Re: What Do We Really Know About Osama bin Laden’s Death?

[ish mailian]

The argument that the enemies of America and its democracy (OBL & C0.) are
only a threat to America and its democratic ideas because  the Military
Industrial Complex and the government are engaged in a seemingly endless
conflict or series of wars is not new. It's older that Eisenhower's famous
statement, older than Madison's warning. While I agree with the argument,
in the abstract, it's useless when the reality is that the enemies are not
merely made by US murder and money. The world is far too complex for simple
arguments about democracy and how it may be preserved or how things are
supposed to work in a democracy. We can take some simple comfort in the
fact that, as the Beatles said, It's getting better all the time", but if
we want more than simple comfort, we need to acknowledge the complexity of
conflicts and recognize that the US has an unenviable part to play in them,
that sometimes involves assassination and the mass murder of innocence.
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