Ok, maybe bin Laden's worth some attention

[nancylebov]

Jim Henley wrote:

It's wrong, though, in that an example must be made of Mr. bin Laden. I used to talk about the "Don't Tread on Me War" in the early days of this blog, and gradually stopped as the President decided to fight another one entirely. Capturing and killing, or, failing that, killing, Osama bin Laden is vital, not just as revenge (though revenge would be sweet), but as a message: You can not get away with attacking the United States of America. Every day bin Laden walks free, or is even arguably alive, says the opposite. That's the message we've sent nigh on three years.

OK, maybe I overdid it a little. I'll pull back and agree that catching bin Laden is worth doing and the Bush administration should have put more effort into it, but Kerry shouldn't have put all the emphasis there in the debate.

However, bin Laden might be dead already. He may even have died of natural causes rather than being killed at Tora Bora. Would that be a disaster?

Comments

[avram]

Sure, 'cause it would just mean he'll come back later with new powers.

Hm. I wonder if anyone's ever written about the inability of people in a typical superhero comics setting to attain closure. In Marvel and DC, nobody ever stays dead. Defeated villains never stay defeated. You could blow up the entire Earth, and next issue it'd be back again with a goofy explaination.

One exception -- As far as I know, Captain Marvel (the Kree one with the nega-bands) died and stayed dead. He's a reverse-Jesus figure, the Marvel Universe's Buddha, permanantly escaping the cycle of struggle and rebirth.

[sturgeonslawyer.livejournal.com]

Peter Parker's uncle Ben has remained comfortably dead, too. At least, as far as I know - I haven't been up on comics in a while.