Outlaw71
Android Expert
I seriously hope you don't actually believe we did so out of respect for the man.
Giving one of this nations most hated enemies of all time a decent and customary burial might have been a hugely unpopular move on the part of the administration over here in this country. But in the big picture, it's the smartest thing they could have possibly done. In short, it's damage control.
"Well who cares about muslim traditions... we should have dragged his body behind a Budwieser cart pulled by 13 clydesdale horses into the middle of a baseball stadium and let the crowd throw apple pies on his desicrated body. We should have done this American style", says the angry mob back home.
But, in part anyway, ignoring the muslim world, disrespecting their customs and dissing their traditions culminated in the destruction of the World Trade Center and the senseless death of 2752 people on September 11th, 2001. Forget who started what, when, where, how long ago and why... this is now. Now we had an opportunity to show the world that we can be something other than an uncompassionate nation... we had the opportunity to show a religeous segment who's numbers total 1/3 of the worlds population that we have the capacity to honor and respect... the opportunity to put on a new face and attempt to battle terrorism with understanding instead of bombs... and miraculously, we didn't throw that opportunity away.
Of course all of us would have loved to have been able to give him a kick in the face before it was all said and done. But if... IF this once, simple act of being the bigger man (obviously had Osama sent a hit squad to capture and assassinate President Bush when he was in office, they certainly would not have turned around and given him a Christian burial) by showing respect for their religeon keeps even one of our soldiers overseas safe from a few billion people who might have become outraged if handled differently... then I'd say it is completely worth any amount of heckling those responsible for seeing that it was done this way may take from the public.
I'm sure the men and women serving abroad appreciate the efforts made to keep this event as unexplosive as possible for them over there. After all the clock is ticking, withdrawl is approaching, and I'm sure the last thing they want to happen as they look forward to coming home is to see a mishandling of the situation to cause an erruption of violence across the middle east putting all of their lives in danger. Following the traditions and customs of the muslim faith in his burial is one less thing the extremists can use to recruit a massive coalition in retaliation.
Of course the man didn't deserve this kind of respect... but there are much bigger things at stake here.
