Bin Laden In Heaven
photo by @tina24hour, via @gothamist
Osama bin Laden is in heaven.
Upon his death, bin Laden went to heaven, as he’d expected to, a warrior of righteousness claiming his longed-for reward. An archangel escorted him to a large, lavishly appointed salon, where he found nearly three thousand people waiting in an orderly line to tell him about their deaths: the terror, the desperation, the cries of their children who survived them in the night. Each of these people takes bin Laden’s hand and tells him a horrible story, and he has to listen. Occasionally, he tries to flee the room, only to find himself in front of a wall of TVs, all showing Americans blithely spending money at the Gap and McDonald’s; he returns to the salon, and the line is there, endless, inexorable. “I jumped.” “I burned.” “I miss my mom.”
When he reaches the end of the line, it begins again, and he may hear the same appalling stories of the murders he committed — or he may have to look at every stamp in a 17-album collection. He may have to make chit-chat with a lady who ate cabbage and Stilton while waiting in line, and who is now crop-dusting him so assertively that his beard begins to fall out. Another lady talks for four full days, through a karaoke microphone that feeds back constantly. He is guilt-ridden, nauseated, miserable, bored, depressed, filled with fear and self-loathing, bereft of comfort and dignity. He is, at times, compelled to wear a tutu. He always has to pee.
This is his eternity. Satisfying, no?
The vision is more satisfying, for me, than the news of his death, which, after the initial elation, left me down and queasy. I think bin Laden’s demise is deeply satisfying for some; I hope it is for the many who lost friends and family on 9/11. He murdered people in front of me, and the world is a better place without him, so I’m not unhappy he’s dead.
But he should have had to face us. It would have made a more fitting punishment for him, and it would have renewed our own faith in the American system, flawed and maddening as it often is.
One of ABC’s commentators mentioned last night that bin Laden’s bodyguards had orders to kill their boss if his capture seemed imminent, no doubt to deny us the satisfaction of bringing him back here to face his accusers — hundreds of thousands of us, orphans, widowers, older siblings, groomsmen. He would never have allowed us to force him to sit for weeks and months in a courtroom and listen to the families and friends and bosses talk about every single victim. He would never have submitted to the subsequent, massive wrongful-death suit that would have taken what remained of his money and distributed it among the families; he could never have tolerated playing out the string in a Midwestern supermax prison, unheard, forgotten, under lock and key in the country he loathed.
That’s why we should have tried to make him.
There is no evening the scales of 9/11. There is a knee-jerk satisfaction, I suppose, in knowing he got shot like a dog, but it doesn’t make up for, or bring back, or any of that. If we had made him come back here and sit in front of us, though…if we had quietly, carefully, firmly focused our attentions on finding him and bringing him back here to answer for his crimes…if we had devoted our intelligence energies to tracking down bin Laden and his accomplices, and given them due process, put them into a system they hated and tried to bring down? If we had done that, and only that?
That wouldn’t make up for, or bring back, or any of that either. Nothing can, and if bin Laden’s death lets victims’ family and friends move on, then there’s something good out of it. Everyone else feels how they feel. For me, nearly 10 years later, thousands of civilian and service casualties later, if this is what our vengeance hath wrought, it isn’t enough. No time machine, no answers, no safety, just a sense that we have to do better.
So, in my imagination, bin Laden is in heaven, because it’s not me he has to answer to, or the president, or the Navy SEALs, or even God. It’s the people who got there not quite ten years ago, and I hope they hear what they need to.
The rest of us just stay here in this imperfect world and try to do better. Take care of yourselves out there.
Tags: news September 11th
Sunday night, one thought that flitted across my mind was “Sars will know what to say.” As per usual.
But really I’m just jumping in here to say that I have read all the comments, whipsawing all over the emotional spectrum–I love you all, Nation–and when I got to rayvyn2k’s, I barked like a seal. Best. Exit. Line. Ever. I bow to you.
I keep expecting to see some random “person on the street” interview with a guy who says, “How do I feel about bin Laden’s death? Well, my name is Don, and Sept. 11 was my birthday, and …”
I forgot to add in my previous comment that I thought “He always has to pee” made the essay. Brilliant line. :)
@Kristina – regarding your next to last paragraph, I’m totally with you. I won’t be overjoyed when those guys die, but I do have immense anger towards them. They were part of a giant machine that rolled inexorably towards our invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, but they had more power than any other people to stop the madness – and not only did they not stop it, they egged it on. They did more damage in the world, and caused the deaths of more people, than bin Laden ever could, because they had so much more power than bin Laden ever amassed. When you helm the most powerful military on earth, you have enormous power for destruction, and those guys felt so little compunction about using it. I don’t remember ever hearing one of them express so much as sincere concern, let alone anguish or guilt, over the tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of civilian deaths caused in Afghanistan and Iraq both directly and indirectly by our war and occupation in those countries.
Sorry, Sars, not trying to get too far afield from bin Laden here. But I’ve spent a lot of time in the past two days thinking about this, and why the news leaves me feeling so hollow and sad, even though I think bin Laden was a terrible and destructive human being and that the world is a better place without his malign influence. I think this is a big part of the reason – everyone is getting so excited, and yet to me he seems like only a small facet of the tragedy that has unfolded over the past decade (and continues to unfold as I write).
I fell asleep early on Sunday night, and woke up at 2 am. I turned on the tv to help me fall back asleep, and saw the news (and the celebrating crowds) on CNN. I was very uncomfortable with that college football game pep rally atmosphere.
It reminded me of an opera director I worked with in the spring of 2002. We were doing Otello, and blocking a scene where the entire chorus is dancing and singing in celebration of Otello’s great military victory against the Turks, their arch rivals. (“Fuoco di gioia” in case you’re wondering….what? shut up.) The director (who is Italian) said that we should be going crazy with joy, as if it was modern day and we had just heard Bin Laden had been killed. I was confused even then — a mere 7 months after the attacks — about why anyone would be dancing in the streets with joy. Mind you, I’m not in any way, shape or form sorry that OBL’s dead, but to this day I have a hard time with the concept of woohoo’ing it up at the news of someone’s death, even if that someone is as morally bankrupt as Osama Bin Laden.
If there is a ‘plus’ side to this, it’s in a point that Jon Stewart made last night on The Daily Show. He said something to the effect of how for too long Bin Laden’s been the face everyone thinks of when they hear the word “Muslim”. But now the faces people will think of are those of the young people of Egypt, and Syria, and other places who have begun to fight against their oppressive regimes in an attempt to establish democracies across the Middle East. And that, as Gandalf said, is a comforting thought.
it’s easy for someone to say what should have gone down when she has no clue how to do that job
Oh, Christ. Where have I said the SEALs should have acted differently? I’ve said in so many words that I didn’t have a problem with the particular operation. I certainly don’t have a problem with the SEALs. Don’t make it out like I’m bagging on the armed forces when that’s not what I’m saying, and when I’ve been at some pains to make clear that that’s not what I’m saying.
What I AM saying is that, if we as Americans believe that our country has a specific, unique, and superior brand of justice and democracy; if we believe that we light the way for the rest of the world; and if we expect the rest of the world to follow that light, then we need to shine that light on/for everyone, equally, including our enemies. The way bin Laden’s capture was undertaken and prosecuted starting a decade ago does not meet that standard. It doesn’t come close. And that’s not on the SEALs, or on anyone else in the service — I’m talking about policy decisions coming out of the executive branch that favored large-scale war-making over operations like this one, that took us into Iraq instead of focusing on the job at hand, and that radicalized God knows how many others against the U.S. instead of going after the guy we KNEW was responsible, not to mention lying to the American people and the United Nations.
Closure? Something better? I doubt it.
I doubt it too, but again, the point of trying bin Laden wouldn’t solely be to bring closure; had that happened as a result, well, so much the better, but the great aspirational America that was threatened…people don’t immigrate here because we have faster tanks or better sharpshooters. It’s the “and liberty and justice for all.” And not letting ourselves fall prey to vengeful motives should have been a priority from the jump, hard though it might have been to put emotion aside. I mean, “his rights, blah blah blah”…seriously? Isn’t the “blah blah blah” supposed to be what sets us apart — what our troops defend at such hazard?
Here in 2011, we probably had to act against him as we did. It’s the decisions made in 2001, the numerous choices for vengeance over justice, that don’t sit right with me and never have. But I’ve never held that against the people in the service, or acted like I could do their jobs, and the next person who implies otherwise is going to wear a tutu.
Hee hee, tutus.
I’ve been trying to sort out my feelings about the last few days because the most I can come up with a kind of numbness. Almost like a “so what?” reaction. “He’s dead– so what?” “We killed bin Laden– okay, now what?”
I’m glad he’s dead. I see what you’re saying, Sars, about getting him back here for a trial and how we have ideals to uphold but at the end of the day…I’m glad he’s dead. I don’t want to go to a “bin Laden is dead! Wooot!” party but…I’m glad he’s dead. On my way into work today, the Philadelphia Inquirer had a huge banner headline, “bin Laden was unarmed.” And all I could think was, “So? His victims were unarmed 9 years ago.”
I wonder if I’m a horrible person for thinking that but…I’m glad he’s dead.
Sars,
Just saw this (where have I been?) and it, along with all the Nation comments, made me finally have words to put with the emotions. I had been feeling like I don’t “deserve” to feel these things but then I remember that this happened to all of us and we are having appropriate human responses. Thanks Sarah and thanks Nation.
Well said Sars, as usual.
I take no pleasure in Osama’s death, but I’m not a bit sorry either. I’d like to think the families of the dead have a little closure. I’d like to hope that the dead rest a little easier.
For myself, I think this was the right end. There probably will be retaliatory attacks, but this way no hostages can be taken and used as leverage for his release, nor can the Arab world go up in flames demanding it. And while cutting one head off a hydra doesn’t kill it, it’s a place to start.
Thank you for this, Sars. This makes me smile and moves me to tears at the same time.
Although, I admit that my first thought was: add to that line of 3000 every other person he has ever killed. He shouldn’t only have to hear the story and the suffering of the Americans he killed on that particular day. He should hear from his own countrymen as well. It’s quite possible that over time he killed more Muslims than he killed Americans. Let’s make the line longer.
In my own little thought-exercise, actually, I kind of believe that the idea of being in Heaven, standing in the presence of Allah, would have to strip him bare of the delusions he held in life. I’m not very religious any more, yet my mind still has some of those habits of thought, and I have always felt that if there is an afterlife, if you do get to go stand before the God you believed in, then that place is a place where you also are exposed to the light of truth in a way that you cannot ignore. Not being a being of frail flesh any more yourself, all of the coping mechanisms that people use in life will not be available to you. And you’ll finally get to find out for sure whether you interpreted God’s word and will correctly… or not. Just by the very definition of “Heaven”, I don’t believe that he COULD listen to the voices of his victims and continue in his delusions of martyrdom and grandeur. That’s how Heaven ought to work.
I have to say that on the one hand, Sars, I agree with you about it being better in theory if he could have been brought back alive to stand trial. And I COMPLETELY agree with you on the point that… that should be a large part of what makes us American, our belief in due process for all, and our willingness to extend that even to our enemies. That should be what we’re about.
Unfortunately, after the last 10 years (at least), my only feeling is a deep disillusionment with the way America is actually practicing those ideals. That is what I WANT, but we don’t have that right now, and it isn’t what would actually happen. As others here have already said, it wouldn’t be satisfying in reality, because of how it would actually play out today. And just being able to guess at how it would play out makes me feel sad and angry and helpless. I’m… selfishly glad that we don’t have to go through all that just to give us another stark reminder of how far we are, as a country, from practicing the ideals that we are supposed to espouse. It wouldn’t feel satisfying. It would further break my heart.
And I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered
I don’t have a friend who feels at ease
I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered
or driven to its knees
But it’s all right, it’s all right
We’ve lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road
we’re traveling on
I wonder what went wrong
I can’t help it, I wonder what went wrong
I know you’ve written about that song and viewing it afresh in the context of post-9/11 before. There isn’t a year when I don’t listen to that song and cry, because it was written so long ago, and yet, nothing’s changed. Well, all right, many things have changed. Yet that sentiment is as fresh today as it was then, and somehow, that makes it feel even worse to me.
Finally: I felt as disgusted by the celebrations as many others did. But I’m trying to step back and view them in a more… anthropological way. I don’t agree with it, and it wasn’t anything I wanted to do. It felt repugnant to me. But I think there are reasons that it was the reaction some people enacted, that go deeper than just… I don’t know, some moral failing on the part of the people who responded that way. It still doesn’t make me feel good about the celebrations, but it’s making me try to understand them.
If I could wish for anything, it’s not just to wish that everyone had reacted with sober, mature satisfaction. But also, I wish we (as a country, I mean) had a little more public self-awareness, that we could look at those celebration and see the way they reflect EXACTLY what too many people have self-righteously criticized in our supposed enemies. I wish I could shove those images in front of various FOX News commentators and make them admit that we aren’t so very different from those Muslims in scary third-world countries who glory in bloodshed and death. For better or for worse, it’s a human reaction, and a pointed illustration of the fact that, as Americans, we don’t get to claim some “civilized” moral high ground while trying to dehumanize those we want to cast as our enemies as savage and beastlike. I hate that double-standard worse than I hate the tackiness of the celebrations themselves.
Leave it to you, Sars, to get it right. Again.
Thank you, Sars, for hitting the nail on the head so perfectly.
Three cents from down under:
– I keep thinking of the part in Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire, where Barty Crouch Jnr has had his soul sucked out by a Dementor, on the orders of the Minister, and Dumbledore looks sternly at the Minister and says something like “But he cannot be brought to justice now. He cannot stand in front of a court and tell us why he did these things.”
– My pessimistic mind wonders if it’s the head of a Hydra that’s been cut off, rather than the head of a snake.
– Tutu, hairy chest, bad wig, and really bad makeup, a la the Trocks. Hee!
You know, as horrific as the image that Sars has conjured of Osama’s eternity is, I’m still way more afraid of the less spiritual scenario: that his conciousness has simply been extinguished. No more thoughts or perceptions or sensations or anything. Anything he knew or felt, any hope or regret or anxiety or excitement…just doesn’t exist anymore. Whatever meaning he found in the world – no matter how misguided – has been nullified. Makes me shudder in terror just thinking about it.
Silly, since you wouldn’t care one way or another once it’d happened to you. Even so, I can’t get too excited about his death. Someone’s concious experience has (possibly) ended, and I think that’s tragic no matter what the circumstance. Not saying it wasn’t necessary; just saying you can’t ignore the gravity of it, nor the sobering reminder that the individual conciousness you have spent your whole life cultivating will (possibly) stop being one day, too.