For The Greater Good

"We will always reserve the right to defend ourselves. We will never tolerate our security being threatened, nor stand idly by when our people have been killed. Tonight, we give thanks to the countless intelligence and counterterrorism professionals who've worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome."

Another little-reported interview with Benjamin Netanyahu, after yet another successful IDF exploit? Responding to another attempt to breach the protective wall between the Palestinian Territories and Israel with murderous intent? The successful Iron Dome shielding Israel from Hamas-propelled rocket attacks? The apprehension of another group of terrorists entering Jerusalem to blow up civilians?

Not Netanyahu? Ah, Barack Obama, of course.

This is not Hamas being referred to, or Fatah-associated militias on a murder spree caught before their mission could be completed. This is Osama bin Laden caught asleep in his bedroom in his luxurious, well guarded villa in the scenic mountains of Pakistan. He sleeps now in perpetuity, released from his mortal coil. His cold flesh food for carnivorous fish, his bones settling on the ocean floor.

If he had the time to recognize what was occurring when the Navy SEALS burst into his compound and through to the second floor, to understand that his long and successful career in instilling fear and terror in the hearts of Western civilian populations was coming to a close, it would be interesting to know whether he felt fear and terror. He was resolute in his determination to sever life from innocents; how resolute was he finally on his own behalf?

The highly successful targeted operation, in the planning stages for a long time, and for which a rehearsal was staged on a purpose-built set comprised of a look-alike compound in the United States went off flawlessly. The man who pioneered the strategic art of confounding his chosen enemies with a series of impeccably organized and executed attacks claiming thousands of innocent lives no longer exists.

His legacy does, unfortunately; those countless hate-mongers who inspired by his cunning and bold example, do their utmost to emulate him, devising new and sometimes successful pursuits in establishing new standards for mass murder. Recruits range from the mentally retarded to adventurously vulnerable adolescents, along with the seasoned warriors who value their own lives, and exploit those of the gullible.

A mere 30 miles distant from Islamabad, that secret, guarded compound. A veritable stone's throw from an elite military base of the Pakistan military. In a town where the wealthy and the entitled live, and where the ISI and the military must make it a common practise to know who goes there. The presence of Osama bin Laden and his family quite unknown to the Pakistan government.

What an amazing surprise. Who knew? Well, no one. The United States is jubilant, the operation the first of its kind in precision perfection. The Israeli raid on Entebbe, foiling the PLO and Idi Amin's guard not representing a template? Is it legal, is it moral for a country to order its specially trained militias to embark on high-stakes missions like this or to use predator drones to 'take out' high-value targets?

After all, the bad guys don't care who they kill in the pursuit of their agenda. The good guys do care, take especial steps to ensure civilians are not caught in cross-fire. Sigh, those predator drones striking the wrong target; civilian deaths. And the raid on bin Laden's compound that saw him shot in the head, twice, and the chest, once, to ensure the job was done ... an estimated 22 unidentified men and a woman also died.

So there are sacrifices ... for the greater good. The greater good representing the avoidance, through acting thus, of further civilian deaths on the good guys' side. Somewhat like the aerial bombing of Dresden. Like Little Boy hitting Hiroshima. Like seven dead Turks aboard the Mavi Marmora? Like dead Palestinian Gazans whom Hamas used as human shields during the IDF invasion responding to rocket attacks?

Depends. The international community does not invest too heavily in criticizing a power like the United States, taking its inspiration from another country that responds as it must to deadly provocations from a determined enemy. But the international community does respond with vigour and passion to a tiny country encircled by deadly antagonists, decrying "disproportional" or "inhumane" responses.

Funny how things play out.