Killing Bin Laden in the name of ‘freedom’

“Da fhaid a theann an sionnach, beirtear air sa deireadh.” – Seanfhocal
There is an unexpected truth in this saying. Osama Bin Laden has been found and murdered by United States Special Forces. But he has been murdered in the name of freedom, liberty and justice.

At the end of a foxhunt when the animal is slain, nobody argues the rights and wrongs of the hunt. They merely rejoice in the kill. In this case, we have witnessed a manhunt.
The United States has made no effort to hide this fact, openly referring to it as such. When he was seeking election in 2008, Barrack Obama openly declared that the US would “kill” Osama Bin Laden if he was elected to the White House. The aftermath of this killing has made for very interesting watching, listening and reading. People have taken to the streets in the US chanting the name of their country, waving flags and celebrating the murder of this individual. The military, through named and unnamed sources, has mocked Bin Laden by describing, in gloating detail, how he hid behind a woman in the end. Interesting that they chose to assassinate his character as well as himself. 
Of course, nobody could even consider defending Osama Bin Laden, his actions or his beliefs but despite being a madman, he was still a man. As such, he has the same human rights as anybody else. Because he commits a terrible atrocity, it does not mean he can be stripped of his right to a fair trial. The US is saying it would have captured him alive if he had surrendered. This is difficult to swallow at face value. This was a clear case of a murder squad being sent to do a job. The Navy Seals, who carried out the operation, are among the most highly trained and tactically sophisticated military personnel in the world. Add to this the fact that the CIA is stating the compound had been under surveillance for months. Why then choose to swoop down in helicopters so loud that a man in a neighbouring house immediately began Twittering and inadvertently live-blogged the entire event? A noisy entrance was chosen to instigate a deadly battle and provoke a response or, if you prefer, an excuse to go in all guns blazing and kill the target in the process.
This murder will provide a much-needed boost to Barrack Obama’s flagging poll numbers ahead of next year’s presidential election. It may even undo the damage he has done to himself by attempting to provide basic healthcare to the nation’s poor.
In the self-proclaimed “greatest nation on Earth”, 25% of children live in poverty. There is by far and away the greatest gap between rich and poor, borne out by startling rates of inequality. One in nine American children, 8.1 million of them, has an unemployed parent and 31% of unemployed people are parents. This is the same nation that spent $687 billion on its military in 2010 and $379bn in 2011 so far. This accounts for 4.7% of its GDP. Only Israel and Saudi Arabia spend more on war machines internationally. The 4.7% figure represents an increase of 3.1% since 2001 when a certain Osama Bin Laden came on the scene in such a horrific manner.
The financial figures for military spending internationally are staggering when examined even in cursory fashion. There is enough money washing around the military industrial coffers worldwide to solve not only child poverty but possibly world hunger, climate change and many other problems as well. This will not happen. How have these lunatics ended up running our collective asylum? It would be interesting to know how many billions of dollars have been spent in the last 10 years hunting down Osama Bin Laden in order to put a bullet in his head and kick off an American street party characterised by bloodthirsty patriotism.
Of course, some American money has crossed the Atlantic and ended up in Irish coffers through the constant military use of Shannon Airport. Indeed, the airstrip at Rineanna may have played an even greater role in the assassination of the century so far, given that American government sources have gleefully leaked the news that the information, which led them to their most wanted came from the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Whether these torture victims were flown through Shannon while victims of extraordinary rendition is unclear but remains a possibility.
In a way, all nations taking the American dollar are complicit in this murder. There has been precious little condemnation of the act from international bodies. I am not suggesting that Osama Bin Laden should not have been brought to justice for the awful crimes he prompted his followers to commit but simply condoning the murder of a man by one nation’s military on the soil of another nation doesn’t seem to me the direction a civilised international society would wish to go.  
Bin Laden is dead but two wars rage on in Afghanistan and Iraq with no end in sight. He and his acolytes slapped the wasps’ nest that is the United States’ highly militarised sense of patriotism and unleashed the swarm on the world. Now he is just a corpse in the sea, human like everybody else but granted a significant place in history because of the terrible creed he preached and atrocities he encouraged. It may be old hat to point it out but once again, it is the ordinary people who are paying the price. In Iraq and Afghanistan, thousands of people who simply wish to live their lives cannot do so because of the daily violence and threat of death. Similarly in the United States, where military spending swallows government cash, benefits to the poor are cut and the nation’s children wallow in poverty.
A man is dead, a nation is rejoicing and all over the world, people are starving, struggling to make ends meet and simply surviving day to day. Is this right?