In defense of celebrating the death of bin Laden

I will admit to two things: First that I attended the spontaneous White House rally after the death of bin Laden, and second that I was suppressing some doubt over the wisdom of having such a rally.

Smart friends of mine pointed out that a feeling of joy was natural, but making a spectacle was perhaps a bit too much. One friend said the images reminded her of Libyans celebrating the return of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. (To that I would also add Samir Kuntar’s return to Lebanon.)

I agree that the demographic of the crowd and the manner of celebration made look like a sports team’s fan base. But in retrospect, I don’t see the celebrations as having done any harm. On the contrary, they provided a chance for Americans to feel unencumbered by normal, tired debates. It’s been a long time since Americans could celebrate a foreign policy achievement where we didn’t care what anyone else thought, because Americans unanimously thought it was the right thing to do. Bin Laden’s death provided us an opportunity to feel uniquely American for a day, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing to do once in a while.