bin Laden\u2019s death; he was adamant that shooting an unarmed man is always wrong. He was unconvinced by any argument of the possibility of a concealed suicide belt or that, in the heat of the moment, the safe thing to do was shoot first.<\/p>\n
No doubt a live bin Laden would have provided useful intelligence when interrogated but, according to this<\/a>, if the US had captured him, they wouldn’t have known what to do with him. Ironically, liberals who want to treat terrorists as criminals have contributed to a don’t ask, don’t tell, shoot first policy:<\/p>\n Apparently the possibility of capturing him was an afterthought, and understandably: We have so hamstrung our ability to interrogate and then expeditiously try and execute terrorists that bin Laden would have been a liability almost as soon as the euphoria over his capture passed.<\/p>\n Bizarrely, when it comes to high-level terrorists, our policy isn\u2019t \u201cto shoot first and ask questions later\u201d; it\u2019s to shoot precisely so we don\u2019t have to ask questions. If we had custody of bin Laden, we literally wouldn\u2019t know what to do with him. Everyone would have to live in fear of Attorney General Eric Holder\u2019s announcing a scheme to make him a Khalid Sheikh Mohammed\u2013style showcase for our civilian justice system. In 2009 congressional testimony, Holder notoriously waffled on whether bin Laden would be read his Miranda<\/em> rights upon capture.<\/p>\n In an ideal world, the Navy SEALs would have been given the order to take bin Laden alive, if possible. He would have been taken to a secret location for interrogation and waterboarded if necessary to break him quickly. Every possible lead would have been wrung from him and hunted down. When he was no longer of use, he\u2019d have been put before a military commission and executed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday I was talking to a friend whose politics make mine look thoroughly leftist about bin Laden\u2019s death; he was adamant that shooting an unarmed man is always wrong. He was unconvinced by any argument of the possibility of a … Continue reading