Yesterday Osama Bin Laden was killed in an operation by American troops in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Barack Obama addressed the American nation in a televised address at 11:30 P.M. at night. It is a curious address. You can watch it below.
Within a conventional narrative of revenge and reparation, a strange moment occurs in the middle. After narrating the images from 9/11 ‘seared into national memory’ – the planes, the smoke, the collapse of the twin towers- Obama says:
“And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child’s embrace.”
And then he says:
“And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda’s terror: Justice has been done.”
How can these two moments be brought into a relationship of commensuration? How can the death of Osama bin Laden signify the losses that mark out personal atlases of pain? And further, if for the last 10 years America has been at war without “justice being done”, and now “justice has been done” with one death, how then are we to think of all the deaths that have lead up to this moment? How will the President think of those other families who ‘have lost loved ones’ from being made to bear the burden of ‘al Qaeda’s terror’?
What the President could not say, is that justice has not been done. Because justice can never be done. Death escapes all commensuration, all accounting, all transaction. Death is of the order of the radically singular – only she who is dead is the subject of death and no one else can occupy that position. No death can commensurate those who died on September 11, 2001 and no deaths can commensurate the over a hundred thousand (and counting) who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq in the decade since. But while one death can be brought to signify the 3,000 deaths of September 11, what will commensurate the deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq? We must assume from his address that these are expendable deaths. They are not, indeed, deaths at all. They were simply inadequate substitutions for the one death that counts for ‘justice’. For even within the horrific and perverse logic of the American War on Terror which made Afghani and Iraqi people pay with their lives for the deaths of Americans, which made entire peoples bear personal culpability for crimes in which they had no conceivable part, these deaths, it seems, counted for nothing. They are simply numbers that paved the way toward the one death that can stand for ‘justice’.
So ‘justice’ has not been done. And to suggest, as the President did last night, that commensuration must do the work of commemoration is to profane the memories of those who died in America and to justify the deaths of those who are dying in Afghanistan. Something else has been done – revenge has been extracted, blood money has been paid, a manhunt has been concluded, a decade of murder in the name of security has found its symbolic justification – but ‘justice’ has not been done. It is too much to expect the President to assign to what has been done its proper name. But thankfully we are not bound by his reticence.
Update: It now appears a woman who shielded Osama with her body when the Seals moved in has also been killed. Here is the President on the operation: “They took care to avoid civilian casualties.”.
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 
Truly said, let me put it this way- In search of one Osama, thousands were killed which eventully lead to birth of many Osamas. Ameirca shouldnt forget this Osama was created by them as their wepaon against russia.
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I think it is high time that we call out the real threat namely, religious and national sentiments being evoked, provoked and bent towards vengeance and hate! That the 9/11 events have been used for unleashing wars that are primarily for oil and geo political control is clear. The second call out therefore is to highlight neo-con greed! and the third is ‘perception management’ i.e., sophisticated and polished trading in blatant flsehoods. All of these are being played out every day. Thank god for IPL T20, we can live in a trishanku swarga every evening and not have Barka Dutt dishing out her shrill version of all these.
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Excellent piece. Thank you for writing this.
Entire generations of families that have been wiped out in Afghanistan and Iraq will never get “justice”, whatever that means today. Others who have been condemned to a second-class existence as refugees in Third world countries will have to bide their time and say,
“My home was destroyed, I was forced to leave my own country, my relatives were killed in the bombing of Fallujah, the girl I was gonna marry fell to a roadside bomb, I am a refugee in Syria, but hey, Saddam is dead.”
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“My home was destroyed, I was forced to leave my own country, my relatives were killed in the bombing of Fallujah, the girl I was gonna marry fell to a roadside bomb, I am a refugee in Syria, but hey, Saddam is dead.”
Pretty much sums up the concept of war.
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The perpetrators of war will always have to bear the burden of the deaths resulted by their hubris and ambition. I would hold Osama is directly responsible for the unbelievable human tragedy afflicted across multiple countries. I also understand that the US also brought these things on themselves through terrible schemes of their past.
However, your observations trying to make sense of the collateral damage are conveniently trite; possible when you are in a cushy environment separated from the reality of war. You cannot apply the norms of civilian justice during war time. The US *was* at war in Afghanistan against Osama, and the only thing Obama did was note that the war “though terrible, atleast it was worth it”.
Iraq on the other hand, is another story entirely.
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@Justin.
Never mind my cushy environment. I suppose your comment is a dispatch right from the front. You may hold Osama directly responsible for whatever you please, that is not the point I am making. I am simply saying that to equate one death with ‘justice’ is the sort of remunerative logic that produces precisely the sort of violence we have witnessed over the last decade of the US military actions in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. If you actually believe that an alleged manhunt for Osama is worth the deaths of over 70,000 people in Afghanistan then there is little I have to say.
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ha ha .. Aarti, yes, my dispatch is right from the front … of my humble computing device ;)
I just wanted to point out that when a nation is at war, there are no easy decisions. Threats have to be countered, contained or eliminated if the circumstances are such. This also means that no matter how much Obama waxes eloquently about America’s deeds, it cannot even pretend to mitigate the depth of human suffering encountered on both sides. Here again, my point was that Bin Laden’s machinations were the trigger for the terrible chain of events; or he had forced America’s hand.
So to conclude, I haven’t said that 1=70000 is an acceptable equation … just that if one were in Obama’s position, inheriting largely ill-conceived, ill-managed wars, this would be one of the best outcomes to hope for. And on achieving it, one would declare a hard-fought victory while acknowledging the high cost of the said outcome. And that is, what I believe, he did.
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Rightly said Aarti. We are witnessing the times when understanding and tolerance are at abysmally low level while we are integrating in global politico-economic system which itself is not just. Your piece reminds me of Gandhi’s saying that “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind”.
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Where is the evidence that the person who was killed was Osama Bin Laden? I have searched all that is available in the net but could not find any evidence. Isn’t it a bit surprising that the US killed him and then didn’t take a single photograph to show to the world and “buried him” under the sea before anyone could take a good look at the dead body?
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Had there been no 9/11 things would have been different.I dont support USA or its policies and invasion in Iraq.But Osama was a threat to India even before 9/11 .So are the jihadis,Talibans and of course the master minds of 26/11.India is one of the victims of jihadi terrorism.Pakistan is using jihadi terrorist forces against India. So as an India I have every reason to rejoice at the killing of Osama as he is one of the father figures of global jihadi terrorism. Whether it is taliban or LeT or Al Quaida they are foes of India. So if USA is after them to finish them all it helps us too. But I know that reality is not that simple.
The masterminds of 26/11 should also meet the same fate and Pakistan should stop its proxy war against India. I will shed no tears of masterminds of 26/11 if they meet the same fate. Your notion of justice ignores 26/11 and other victims of jihadist terror.Obama’s notion of justice may be flawed but then so is yours because just as he ignores some victims and some deeds, you also ignore some.Just as for USA post 9/11 world is different so is for Indians after 26/11. We have had enough this ideas of justice and anti-imperialism that refuse to acknowledge 26/11. As an Indian I consider that as sham. Justice will be done when the global jihadi movement that is anti-Indian is wiped out and when Pakistan is held accountable for its proxy wars. This is my idea of justice as an Indian. Killing of Osama is a significant step towards that. That is why I welcome his killing despite my aversion for USA.
Solidarity with victims of US aggression is fine but not the cost of our own interests.
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Justice@one death
Obviously it was not justice but REVENGE. Obama, who has been awarded Nobel Prize for Peace, with great zeal and enthusiasm, thanked everybody, friends, allies and sufferers, and congratulated for the feat.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which confers the award, should consider taking back the award. The man does not deserve it.
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Well one wonders why Obama is to be killed now. Is this just the American media trying to fool the world. There was a wonderful taken in the movie Tere Bin Ladan.
Well yes it does not matter if an Indian, An African an Arab etc. are killed but if an american is killed then a family suffers. Ha ha ha. There are a seires of 11 movies of 9 min each which show how other people have responded to 9/11. well other people are not humans only the American citizens are!!!
.
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It’s true. There was no justice in the assassination. There is absolutely no justification for the thousands of lives taken as a result of some misplaced sense of ‘justice’. If there is any word that describes what US achieved is revenge. And somehow I have a feeling that as a habit US might even be shameless enough to admit it in front of the world. However as much as I despise the convolution of the term Justice here in this speech by Obama on behalf of the entire US of A, I also accept the fact that Osama needed to be killed. It’s tragic that there had to be a death of any form, but as I have mentioned before somewhere, there are some individuals who acquire the stature of a symbol…and that is just what Osama had become and needed to be destroyed. If such a symbol of pure evil is not destroyed it assumes an image of being invincible in peoples mind and that exactly is what causes ‘terror’. I do not rejoice in his death, and do not agree that it was ‘Justice’ of any kind, and I would go as far as saying that they are shameless who convince themselves that their revenge is the same as justice and that of others is an act of malice. How ever Osama needed to be killed. However this doesn’t excuse the US from the hideous manner they achieved this. May be the deaths of the 9/11 victims have been avenged, but what have the of innocent Afghani’s, who died in numbers that are multiples of those who died in 9/11, achieved. At the end of all this, there is absolutely nothing to rejoice.
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For me – what is unique is the way the body has been disposed.
History shows us that Governments have used the bodies of people who have opposed their might as a lesson for others to see and fear. However, in this case – in light of today’s information that Osama was un-armed when killed makes the case even stronger that the US soldiers probably did something to the body !! Forget the trial for justice, forget the autopsy, forget the formal Islamic burial…all were over-looked to dispose the body as soon as possible which kinda leads me to believe that….
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BTW The US Govt position has always been that its war was not against Al-Qaeda but against Taliban and against related Muslim extremist orgs. So in case you thought that you just got a break from the chaos to berate everyone for the senseless violence – its not over yet. It only remains to be seen whether the intensity of the conflict increases or decreases from here-on as a result of this critical assassination …. :-(
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“But to suggest that “justice has been done”, as President Obama did on Sunday night, seems perverse. This was not justice, it was an extra-judicial execution. If you shoot a man twice in the head you do not find him guilty. You find him dead. This was revenge. And it was served very cold indeed.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/03/bin-laden-death-us-patriot-reflex
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More questions are being raised about this entire staged-managed show/drama on ‘killing’ in the alternative news media of Western world. And it is time our educated Indians need to open up their closed mind and check the veracity of this claim rather than simply believing mainstream media in our country of which almost all are acting as an extension of this hegemonic empire of US DoD and White House regarding this story. And to say that he was responsible for 9/11, its a mockery of American Security,Military,Intelligence,Advanced Computing etc. costing Trillions of dollars, that shepherds from Central Asian mountains could cross tens of thousands of miles and ram into American airspace where even birds get killed automatically when it enters those territory.
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“More questions are being raised about this entire staged-managed show/drama on ‘killing’ in the alternative news media of Western world. “
Just like Urdu press in Pakistan….
Most sensible people call them conspiracy theories…….its time ultra-left( just like Islamic ultra-right) stop believing in them…
@Aarti
“It now appears a woman who shielded Osama with her body when the Seals moved in has also been killed. Here is the President on the operation: “They took care to avoid civilian casualties.”
This woman stopped being an “innocent” civilian the moment she jumped to save a criminal……. will you consider hitler’s body guards to be innocent?
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She was not armed, she was not a combatant, she was, apparently, his wife. Several conflicting accounts are now emerging – in some she shielded him, in others she merely happened to be there and was caught in the cross-hairs. He was not armed either, so his death is also an assassination. There is absolutely no legal ground for declaring her a ‘criminal’, and her death is murder plain and simple. Clearly you have no idea of the law, nor any regard for human life.
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@ Ron
“Just like Urdu press in Pakistan….
Most sensible people call them conspiracy theories…….its time ultra-left( just like Islamic ultra-right) stop believing in them…”
Well, exactly its people like you who blindly follow whatever those neocons controlled media says, and brand those who question official narrative as conspiracy theorists. After all, dear, have you got any idea of peoples in the western world apart from your cable TV at home. I am not questioning you rather i have to put things in order. I don’t care a damn about what Urdu press does, but what happened to you, sir, after years of freedom, science and technology, you still would like to believe their propaganda rather than apply your reason and intellect. After all, your comment displays your emotions to my post and for those “sensible people” and its evident that you belong either to “Ultra Hindu-right” or have much sympathy for them. So i say again its time people like you open up your mind rather than shrugging away from logic.
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Dear rajan….i am requesting you to post some links from “alternative” western media that you are referring to….i am very curious.
Also your conclusion that i have “sympathy” towards hindu-right even though i havenot said anything that gives away such a conclusion( infact i find them DESPICABLE!) shows what i really believe about a significant section of far-left ……
Indian far left worldview:
1) Oppose Islamist = Support Hindu right (its automatic)
2)Support madrassa = Certified secular
3)Oppose maoists= Support corporate loot
4)Have some sympathy for west = Agents of imperialism
5)Conspiracy theories = Blind believe as truth
Keep up the show.
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It would be wrong if I walked away from this post without putting a comment in here. Its said the things so beautifully that it’s taken my breath away and I have broken my twitter abstinence by going and posting it there. :)
You said all and more than I wanted to say with my humble little take on all this. http://www.mutiny.in/184/is-the-world-a-safer-place-post-osama
Thank you for a breathtaking portrayal of the situation.
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Thank you Shalini :) I read your post and liked it very much.
in solidarity.
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For 10 years, Osama bin Laden filled a gap left by the Soviet Union. Who will be the baddie now? http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/03/osama-bin-laden-soviet-union-baddie
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According to this BBC report Osama’s wife was shot in the leg but not killed. A woman was killed, however, in the US operation. You will probably disagree but I don’t think “taking care to avoid civilian casualties” means no civilian casualties whatsoever. In something of this nature, that’s almost impossible.
Whether the operation itself was justified is a different question. I gather you don’t think it was. I think it was. We will probably argue past each other so I won’t argue about this. I just wanted to note that Osama’s wife was not killed.
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I dont know why I bother posting here when most of my comments do not published but here it goes:
To all those doubters (both about OBL’s death as well as his culpability):
Nothing is ever going to satisfy you. No matter what photos, videos, witnesses coming forward,confessions, you will never be satisfied. OBL has gone on record saying that he did not expect the 9/11 attacks to be so successful. By the way, 9/11 was not the only terror act he and his terror organization committed.
For those wanting a trail:
Why the hell do you need to drag him back to court, play the entire charade? So that AQ gets free publicity? What would happen if the US Seals capture OBL line but are ambushed on their way back? Not only does OBL get out of the trap (for possibly another 10 years) and US will have spend a few more trillion to catch him again. And in case they get him a trail, would these same people not say that the judge and jury are biased and hence the trail is not fair?
For those comparing the limited deaths of americans to significantly larger death toll of Iraqis and Afghans:
a) OBL, AQ and Taliban all justified civilian targets. Just by being a citizen of US (or any western country or non-muslim country), you are a legitimate target. The US policy and its implementation are clear on their targets being members of terrorist organizations. They may bad intelligence, renegade soldiers but it is not their policy. These two cannot be the same no matter how jaundiced your views are.
b) The thousands dead iraqis and afghans dead: How many actually died by American munitions? In Iraq, lots of deaths were caused by sectarian conflict. In Afghanistan, it was the Pak sponsored taliban vs rest of afghans. Moreover, America values its citizens. It is the problem of other countries and their rulers that they do not value the life of their citizens. Afghanistan was offered a way out if they gave up OBL, they didnt.
To those who are doing the intellectual m**********n about justice and revenge:
America does not care. I dont care. The Dalai Lama does not care. In fact, even the middle east does not care. Never thought this was possible but Afghans and Americans are actually both jubilant about this. Most of us are just happy that OBL got what he deserved and do not have even a modicum of regret. Most Indians would also be happy if Dawood, Hafeez or Major iqbal met their end in similar fashion. Only nations which are bothered by it seem to be great proponents of freedom such as China and Pakistan. Enjoy their company and I am sure they will publish your paper on this topic.
@Aarthi Sethi
“She was not armed, she was not a combatant, she was, apparently, his wife. Several conflicting accounts are now emerging – in some she shielded him, in others she merely happened to be there and was caught in the cross-hairs. There is absolutely no legal ground for declaring her a ‘criminal’, and her death is murder plain and simple.”
One narrative goes that she rushed towards the seals and they shot her (wht if she was wearing a suicide vest?) – which you chose to ignore. Frankly, only one party made out alive. You either believe them or you dont.
” He was not armed either, so his death is also an assassination.”
Wht if OBL was wearing a suicide vest? oh wait, you have the benefit of hindsight. Should tell the US about acquiring that piece of tech.
“Clearly you have no idea of the law, nor any regard for human life.”
The one passing judgments based on heresy is now talking about the law.
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@ Dark Lord.
“What if she was wearing a suicide vest?” This is so ludicrous an argument that I don’t even know where to begin. What if anyone was wearing a suicide vest? What if I were at the grocers and suddenly he made a sudden movement and I shot him? What if I were standing at a red light and suddenly someone crossed the street and I shot him? What if they were all wearing suicide vests?
But oh no, now you will chuck a culturalist argument our way: These are not comparable situations you will say. Osama Bin Laden was the established leader of a band of murderous Islamic jihadist terrorists. Who presumably wore suicide vests every moment of their waking and sleeping lives, we presume, because that’s how they are. I am not asking you to light candles for Osama but I really don’t understand the hesitation at calling this an assassination, which is what it was. If you shoot an unarmed man through the head, twice, no matter how unpalatable you may think he is, that is an assassination. And if you kill an unarmed woman who happens to be on the scene that is murder. What ifs are retrospective. Surely you’re smarter than that…
As regards your cursory dismissal of Afghani and Iraqi deaths, and your rubbish about supposed policy differences between the US and the Taliban as regards “civilian deaths”. The US has, according to current figures, killed over 100,000 civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. That’s pretty good going for an “official” policy of not killing civilians don’t you think?
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Dark Lord, do you realise your comments don’t get posted because they may be abusive, dismissive of different points of view, refusing to engage with any depth with an argument, etc. etc.? The point is, if you are so sure that the news you get from mainstream news media (overwhelmingly owned by countries that dominate the current world order, or if you think ‘world order’ is too vague a term, then how about running a little match between GDP, military dominance and ownership of news channels/newspaper empires) is correct and accurate…and you further believe that governments of militarily dominant countries do not have gigantic PR machineries putting out news stories that suit their strategic interests, and that this may include blatant lies; and also that the United States is simply a victim, not a perpetrator of terrorism (the connections between the Bushes and Bin Ladens are quite public even in the U.S)….in short, if you have no reason to doubt anything that appears in the conventional news media, then I fail to understand why you would read an ‘alternate media’ blog like Kafila? How can you blame us for not confirming the mainstream news when our stated, public objective is to search for different sources of news, and to strive for alternate explanations of events, based on our conviction that mainstream news is tainted by financial and military interests that we don’t support? I mean, why take the trouble to get online and find an alternate news blog like Kafila, when your version of world events is already dominating most newspapers and TV channels? Every single argument you make above is based on a ready acceptance of the U.S military’s and Obama’s version of what happened in Abbottabad, as also what has been happening in Iraq and Afghanistan for decades. Why would you need confirmation from a blog like Kafila? Go ahead and read mainstream media, join internet fora jubilating at the American restoration of order in the world. Certainly no need to waste your time here, getting frustrated at our conspiracy theories.
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“No death can commensurate those who died on September 11, 2001 and no deaths can commensurate the over a hundred thousand (and counting) who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq in the decade since”
– A dialogue from Catch 22 comes to mind.
“Who’s they?” he wanted to know. “Who, specifically, do you think is trying to murder you?”.
“Every one of them,” Yossarian told him.
This is how war works, death looms on either sides. American soldiers have also died for no personal mistake of theirs, but their countries “war on terror” policy.
The Your musings are like Arjunan’s questions to Lord Krishna. May be Krishna’s replies will help.
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A short but pithy reflection, Aarti, on death and justice.
The absence of death in death, the absence of justice in justice, continues with each death and claim of justice, where death is not allowed to be death, and justice isn’t allowed to be justice.
But, if death is the only justice, then justice is also death. If death and justice are both possibilities, shrinkingly tied to each other, in a way where both belongs to the same pair of hands, the one and only executioner-cum-judge, then we are facing an all mighty, almighty butcher in the world.
The death of Osama and questions surrounding it, once again reminds me of lines from Harold Pinter’s famous poem:
Where was the body found?
Who found the dead body?
Was the dead body dead when found?
How was the dead body found?
……..
Was the body dead when abandoned?
Was the body abandoned?
By whom had it been abandoned?
Was the dead body naked or dressed for a journey?
……..
What made you declare the dead body dead?
……..
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Dear Manash,
a great response and a great critique. Death as a reported fact sometimes becomes an event where people weep without weeping. The politics of such an event is actually marked at eliminating death from any kind of constructive modes of freedom. It won’t be an anachronism that the announced date of Osama’s death is 1st may, the erstwhile moment of labour movement. don’t forget that even Hitler’s death was also announced on the same day. The historicity of such reportage is definitely a manufactured construction so that lumpen proletariat of intellectual class can congregate around. They were dumb-founded earlier and now they are horrified what if they chose to walk on a line that invites death. It is the convulated gladiatorism of the American empire. Beware all those who want to meet death around every street, every corner, every moment and every interface.
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Predictable response! When in doubt, damn America. Read through the article and responses from the damn America bandwagon, it would look as thought the world should be mourning the death of a holy angel at the hands of an evil America. I have no sympathies for America. What they did may not pass the test of international law or protocol and the circumstances under which they killed OBL as opposed to catching him alive may have posed several questions. What appals me is the total insensitivity to the crimes against humanity OBL has done, a kind of silent condonation. He has done to Islam what the fiercest enemies of the religion have failed to do over centuries. America may be a terrorist state, but that doesn’t make OBL and al-Qaeda less of terrorists ( Note the use of the word ‘al Qaeda’s terror’ in quotes). Please, let us have some intellectual honesty!
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Prabhakar, if you want intellectual honesty – simply go to your father. Except him, if truth be told, no one in the world is honest. Only one’s own father is honest. And of course – you, his able son, has faithfully imbibed that honesty. Rest of the world is living in the cesspool of utter dishonesty. I thought an intelligent man like you would have got that by now. Don’t break your honest head on this dishonest wall. Come on, get it now, Prabhakar. Leave commenting on these pseudo guys. They can’t improve upon what they never had in the first place. And by the way, please pay my dishonest regards to Honest Uncle. And your other uncle too – Uncle Sam. Even am like these dishonest guys here, Prabhakar. See, at least I have been honest in admitting that.
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I have bad news for you, Arti Sethi. You are not going to win the race of craven dhimmitude. That has already been taken by Judge Heinz Uthmann of Hamburg. Der Spiegel reports:
A Hamburg judge has filed a criminal complaint against Chancellor Angela Merkel for “endorsing a crime” after she stated she was “glad” that Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces… But Hamburg judge Heinz Uthmann went even further. He alleges that the chancellor’s statement was nothing short of illegal, and filed a criminal complaint against Merkel midweek..
But don’t despair. The competition was tough. Report by Express from Londonistan:
HUNDREDS of Osama bin Laden supporters clashed with English Defence League extremists today as a “funeral service” for the assassinated terror leader sparked fury outside London’s US Embassy. [Beautiful, isn’t it? Those who cheering for a mass murderer are mere ‘supporters’ and those who oppose them are ‘extremists’]
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