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| Tuesday May 3rd, 2011 |
by Dalia Hashad"Osama bin Laden's death brings celebration, unity," Politico announced. To wit, Rush Limbaugh thanked God for President Obama. Cheering crowds from Washington, D.C. to Dearborn waved American flags and screamed, "USA! USA! USA!"But something is amiss. In Portland, vandals defaced a mosque with the phrase "Osama Today Islam Tomorrow." The images broadcast from downtown Manhattan looked strikingly similar to those we saw during the bigoted protests against Park 51. Notably, the faces in the crowds, then and now, were largely white.
A blogger on the Angry Arab News Service received a comment that prompted further reflection on the sour note amid the jubilation:
"For a people who constantly attacked Arabs/Somalis/Pakistanis for celebrating death, Americans are out in force celebrating this death tonight." That made me think. Take George W. Bush: he is as hated among Arabs and Muslims as Bin Laden is hated in the US. If Bush were to die, and if there are scenes of celebration among Muslims, the US news would be disgusted and guests would be invited on TV to speak about the sickness of Muslim culture. A few journalists have expressed unease with the cheering. On Salon.com, David Sirota objected to the "unbridled euphoria" demonstrated by the Washington Press corps. But then he too succumbed to the reflexive cheer-leading impulse of American exceptionalism when he wrote, "[I]n the years since 9/11, we have begun vaguely mimicking those we say we despise, sometimes celebrating bloodshed against those we see as Bad Guys just as vigorously as our enemies celebrate bloodshed against innocent Americans they (wrongly) deem as Bad Guys." As if Americans, by nature blameless when it comes to the world's troubles, are simply led astray by the terrible behavior of the evil Muslims living in those strange countries way over there.
In his speech to the nation, President Obama proclaimed that the assassination of bin Laden "is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people. We are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to."
The headline of Kai Wright's piece for Colorlines offered the perfect critique of that sentiment: "The Ability to Kill Does Not Make America Great." Wright went on to note, "The president says we can do anything we want because we can kill. We could not stop poverty rates from spiraling upward to a record-setting 14.3 percent of Americans in 2009, but we can kill so we are exceptional. One in four black and Latino families live below the poverty line now, and as a result America's child poverty rate—one in five kids—is the second worst among rich nations, behind Mexico. But we can kill, so we are great."
The world was not a better place with Osama bin Laden in it. But the rejoicing that has followed his death—and the largely uncritical coverage of that bloodlust in the mainstream press—demands careful consideration. It shows that after a decade of hard lessons, a significant portion of the U.S. population is still mired in the Why-do-they-hate-us? mentality, unable to critically reflect on America's role in the world, let alone understand the consequences of American military and economic policy.
Here's what we should remember: The U.S. is engaged militarily in four countries (let's not overlook Colombia) and has operatives and "advisers" in uncounted others. By the most conservative estimates, hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians—including thousands of children—have died in U.S. military operations since 9/11. Drone strikes in impoverished Pakistani villages stoke resentment against our imperiousness. And as if to prove the point, people who can't find Pakistan on a map—and who are happy to remain blissfully unaware of the names of the dead or the consequences that follow—take to the streets to cheer the murder of a ruthless giant-killer whom we ourselves had a hand in creating.
How does the press figure into all of this? Better to ask, How doesn't the press figure into all of this? As scary as it might be to report facts that fickle news consumers don't want to hear, catering to willful ignorance isn't journalism. It's propaganda.
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 Dalia Hashad is an attorney specializing in human rights and civil rights. She has also been a host and co-executive producer of "Law and Disorder," a weekly talk-radio program.
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| Posted by hisham on Friday May 6th, 2011
extrajudicial killings, no matter how horrible their intended targets, are wrong, immoral, illegal and contradict the very fundamental premise of a civilized society: rule of law. No matter our feelings toward UBL, killing him was not the appropriate route. It now sets an ugly precedent whereby those who consider past and current US administration officials, some who are indeed guilty of war crimes in this so-called war on terror, as legitimate targets! Obama disappoints yet again.
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| | Posted by Sana on Tuesday May 3rd, 2011
Thank you, Dalia. Cheering the death, even that of a rat, seems wrong.
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