I think I stumbled upon another reason why bin Laden's death is sitting a little uneasy with me.
It comes from Hamlet.
At one point, our reluctant avenger stumbles upon the usurping, incestuous, murderous king Claudius alone and unprotected. There would be no witnesses, and Claudius has all but confessed to murdering Hamlet's father after watching the Mousetrap (or has he just expressed alarm at watching a play about a nephew who assassinates a king? -- it's unclear). Claudius is even in the acting of begging Heaven for forgiveness for his murder -- a forgiveness he feels he cannot win because his attachment to the sin is still too great.
Anyway (SPOILER!), Hamlet decides not to kill Claudius at this moment...instead professing a desire to kill Claudius in the middle of some foul deed, gluttonous act, or otherwise shameful debauchery. He wants to kill Claudius when the king is doing something really bad so he can be sure of sending him to Hell.
That's what he says, at least. What if Hamlet has other reservations, though? What if it just doesn't feel like justice or revenge or what have you when the murderer isn't in the middle of doing anything spectacularly evil? What if Hamlet is worried that it will look less heroic to kill a murderer when he least expects it?
It's a very safe assumption bin Laden was scheming more horrific evils. I'm sure he was.
But I would have felt more comfortable if we caught him in the middle of something spectacularly evil.
If the SEALs had charged on his compound just as he was about to release some horrible nerve gas on a population of innocent civilians, then I'd feel more closure. If he had been in the middle of torturing someone, or training a kid how to build an IED, then there would at least be a meaningful juxtaposition between his evil and our justice.
Now, what our forces did was very dangerous -- I'm in no way intending to diminish that -- but what was bin Laden up to when it all went down. Was he snuggled in his jammies in bed? Did he just watch an episode of the Apprentice?
Taking him out in a domestic setting hopefully sends a powerful message to his would-be successors -- we'll get you when you are least expecting it and in a way that is completely not ennobling for you.
On the other hand, it could make the bad guy look like a victim, and make the good guys look a little less heroic in the eyes of those who should be intimidated. I guess in the end, though, we don't necessarily want to look heroic.
We want to scare the heck out of the people who try to scare us.
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