Should We Know Who Shot bin Laden?

In a world where we see Andy Warhol’s prediction that “everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes” coming true before our very eyes, isn’t it interesting that a firestorm has erupted over “who killed bin Laden”?  To review, a team of Navy Seals attacked terrorist Osama bin Laden in his compound. and Seal shot the bullet which killed Mr. bin Laden.  Descriptions of the night-time raid have come out, even in book form, and that was controversial enough. Recently one person, Robert O’Neill, identified himself as “The Shooter”. He has been called many things for making this claim, including “liar.”  A spokesperson for his former employer states that Mr. O’Neill’s disclosure violates an unspoken rule in the military, i.e. do not seek personal attention for your actions taken while in service.

What strikes me about this debate is how different the attitudes toward military service have become in the last 40 years.  I grew up in the “Viet Nam” era. That war was unpopular, to put it mildly.  The saddest part of that chapter of our common history may be the fallout for the Viet Nam-era veterans. Their return home was, often times, a horrible one. Even today there are many of these vets who would not want to describe their service on CNN even if CNN wanted to broadcast their story.

So what has changed? Is it the “enemy”?  Did the fact that bin Laden orchestrated an attack on the United States make him the enemy we all wanted dead?  Perhaps that is it. But perhaps there is a bigger change in understanding going on in our common attitude toward veterans.  Mr. bin Laden put a face on the “enemy”.  It was the fact that we live in an era where his face was made recognizable to the entire western world as the latest incarnation of evil.  What I hope we can begin to understand more deeply is that evil has a face.  Hate and intolerance and injustice, taken to the extreme, become the bin Laden’s of the world, and sadly, someone needs to shoot it dead.

That is best undertaken as a team effort.  I do not think we should know who shot bin Laden, because the truth is, the people of the United States did.  One man pulled the trigger of the gun we put him there to shoot.  My thinking on war has evolved since my draft-age years. I hate war. I hate evil more. I think God does too.  Maybe today is a good day to hug a vet.  You don’t need to know what they did, or whether they wanted to do it. They answered the call we put on them. And to that Team, we say, “thank you.”  Until wars end and peace reigns, may there always be men and women who accept the mystery and complexity of the call to serve as a team for freedom’s cause.