Vengeance, Not Justice

Someone would have to be their own enemy and against any and all humanitarian values if he approved of al-Qaida’s disastrous terrorist crime on September 11, 2001 in New York. However, it is unacceptable for a state, militarily the most powerful in the world, to transform itself into a terrorist state in response to terrorism. That was what Bush did, limiting democracy and suspending the unconditional validity of some rights. He did more too; he conducted two wars, one against Afghanistan and one against Iran. There, he devastated one of the most ancient cultures of mankind, and more than 100,000 people were killed and more than 1,000,000 were displaced.

It is fitting to bring up the question again that no one is interested in asking: why did such terrorist acts take place? Bishop Robert Bowman of Melbourne Beach in Florida, a fighter pilot in the Vietnam War, responded clearly in the National Catholic Reporter with an open letter to the President: “We are the target of terrorists because we stand for dictatorship, bondage, and human exploitation in the world. We are the target of terrorists because we are hated. And we are hated because our government has done hateful things.”

Richard Clarke, who spoke out against White House terrorism in an interview with Jorge Pontual aired by Globonews on February 28, 2011 and once again on May 3, 2011, said the same thing. He warned the CIA and President Bush that an al-Qaida attack was imminent in New York. They didn’t listen to him. Shortly thereafter, it happened, and it enraged him.

That rage towards the government grew when he saw that Bush, with dishonesty and hypocrisy and through sheer imperial will to maintain world hegemony, declared war on Iraq, which didn’t have any connection whatsoever with 9/11. His rage got to a point where, for his own health and decency, he resigned from office.

Chalmers Johnson, one of the principal CIA analysts, was more scathing in an interview with the same journalist on May 2 of this year on Globonews. He saw from the inside the nasty results that more than 800 North American military bases, spread throughout the entire world, produce; they evoke rage and revolt in populations, creating a stewpot for terrorism. He quoted Eduardo Galeano’s book, Open Veins of Latin America, to illustrate the barbarities that North American intelligence agencies committed here. He denounces the imperial character of governments with intelligence agencies that recommend coups d’état, organize assassinations of leaders and teach torture. In protest, he resigned and went to be a history professor at the University of California. He wrote the Blowback trilogy, in which he foresees, a few months ahead of time, the retaliations against North American arrogance in the world. He was considered the prophet of 9/11. This is the background for understanding the actual situation which culminated with the criminal execution of Osama bin Laden.

The North American intelligence agencies are complete failures. They combed the world for bin Laden for 10 years. They didn’t achieve anything. They only managed to get to his hiding place using an immoral method, torture, on one of bin Laden’s messengers. Therefore, they didn’t do anything on their own merit.

Everything about the whole hunt is marked by immorality, shame and crime. First, as if he where a God, President Barack Obama decided upon the execution of bin Laden. That goes against the universal principle of not killing and international agreements that prescribe prison, judgment and punishment of the accused. That was how it was done with Iraq’s Hussein, the Nazi criminals in Nuremberg, Eichmann in Israel and with others. With bin Laden, intentional execution was preferred, a crime for which Barack Obama will one day have to answer. Also, Pakistan’s territory was invaded without any previous warning of the operation. Right after, the cadaver was thrown in the ocean, a crime against familial piety, a right that every family has to bury their dead, criminals or not; as bad as they may have been, they are still human beings.

Justice was not done. Vengeance, which is always condemnable, was taken. In the scriptures of the three Abrahamic religions, the Lord says “Vengeance is mine.” Now we are under the power of an emperor accused of assassination. And the necrophilia of the multitudes lessens and shames all of us.

Leonardo Boff is a theologian and writer.