I have two words for you–Adolf Eichmann. I realize my headline is provocative and will likely elicit some strong pushback. Fine. But hear me out on this. Barack Obama’s much ballyhooed “success” in finding Bin Laden should be reexamined. Instead of a cause of celebration, that event was a failure of policy and morality for this nation. If shooting an unarmed, sick man gives you a woody then you may not want to read on.
First, in reviewing my piece from June, Killing Bin Laden–Was Abottabad a Cluster F**k?–UPDATE, it is clear that Osama Bin Laden was very ill and incapable of defending himself. Moreover, he was not even surrounded by guards. Now, I realize that in the world of Hollywood, Vince Flynn and Tom Clancy that the emotional thrill from offing a mass murderer is just too enticing to pass up.
Second, the SEALS should not be so proud of killing a guy who had 20 minutes to prepare for their assault and still did not arm himself. How do we know that? The two SEALS on the record on this point–Rob O’Neil and Matt Bissonette–remarked that a weapon was in the room but was not in the hands of either Osama or his wives.
I am not saying that Osama did not deserve to die. He did. But we killed him in a cowardly, unlawful way. We left him unaccountable for the horrors, not only of 9-11, but other attacks including the USS Cole and the US Embassies in East Africa.
Hence my reference to Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi Lt. Col (a murderous Ollie North) who made the death trains run on time and was the key executioner of the Holocaust. He was one of the prime targets for Simon Wiesenthal, the pre-eminent hunter of Nazis who played central roles in the attempted extermination of Jews from Europe and Russia. Eichmann was responsible indirectly for the deaths of millions of men, women and children. He was a monster terrorist compared to Osama Bin Laden.
Once he was located the Israeli Government had a decision to make–leave him be, kill him in place or bring him back to Israel to stand trial and face his victims. Israel’s leader, David Ben Gurion, chose wisely. He dispatched a Mossad team to Buenos Aires which subsequently grabbed Eichmann, smuggled him out of Argentina and delivered him to trial.
Several years ago I was leading a Senior Crisis Management Seminar for a large group of Israeli police Colonels and Lt. Colonels (I believe it was circa 1999). I asked them, “what was the most important counter terrorism operation that Israel ever carried out?” After some discussion–some suggested Entebbe–I raised the abduction, trial and execution of Adolf Eichmann as the most important accomplishment in this area. Most of the gentlemen agreed with me.
Why was this important? By putting Eichmann on trial Israel demonstrated graphically the difference between the Nazi system, which ruled by terror and force, and the new nation of Israel, dedicated to upholding the rule of law. It was not a show trial. We saw what Hitler did to the Germans soldiers, politicians and diplomats that conspired against him. They received no due process. Rather, they were subjected to nothing more than vicious, shrill public abuse and tortured deaths.
Not Eichmann. He was forced to listen to a parade of witnesses and was confronted with mountains of evidence. He was provided with counsel and was not tortured. If you have ever seen any footage of the trial you cannot deny that there were people in the room who wanted to tear him apart. The trial of Eichmann did not erase the pain and suffering inflicted by the Holocaust. But it was a type of accounting that not only brought healing to some but clarified and strengthened the Israeli Government’s standing as an instrument of justice.
Which brings me back to Bin Laden. When the SEALS arrived at his compound, the bearded murderer had three possibilities–1) Go full Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid and try to shoot his way out, 2) Do an Adolf Hitler farewell bullet eating contest or 3) Embrace the French and do the Surrender Monkey. I suppose there is a fourth option–the Ghandi. Sit down, passively resist and make the Yanks do all the work.
Based on the accounts of the two SEALS now in the public arena, it would appear Bin Laden was going for either options 3 or 4. After 20 minutes of shooting and explosions he had made no move to find refuge and done nothing to arm himself and start shooting back.
What do you call shooting an unarmed man? Bravery? Cowardice? Chickenshit? Oh man, I have gone and done it now. The ROE for the SEALS that night should have required them to bring him back alive. But, apparently, they were ordered to execute Bin Laden. They were just following orders and the orders originated with Barack Obama.
If Bin Laden had been taken alive we could have interrogated him for starters. More importantly, we would have put him on trial and the relatives of those who died at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and in a field in Pennsylvania could have confronted the man responsible for their grief and heartache. Would there have been some obstacles and problems with such a high profile culprit and trial? Absolutely. But we managed to put Japanese and Germans on trial for war crimes and executed a good number of them.
I think that history will condemn rather than praise Obama. The raid on the Abottabad compound was not some grand, heroic mission. It was a cake walk, with the cake pre-baked by our friends in Pakistan. We killed a man who deserved ultimately to die. But it was not an honorable kill. It was the act of a bully.
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