Well, as I hope ALL of you know, Osama Bin Laden is finally dead. The world can rest a little easier.
Now, of course is when we begin hearing about the Islamic communities opposition to the way in which Bin Laden's body was disposed of; some crock about it not being in accordance with their religious beliefs and traditions. To begin, we did, in fact cleanse his body and we gave him a proper sea burial. We also did it in a timely manner, because Islamic law dictates that a body ideally be buried within 24 hours and, at the very outside, three days. Also, it would have been quite difficult to find a country willing to take his body, especially in such a short time frame. Lastly, sea burials, while generally against Muslim tradition, are allowed under extenuating circumstances.
These are the purely practical reasons by which this may be justified. However, I would like to remind the jury that we gave him far more respect than he ever deserved. the 2752 people who were brutally and suddenly slaughtered at the World Trade Center were not afforded the dignity of having their traditions - religious or otherwise - observed and neither were the 190 people in the Pentagon and American Airlines Flight 77 or the 36 people aboard United Flight 93. They not only had their right to a proper burial stripped from them, but, more importantly, their right to live.
Besides the fact that Osama Bin Laden was utterly and completely undeserving of a the burial we gave him, think of what he and the rest of the Muslim world would have done, were the roles reversed. They would have begun with desecrating the body of such an enemy in every imaginable fashion. Then, the mutilated corpse would have been tied by an ankle to the back of a truck and dragged through the streets of New York City for all to view and desecrate to their hearts' content. After the nation was satisfied with this sort of treatment, what was left of the carcass would be strung up proudly at Ground Zero and left to rot as a reminder of what would happen to all such future perpetrators. This is the least that could be expected of them, were they in our position.
We, on the other hand, cleansed his body and gave him a respectful burial at sea.
I hardly think the Muslim world has a right to complain.
I am not saying that we should have retaliated in the same fashion that Bin Laden would have; on the contrary, the fact that we handled his body with care and respect is what makes us different from him and others made of the same stuff. We are cut from a different cloth, and I think this is just one more of myriad examples of this.
God Bless America, and may we never lose sight of what sets us apart from other nations.
Now, of course is when we begin hearing about the Islamic communities opposition to the way in which Bin Laden's body was disposed of; some crock about it not being in accordance with their religious beliefs and traditions. To begin, we did, in fact cleanse his body and we gave him a proper sea burial. We also did it in a timely manner, because Islamic law dictates that a body ideally be buried within 24 hours and, at the very outside, three days. Also, it would have been quite difficult to find a country willing to take his body, especially in such a short time frame. Lastly, sea burials, while generally against Muslim tradition, are allowed under extenuating circumstances.
These are the purely practical reasons by which this may be justified. However, I would like to remind the jury that we gave him far more respect than he ever deserved. the 2752 people who were brutally and suddenly slaughtered at the World Trade Center were not afforded the dignity of having their traditions - religious or otherwise - observed and neither were the 190 people in the Pentagon and American Airlines Flight 77 or the 36 people aboard United Flight 93. They not only had their right to a proper burial stripped from them, but, more importantly, their right to live.
Besides the fact that Osama Bin Laden was utterly and completely undeserving of a the burial we gave him, think of what he and the rest of the Muslim world would have done, were the roles reversed. They would have begun with desecrating the body of such an enemy in every imaginable fashion. Then, the mutilated corpse would have been tied by an ankle to the back of a truck and dragged through the streets of New York City for all to view and desecrate to their hearts' content. After the nation was satisfied with this sort of treatment, what was left of the carcass would be strung up proudly at Ground Zero and left to rot as a reminder of what would happen to all such future perpetrators. This is the least that could be expected of them, were they in our position.
We, on the other hand, cleansed his body and gave him a respectful burial at sea.
I hardly think the Muslim world has a right to complain.
I am not saying that we should have retaliated in the same fashion that Bin Laden would have; on the contrary, the fact that we handled his body with care and respect is what makes us different from him and others made of the same stuff. We are cut from a different cloth, and I think this is just one more of myriad examples of this.
God Bless America, and may we never lose sight of what sets us apart from other nations.
