Are people really that dumb?

Are people really that blind?

This could possibly be the most un-popular blog I have written, well to a few people. Well, I hope they can build a bridge, and get right over it.

So, on May 1, 2011 Osama Bin Laden, the face of evil in America was killed by U.S. military action in Pakistan. Our country rejoiced in the killing of a man that we all look at as the physical manifestation of all that is evil.

So everyone is happy and sure why not, but lets be honest.

THE USA KILLED A MAN

And that is all.

If you believe that one’s man death will reverse the actions that have adversely affected the American populous home and abroad. Everything from airport regulations, racism against anyone that looks like they might be Arab, and the price of gas

You are sadly mistaken.

That being said, there are a lot of facebook statuses out there that raise questions of rejoicing a man’s death, celebrating the manner in which he died, and who is looking at your profile, but what has been amazing to me is this on particular status that I have seen around the interwebs.

“Let's be clear on this: OBAMA did NOT kill Bin Laden. An American soldier, who Obama just a few weeks ago was debating on whether or not to PAY, did. Obama just happened to be the one in office when our soldiers finally found OBL and took him out. This is NOT an Obama victory, but an AMERICAN victory!! PLZ REPOST IF YOU AGREE!!!”

Here’s the thing, I tried really hard to ignore this…but the marginalizing of Obama’s efforts as it relates to this is hilarious. Honestly, the guy has to fight tooth and nail to get anything done. He comes into an office with an economy that disastrous and as the right wing, conservative; neo-cons constantly look to sabotage anything that will ultimately affect any change in the status quo. Then, they turn around and scoff at him for not being able to fix the economy with his bare hands.

Anyway back to this status, let me start off by saying that I have seen this status all over my newsfeed, if you posted and you feel like I am singling you out, stop being so sensitive, if you were worried about what people think, you wouldn’t post stuff like this anyway…

“OBAMA did not kill Bin Laden”

You are absolutely correct, Obama did not hop off a chopper and put the work in himself, but he did make the decision. He could have dropped bombs on the compound, which would have been the safe move as far as soldiers lives are concerned, but you would lose the strategic advantage, because well I imagine you can’t just fly over a sovereign land dropping bombs on shit. He decided to risk American lives and his political career by sending in troops. Imagine the backlash he would have gotten from the right if the operation was a complete failure.

“An American Soldier, who Obama a few weeks ago was debating on whether or not to pay, did.”

I agree, it was an American soldier. Now, lets talk about the whole debate on whether or not to pay. See this is what I believe to be a minimization of the issue. Now people that swore up and down that this solider was not going to get paid are lacking in some facts about what a gov’t shut down is.

A gov’t shutdown is when the gov’t stops providing all but essential services. Generally speaking, the services that continue to operate regardless of said shutdown are police, the military, fire departments, correction officers, post office(they pay their own cost) and you know…other services that are crucial to the day to day functions, so yes this soldier that everyone is concerned about will receive his pay. Unfortunately, park rangers will have to take “L”, the people in the passport office will also be carrying an “L” for the day, and maybe even the entire courthouse itself. Oh and the trash may not be picked up.

Ok, now that we have what a gov’t shutdown encompasses, let’s go over how the good elected folks up in DC arrive at this point.

But first, lets go over some 8^th grade political science

The U.S. gov’t is separated into equal parts, the legislative, Judiciary, and the executive. The Legislative also known as congress has the power to pass, amend and repeal laws. They also can raise or lower taxes

Pretty cool huh!

They also handle the budget for the year for all the gov’t programs (this is important, we’ll get to this later)

The judicial in turn interprets the laws that the congress passes and acts as the final say in court cases that can’t seem to get handled in the lower courts

Now the Executive Branch is runs the day to day operations of a nation, now the executive branch does not make nor interpret laws, but enforce the law as it is written.

Now inside of the legislative branch you have two houses, you have the House of Representatives (congress) and the Senate. Now these two groups determine the budget for the year, and they have to get it done by a certain day or else the gov’t has to shut down because well…folks can’t get their shit together. Now, the Congress is controlled by the republicans and at the time of this blog the democrats control the senate. Now the president has nothing to do with creating the budget, but when both houses are not in agreement there tends to be a problem.

Ok, now that the crash course is over let’s review that line again:

“An American Soldier, who Obama a few weeks ago was debating on whether or not to pay, did.”

Now we have determined that the American Soldier falls under the essential services list and his paycheck is secure, but now we can infer that Obama did not debate about whether to pay him or the military, because the executive branch does not create a budget. It is the legislative branch that could not compromise over 2 billion dollars that could have in fact shut the gov’t down.

“Obama just happened to be the one in office when our soldiers finally found OBL and took him out.”

No, he didn’t happen to be the one in the office, see he is a democratically elected leader who is in charge of all branches of the armed forces who regardless of what the opinions of generals, experts, reports from the front line etc, he is responsible for what they do or fail to do, so when the troops went in and took him out, it was because the president gave the go ahead.

“This is NOT an Obama victory, but an AMERICAN victory!!”

This is petty to say the least, what exactly did America win?

In my opinion Osama Bin Laden represents an idea. The idea that America is in fact the source of all the strife, hunger, and any other calamity that has hit the Arab Nations over the last thirty or so years. An idea given breath by a generation of people living under economic sanctions for decades at a time, suffering under U.S. supported dictatorships, and ravaging of the natural resources.

I’ve said it before; one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

Just as Americans take to the streets to celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden, as newspapers printed the corpses of Saddam Hussein’s children, as we laughed during the fall Saddam Hussein on the other side of the world there are groups, we become the monster.

You all remember the Virgina Tech shooting that happened a while back, you know the Korean Kid that shot the campus up, I remember speaking to people when I lived there and one of the concerns was that the U.S. was going to retaliate against the whole country. I kind of laughed it off and assured her that the U.S. doesn’t wage war against individuals that have attacked us, but was I really telling the truth?

The U.S. attempted to fight an unconventional war by conventional means against an enemy that lurks in the shadows, has no ties to any government and does not fear death. This demonstration of Americas might cost us billions upon billions of dollars, countless American lives as well as innocents in the war zones themselves, for one man that was able to fund his war out of his own pocket. As that war waged on, the U.S. military machine moved into Iraq, because there was a possibility that there were WMDs, that Saddam had the capacity to develop them and that we needed to neutralize the threat before it becomes a threat.

Anyway

You can’t kill an idea, Osama’s death has done nothing but galvanize the resolve of those who chose to follow him. They have seen firsthand how one act can change the lives of a country, how the actions of a few can affect the lives of many. Did you see Batman begins, Ducard tells him, “…if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely, you become a legend”. Don’t believe me, look at Saddam Hussein, where are his followers and supporters? He was found ducked down low in a hole…hiding. Tried in a court in his own country and subsequently hung. You remember Zacarias Moussaoui, exactly. This guy was an alleged highjacker that got caught, got a trial, and is sitting in a supermax prision for the rest of his life, and mine, yours and the person next to you. These men will disappear into obscurity in time of course, but Osama…this man knew his time on this earth was limited, and I am sure the United States of America has already trained his replacement.

Wake up people, Wake up

P.S. Lets be clear on this: Obama did not kill Bin Laden, an American soldier, who obama signed a short-term spending bill so he could continue to get paid, did. Obama is the commander-in-chief, who made the decision to green light the operation which gave our soldiers the opportunity to take him out. This is not a victory by any means, this is a war of attrition, with no end in site! PlZ POST IF YOU AGREE!!!!