Congratulations, Mr. President

It’s easy for me to sit back in my soft easy chair criticizing government and politicians for their never-ending folly. After this post, I intend to get right back to that, because it’s all so well deserved.

But sometimes government does something right. The President of the United States, commander in chief of U.S. armed forces, and consummate politician, Barack Obama, deserves ultimate credit for executing the plan which eventually found and brought Osama bin Laden to justice.

Congratulations, Mr. President, and well done, sir.

Surely, there are many more who deserve substantial credit for bringing about bin Laden’s demise, especially the brave and competent soldiers who carried out the task, but had the mission failed, no one would have been more a target of blame than Barrack Obama. He therefore richly deserves his triumph. Osama bin Laden, chief architect of the 9/11 disaster, is dead. The nation expels a huge collective sigh of relief, thanks to the President.

That is not to say that this death of a criminal is a time for jubilation. The blood thirsty whooping and hollering mob demonstrations at the White House and Times Square were disgusting. There’s no dignity or class in that. That’s what our enemy, the fanatics always do. That’s how foreigners view Americans. Much better, I think, to quietly savor the moment of justice while fully recognizing the cruel insanity of this war. Bin Laden’s death probably won’t bring an end to the War on Terror; might even intensify it.

After all, it was our nation’s constant meddling in Middle East politics which spawned the monster, Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda in the first place.