Bullets to the Brain

As the details of the raid on the bin Laden compound come more into focus, it appears that it would have been possible to take Osama bin Laden alive, possibly without compromising the safety of the Navy SEALs who conducted the operation. Both Glen Greenwald and Michael Moore question the President's decision to kill, rather than capture, Osama bin Laden. I'm sure others have expressed similar views.

Here's Greenwald on "The Osama bin Laden Exception," which is, roughly:

yes, I believe in all these principles of due process and restraining unfettered Executive killing and the like, but in this one case, I don't care if those are violated.

... Greenwald goes on to say,

I strongly disagree with that view, I understand and respect it, particularly given the honesty with which it's expressed. My principal objection to it -- aside from the fact that I think those principles shouldn't be violated because they're inherently right (which is what makes them principles) -- is that there's no principled way to confine it to bin Laden.

(Greenwald's case is bolstered, as he points out today with his I-told-you-so post, by the U.S. drone attack which attempted, apparently unsuccessfully, to kill Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric believed to be hiding in Yemen.)

Here's part of a brief post, titled "Why We Put Those Like Bin Laden on Trial" by Moore:

We put those who do evil things on trial not so much for them (though we do do it for them because, unlike their view of us, we see them as human), but we do it for ourselves. We do it because we are civilized, we are a free people, we believe that everyone has a right to their day in court, even the worst persons. We believe in the rule of law even if they don't. That makes us strong, stronger than them, and we will defeat their evil through our open and just society.

Leaving aside the al-Awlaki case, which I see as a separate issue that wants airing, there is something essential in the killing of Osama bin Laden that makes it different from the disposition of other terrorists. Both Greenwald & Moore ignore the "what if." The "what-if" is "what if we had captured bin Laden? Then what?"

There is little doubt that the capture, imprisonment, trial and likely execution of bin Laden, all of which would have played out over the course of years, or possibly a decade, would have increased the threat of terrorism against Americans here and elsewhere. Al Qaeda operatives reportedly have already threatened to avenge bin Laden's death. Were he held prisoner in the U.S. or elsewhere, there would certainly have been attempts to retaliate or even to rescue him. Although his killing has put the U.S and its allies on heightened alert, his capture would have kept us in that mode for years. Bin Laden was more than the titular leader of a terrorist cell. For his adherents, he was the prime symbol of their cause.

Osama bin Laden, alive, posed a clear and present threat to national security. As Commander in Chief of the armed services, the President of the United States is primarily reponsible for ensuring the security of the nation. Given that charter, it seems easy to argue that in the interest of national security, killing -- rather than capturing bin Laden -- was essential to national security.

While I respect the views of Greenwald, Moore and others who disagree with me, I don't think the President erred in his apparent determination to kill Osama bin Laden. I oppose assassination and the death penalty. But I am also a realist. The life of one avowed terrorist is not worth more than the life of one of the thousands of innocents he has already killed, and it is not worth more than the lives of those who almost surely would die in the years of retaliatory acts of terror which would surely have followed his capture. President Obama ordered the killing of Osama bin Laden to protect the nation from future acts of terror.

The Commentariat -- May 7

The President's Weekly Address:

I've added an Open Thread comments page for today on Off Times Square.

** Michael Hirsh of the National Journal makes a compelling argument that Obama's war is nothing like Bush's war & there is no continuity between the two administrations' conceptions & executions of international policy on terrorism. "The Bush approach remained scattershot throughout his two terms in office and was conceived 'piece by piece,' in the words of one European diplomat in Washington."

Bob Woodward Is on the Case! The events leading up to the death of Osama bin Laden started with "an innocuous, catch-up phone call. ...

... Lolita Baldor & Kimberly Dozier of the AP: "The wealth of information pulled from Osama bin Laden's compound has reinforced the belief that he played a strong role in planning and directing attacks by al-Qaida and its affiliates in Yemen and Somalia, senior U.S. officials said Friday. And the data further demonstrates to the U.S. that top al-Qaida commanders and other key insurgents are scattered throughout Pakistan, not just in the rugged border areas, and are being supported and given sanctuary by Pakistanis, a senior defense official said."

Right Wing World *

** Joan Walsh: "Life is too short to refute every silly David Brooks column, but Friday's meditation on 'The Politics of Solipsism' is so backward, I couldn't ignore it.... As always in the GOP universe, it seems the only people who should practice self-restraint are unions, working people and low-income families who depend on social services. The most glaring solipsism evident today is Brooks' own." Walsh writes a good, brief history of how Brooks' hero Irving Kristol got the ball started rolling toward a dysfunctional economy. Thanks to Kate M. for the link.

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

ABC News: the federal government today released five videos which Navy SEALs acquired at the compound in Abbottabad:

You can watch all five "home videos" here. I don't think they're too thrilling.

New York Times: "The Obama administration on Saturday released five videos recovered from Osama bin Laden‘s hide-out in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that an intelligence official said showed the Qaeda founder threatening the United States, condemning capitalism and at some points flubbing his lines and missing a cue. In the most candid scenes, Bin Laden can be seen watching news coverage of himself on television." See ABC News report above, with link to the videos (the Pentagon also has the audio, which it has not released.)

New York Times: "A missile strike from an American military drone in a remote region of Yemen on Thursday was aimed at killing Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric believed to be hiding in the country, American officials said Friday. The attack does not appear to have killed Mr. Awlaki, the officials said, but may have killed operatives of Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen."

(Memphis) Commercial Appeal: "Under direction of the county Office of Preparedness, law-enforcement officials distributed evacuation notices to nearly 1,100 homes, apartments and mobile homes as a Mississippi River flood that even a National Weather Service hydrologist called 'biblical' threatened more and more areas of Greater Memphis."

AP: "Pakistan's former foreign minister has called on the country's president and prime minister to resign following the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Shah Mahmood Qureshi says the operation was a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty, and President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani should be held responsible."

The Commentariat -- May 6

Paul Krugman notes that "Washington looks for trouble in all the wrong places while the unemployed are left to suffer.... Unemployment isn’t just blighting the lives of millions, it’s undermining America’s future.... Yet any action to help the unemployed is vetoed by the fear-mongers." ...

... BUT David Brooks thinks democracy sucks and all of us little people should appreciate the "establishment bigwigs" who will get the federal government back on the right track. ...

     ... Update: I've added a comments page on Off Times Square for Krugman & Brooks & posted my comments. Karen Garcia has also posted hers. You'd probably better read our Brooks comments here, as they are unlikely to make the moderators' cut. Update 2: at 8:00 am ET, it's evident that at best, the Times moderators have decided to bury Garcia's & my comments. It's what they do. AND Valerie Long Tweedie asks a really good question. Update 3: Ah, my comment made the top of Page 2, but no Garcia to be found. Update 4: Plus more truly excellent comments. ...

... AND speaking of Brooks, which is painful for me to do, Driftglass has reimagined Wednesday's "Conversation" between Brooks & Collins in which the two pundits light-heartedly discuss the death photos of Osama bin Laden. Here's a sample graph, which I realize is nearly indistinguishable from the original. (Do read Driftglass's whole post):

David Brooks: Outside of my own children and the little stick figures I invent in my terrible books, I do not accept these 'children' as you call them actually exist. All I see are tiny, tiny Socialists. I will now collect another political product placement paycheck by gratuitously working 'Israel' into our 'conversation.'

Ylan Mui of the Washington Post: "Republican senators vowed Thursday to block any nominee to lead the fledgling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unless stronger limits are put on its power, in the latest blow in a long-running battle to rein in the watchdog agency before it officially launches this summer." Here's the letter, signed by 44 Senators, to President Obama on the subject. CW: if the Democrats had any sense -- and they don't -- they would make a non-stop talking point of Republicans holding Elizabeth Warren -- or anybody -- hostage in their desperate effort to protect banks from minor oversight of their usual customer-screwing practices. Republicans are basically admitting they support the banks' attempts to snooker you.

Former Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) & Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), in a New York Times op-ed: the Securities & Exchange Commission, "the top cop for our financial markets, remains inexcusably blind to the activities of high-speed computer trading." It has done nothing to prevent another "flash crash" like the one we saw a year ago when "the stock market took a brief and terrifying nose-dive [and] almost a trillion dollars in wealth momentarily vanished."

Neil Irwin of the Washington Post: Treasury Secretary Tim "Geithner will meet Monday with Chinese officials in Washington and try to persuade them to let the value of their currency rise relative to the dollar in part as a way of lifting U.S. trade. That would, by the simple math of foreign exchange markets, weaken the dollar — in pursuit of economic advantage. This contrast reflects a fundamental contradiction in the U.S. approach toward the dollar. The government has put in place a range of policies that make the dollar likely to decline in value over time. But no one in a position of authority can really admit it, because of politics and the possibility of a bad reaction in financial markets." CW: the WashPo headline writer calls this "dollar diplomacy." I call it lying.

David Rogers of Politico: House Republican leaders are in disarray over their Medicare policy, stepping on their own statements, switching positions, & generally confusing their own caucus (CW: many of whom aren't bright enough to negotiate the conflicting messages). ...

... Carl Hulse & Jackie Calmes of the New York Times: "House Republicans signaled Thursday that they were backing away from the centerpiece of their budget plan — a proposal to overhaul Medicare — in a decision that underscored both the difficulties and political perils of addressing the nation’s long-term fiscal problems.... Dave Camp, Republican of Michigan and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said that while he still supports the party’s Medicare approach, opposition from Democrats made it pointless to proceed." CW: doesn't he mean opposition from the vast majority of voters?

We’re inept. We are inept and irrelevant.... Too many of our colleagues are afraid of being quote-unquote soft on terror. He [Obama] probably gets even more latitude now.
-- Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah)

David Fahrenthold & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "... the death of Osama bin Laden has triggered renewed calls from legislators in both parties for the United States to speed up its withdrawal from Afghanistan.But it does not seem to have removed the two political obstacles that have kept these same lawmakers from putting real pressure on the White House in the past. They still lack the support of either party’s leadership. And they still do not have an urgent piece of legislation — a bill central to the war effort — to force a distracted Congress to focus on Afghanistan." ...

... Ben Smith & Byron Tau of Politico: "The cover of The Weekly Standard ... sat awkwardly on newsstands all week ... 'Leading From Behind,' ... dropped by an Obama advisor to a New Yorker reporter last month, had crystallized two years of questions about Obama’s foreign policy into a single slogan. The phrase spread like a virus until late Sunday night, when Obama announced that American commandos had, on his order, killed terror chief Osama bin Laden, resetting American perceptions of the country’s role in the world and of the commander in chief’s capacity for ruthless, dramatic leadership. But for all its inherent drama, the bin Laden shooting did not actually represent a new turn in Obama’s foreign policy. The same president who was — in his critics’ eyes — leaning too hard on the Israelis, pursuing half-measures in Libya and slow to give moral support to the opposition in Iran and Syria simultaneously demonstrated a stomach for high-profile risks by taking out Somali pirates in 2009 and green-lighting the mission in Abbottabad." CW: definitely worthy of a read. ...

... Jonathan Chait of The New Republic comments briefly (& sardonically) on the Weekly Standard cover in a post titled "Annals of Mistimed Propaganda." ...

... Tim Egan: "The operation in Abbottabad was an unqualified success, but the American public still deserves to hear the whole story." ...

... Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "The CIA maintained a safe house in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad for a small team of spies who conducted extensive surveillance over a period of months on the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. Special Operations forces this week, U.S. officials said.... The on-the-ground surveillance work was part of an intelligence-gathering push mobilized after the discovery of the suspicious complex last August that involved virtually every category of collection in the U.S. arsenal, ranging from satellite imagery to eavesdropping efforts aimed at recording voices inside the compound." ...

... Eric Schmitt & Tom Shanker of the New York Times write about a 2007 U.S. raid on a Taliban/Al Qaeda meeting in Afghanistan which intelligence experts thought Osama bin Laden would attend. He didn't. During the raid, which has not been previously reported, commandos killed "several dozen militants."

As we all know, there are numerous other candidates that are looking at it — and thank God. -- Reince Priebus, RNC Chair, on last night's Republican debaters

Pipsqueaks. Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times: "Five Republican contenders presented themselves here [in Greenville, South Carolina] Thursday evening at the first debate of the 2012 presidential campaign, a televised session that may have only amplified the fretting among some Republican leaders that the party needs to recruit more candidates to find a credible challenger to President Obama." ...

... Here's another report on the debate from Kasie Hunt of Politico.

Gov. Romney’s not here to defend himself, so I’m not going to pick on him. -- Tim Pawlenty, when asked about RomneyCare during last night's candidates debate. CW Translation: I'm really running for Vice President, even though I've denied it numerous times.

Screenshot from the big debate: **

     ** Might possibly be photoshopped.

Andy Borowitz: "A new survey of likely voters indicates that in a hypothetical match-up between former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and billionaire Donald Trump, a majority would choose suicide over either candidate."

Show photo as warning to others seeking America’s destruction. No pussy-footing around, no politicking, no drama;it’s part of the mission – Sarah Palin, tweet

Excellent! Sarah Palin’s message to the President is this: ‘You have to see the entire task through.' – the sort of important political and presidential advice she had to quit her job as governor to be able to tweet. -- Jon Stewart

Sarah Palin said he’s pussy-footing. You know, she would have bin Laden’s head stuffed & hanging in her den. -- Jimmy Kimmel

Karen Garcia: Andrew Breitbart strikes again with a deceptively-edited video, this time at the University of Missouri. Even though the University knew the score, they caved & effectively fired the professor who was "caught on tape" not saying what the tape implied.

More on Diverse Loons. Shannon Travis of CNN: "'Deathers' take over where 'birthers' left off.... A surprisingly diverse crop of people are questioning whether Osama bin Laden is actually dead.... Their claims follow a wide range: Some believe that the world's most-wanted terrorist was not the man killed Sunday, others think bin Laden is dead but was killed many years ago, and still others believe that the September 11 mastermind is alive -- and secretly being interrogated." ...

... Even Speaker Boehner, who coddles birthers, tamps down the deathers:

Right Wing World *

CW: In bipartisan deficit reduction talks yesterday, Republicans demanded there there be no decrease to the deficit. No, really. Read Jonathan Bernstein of the Washington Post, and you'll see what I mean.

Obama is a hardcore socialist. He's scary to me. -- David Koch

Sarah Owen of New York Magazine: David Koch gives President Obama no credit for Osama bin Laden's death:

All that Obama did was say 'yea' or 'nay,' we're going to take him out or not. He just made the decision, it was obvious where the guy is.... I mean, no president in his right mind would not approve that decision to go eliminate him. So he’s getting a lot of recognition and his polls have jumped up, but his decision was the easiest of them all. The real hard work was done by the intelligence and the SEALs.

     ... Sure is heartwarming to see billionaire Koch stand up for the little guys who do the "hard work," isn't it? He'll probably give all his maids & janitors raises tomorrow. Or maybe you think Koch is a small-minded wad of Santorum consumed by hatred & malice.

... As for "the easiest decision of them all," Matt Yglesias points out, "The President’s judgment was that that entailed striking the compound without telling the unreliable Pakistani security services in advance. Both Obama’s predecessor [Bush] and his opponent in the campaign [McCain] said they wouldn’t do that, and if they’d followed through on their word Bin Laden might have gotten away. ...

... Meanwhile, crazy Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) sees the killing of bin Laden as some kind of political distraction that will cause President Obama to "really just exploit the issue for political reasons and not really have the insight to do what’s necessary to protect this country in the future...." Via Marie Diamond of Think Progress.

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

Pierre Thomas of ABC News reports on news of Al Qaeda plots revealed in data attrieved in the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed:

President Obama and Vice President Biden visit the troops in Fort Campbell, Kentucky:

Washington Post: "An online posting attributed to al-Qaeda on Friday confirms the death of Osama bin Laden and warns of retaliation against the United States and other nations for the slaying of the terrorist leader."

New York Times: "Pakistani officials say the Obama administration has demanded the identities of some of their top intelligence operatives as the United States tries to determine whether any of them had contact with Osama bin Laden or his agents in the years before the raid that led to his death early Monday morning in Pakistan."

President Obama spoke at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, this afternoon. NBC News Update: "President Barack Obama on Friday was briefed by members of the team that killed Osama bin Laden, and afterward thanked and awarded them the Presidential Unit Citation, the White House said." With video report. Washington Post story here. New York Times story here.

The Hill: "President Obama called for the elimination of billions of dollars in oil industry tax breaks Friday, while stressing that the United States can’t drill its way out of high gas prices. 'We can’t just drill our way out of the problem,' Obama said during an energy policy speech in Indiana Friday. 'If we’re serious about addressing our energy problems, we’re going to have to do more than drill.'” Video above, under Saturday's Ledes.

Bloomberg: "The U.S. economy added more jobs than forecast in April, easing concern that higher fuel prices are slowing the economic recovery. Payrolls increased by 244,000 workers last month, the biggest gain since May 2010, after a revised 221,000 gain the prior month, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Economists projected an April rise of 185,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Employment excluding government jobs jumped the most in five years. The jobless rate rose to 9 percent, the first increase since November."

Wall Street Journal: "Commodities prices tumbled on Thursday, led by the steepest oil-price decline in more than two years, triggering a selloff in stocks as well. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 139.41 points, or 1.1%, to close at 12584.17, making the Dow's two-day slide its worst in nearly two months. The stock market previously had been mostly spared from the weeklong downturn in raw-materials prices."

AP: "Parts of the Mississippi Delta are beginning to flood, sending white-tail deer and wild pigs swimming to dry land, submerging yacht clubs and closing casino boats, and compelling residents to flee from their homes. The sliver of land in northwest Mississippi, home to hardship and bluesman Muddy Waters, is in the crosshairs of the slowly surging river, just like many other areas along the banks of the big river." ...

     ... Reuters Update: "The rising Mississippi river lapped over downtown Memphis streets on Thursday as a massive wall of water threatened to unleash near record flooding all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Water lapped over Riverside Drive and onto Beale Street in Memphis, and threatened some homes on Mud Island, a community of about 5,000 residents with a river theme park. The island connects to downtown Memphis by a bridge and causeway."

Al Jazeera: "Protesters have taken to the streets across Syria for another day of anti-government protests. Authorities have responded by deploying the military in political sensitive areas, and there were reports of live ammunition being fired in the Damascus suburb of Tel."

AP: "One of three wives living with Osama bin Laden has told Pakistani interrogators she had been staying in the al-Qaida chief's hideout for six years without leaving its upper floors, a Pakistani intelligence official said Friday. The woman, identified as Yemeni-born Amal Ahmed Abdullfattah, and the other two wives of bin Laden are being interrogated in Pakistan...."

Reuters: "Heavily armed Taliban fighters, appearing in a video purporting to show frontline militants in southern Afghanistan, have said the killing of Osama bin Laden will inspire them to continue fighting until all foreign troops have left the country. It was impossible to verify the authenticity of the video, which was obtained by Reuters in southern Afghanistan."

Washington Post: "Lawmakers from both parties opened budget talks with the White House on Thursday with a tacit agreement to focus on areas where they might find common ground that could produce significant savings and to postpone consideration of divisive issues such as higher tax rates and a dramatic overhaul of Medicare."