Do We Care? Should We?

The narrative got a little carried away with itself. The world's past-perfect number one terror agent did not, after all, grab for the nearest machine gun in his bedroom when confronted with U.S. Navy SEALS but his astonishment at being accosted was taken as a signal that he was resisting his own abduction, so he was therefore put out of commission, and the abduction carried out without any further fuss or mess.

Oh, apart from his wife also being put out of commission in a far gentler way that she will recover from.

Osama bin Laden, not so much. Shots aimed directly at the head, and another for good measure at the heart have that long-lasting effect, after all. Should we mourn the passing of this dread menace to the world? Only if you enjoy the spectacle of masses of innocents dying long before their time. Only if you're a devoted member of violent jihad. Only if you belong to Hamas and Hezbollah; if you're part of the Iranian establishment.

Oops, wrong there; for it seems that ordinary Muslims, some of whom would be dispatched on his orders without the blink of an eye, feel that whatever else he was, he was a Muslim and as such being killed by infidels is a travesty, a dishonour, an affront to all Muslims. Of course the reverse is also true, that non-Muslims felt rather put-upon being mortally threatened by someone who espoused it as a solemn and sacred duty to kill them in the name of Islam.

To take this lethal threat to the international community out of commission is not, on a scale of to-dos to make the world a better place, too low a priority. Having done so, it has caused a sense of quiet satisfaction among those whom al-Qaeda has threatened, among those who have lost loved ones, among those who believe he had no right to live while others died at his command.

And, of course, it has caused shrill outrage among those who venerated him.

Who are, even now, feverishly planning how they may best undertake to avenge their peerless martyr. The entire event has captured the attention of the United Nations, as well. The Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, considers the event a "watershed moment in our common global fight against terrorism." An opinion not shared by Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Who qualifies the operation as an 'illegal' act by a state entity. The High Commissioner has requested that Washington supply her with minute details to convince that the assassination of Osama bin Laden was a needfully necessary act of spring cleaning. This was a stealthy operation, one long planned, to extinguish the evil genius of jihad central. There are no rules to this particular game.

The United States more or less made up its own rules on the fly. There were existing templates and they were taken due note of. Success builds upon future successes. Kill and be killed. The niceties of legal conventions occasionally should be dispensed with.