Osama Bin Laden was arguably the most
hated man by the American people for he was blamed for the terrorist attacks on
September 11th and more, based primarily on the media’s coverage and
statements by members of the government. Substantial evidence has proved that
he was indeed a terrible man, however, he was still a man and he should have
been allowed a trial and burial. The US government treated him like a vicious
poison that they just needed to kill off in order to cure everyone of worry and
assume safety for America. The US’s reaction to Bin Laden was an act of
American exceptionalism for a man was killed-murdered-not out of self defense,
but out of pure aggression without being allowed a fair trial or even a proper burial.
The sixth amendment to the constitution
claims that everyone has the right to a free trial. Bin Laden was denied that
right, one that has been engrained in the US as law for hundreds of years. When
stated in such a way, that the government completely went against one of its
own amendments it seems quite astonishing that the public was not more aware of
the brutality of Bin Laden’s death. The media was able to build a cloud of
vagueness around the incident, even though the public knew exactly when and
where he was being targeted, the fact that he was assassinated in cold blood,
defenseless is left out of the news. Noam Chomsky makes an excellent point
about the situation, “It might be instructive to
ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos had landed at George
W. Bush's compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic… Uncontroversially,
he was not a “suspect” but the “decider” who gave the orders to invade Iraq --
that is, to commit the “supreme international crime differing only from other
war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole”
for which Nazi criminals were hanged,” (Chomsky 1). Chomsky explains that Bush
did in fact ruin the lives of many innocent Iraqis; just as many innocent
Americans’ lives were ruined in 2001. Yet, because of the idea of American
exceptionalism, his actions are justified, and the consequences are excused. Of
course Bush did have reason to act in such a way, but to Iraqis he was a
murderer and a terrorist. If they had acted as Americans, Bush would likely
have been killed years ago. There are a scary amount of similarities in the
actions of Bush and Bin Laden, which are often not recognized by the public.
President Bush’s address to Congress uplifts Americans,
enrapturing them into a frenzy of patriotism, compassion, and aggression toward
the enemy. Bush does not, however, address why Al-Qaeda would be so inclined to
attack the United States, for that may not be what he, nor the people want to
hear. He ensures the public that America is and will always be in the right,
and there will always be an enemy to point to and blame for tragedies such as
the events on 9/11. Now of course the actions of Al-Qaeda do not go excused,
nor should ever be forgotten, but the lack of information released by the President
is unsettling and adds to American hypocrisy. Bush skirts around the reason for
the attacks, “Americans are asking, why do they hate us? They hate what we
see right here in this chamber—a democratically elected government. Their
leaders are self- appointed. They hate our freedoms—our freedom of religion,
our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each
other,” (Bush 4). He claims the reason for the hatred is because America is so
free, which the public supports, therefore keeping the government in the
positive light and making al-Qaeda as irrational and inhumane as possible. He
does not address how the American military invaded their homeland and disrupted
daily life. He only mentions Afghanistan, and again how the US has been so
helpful in their economy. Throughout the entire speech, Bush keeps the people
in full support of the government, mesmerized by the uplifting rhetoric, and
most importantly hating al-Qaeda. America is always the good guy, the exception
to any hatred, punishment, or attack. Who could hate America?
Works Cited
Bush, George W. "President George W Bush's
Address to Congress and the Nation on
Terrorism." Speech.
Chomsky, Noam. "Was There an
Alternative?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com,
n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2015
Your last rhetorical question was unfortunately answered in a very concrete way fourteen years ago. The freedoms we espouse--even for other nations in our foreign policies--are a big part of why Islamic extremist groups were, and are, angry with the US. We want to be free, and we want others to be free (perhaps more so if they are our historical friends and allies). We meddle. We've been meddling in the Middle East through our support of Israel for a very long time. Chomsky's stark image of flipping the script with an assassination of on our president is definitely a thought-provoking one, but I'm not sure it holds up to scrutiny. An attack like the ones very carefully planned (and sometimes paid for) by Bin Laden could never approach even the worst president-ing we've ever seen in this country.
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