A Question of Morals

After Osama bin Laden was killed in a shootout, hundreds of people gathered on the streets of Washington and New York to celebrate. Was that the right thing to do?

One may explain the pictures of people dancing in the streets celebrating Osama bin Laden’s death in mass-psychological terms, especially in a country where thousands of men, women and children were ruthlessly murdered on the orders of the al-Qaida chief. One need not even further qualify the victims as being “innocent.”

The joy is understandable in a country where a majority of the population has no qualms at all about capital punishment; gunning down a mass murderer there certainly qualifies as a legitimate means of ensuring justice is done, as President Barack Obama described the incident. It’s also clear that the open delight many Americans demonstrated also expressed their hope that a national trauma could be at least partially healed.

Even the common term “9/11” illustrates how deep the trauma went and how deeply it still remains: There’s not even a proper name for the mass murder committed on that date nearly 10 years ago. It was something unspeakable, like Satan’s name — not to be said out loud.

A final explanation for the celebration may be those people who suffered personal losses in the war on terror — family, friends and acquaintances still being mourned. The bottom line is that it was bin Laden who forced the United States into this war regardless of how bloody and unjust America may have become in waging it ever since — a war, by the way, in which Germany is still involved.

Legitimizing Tyrannicide

But what about here in a nation that hasn’t been affected by further al-Qaida attacks in the 10 years since 9/11? Should the people be ashamed for a sense of satisfaction, even without expressing joy, over bin Laden’s death? A feeling that may inwardly arise even if one isn’t an American citizen, hadn’t been affected by the war against terrorism and is personally opposed to the death penalty?

Mankind has been wrestling with the legitimacy of killing tyrants for 2,500 years and is probably still incapable of coming up with an answer appropriate for all peoples across all historical periods. Of course, it would have been better had bin Laden been taken alive to face trial in an American court — but early reports indicate he was given the opportunity to surrender at the scene and rejected it. Perhaps bin Laden’s hasty demise was unavoidable, especially given the probability that a trial would have resulted in his execution in any case.

Osama bin Laden never publicly expressed any regret over the victims of 9/11, praising the murder and the murderers to the very end. Rejoicing over his death in Germany, however, would be neither understandable nor appropriate. But neither should we be ashamed of feeling satisfaction that this mass murderer was denied the opportunity to mercifully grow old in the bosom of his family and friends to die peacefully in his own bed after a long life.

All in all, bin Laden’s death was justified. Those who celebrate the death of any human being, however, shame only themselves.