Justice Song at Twilight

The death of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2 did two significant things. First, it rid the world of a man who, in my judgement, was a truly dangerous and deranged person. Second, it gave us a terrific opportunity to examine what we mean by the term "justice."

If what we mean by the word is the John Wayne-type of justice we see in westerns or the Old Testament "eye for an eye" justice that is being practiced by Jews and Muslims in the Middle East or the plain revenge killings popular among members of the Sicilian Mafia, then I would unhesitatingly agree with President Obama that bin Laden has been "brought to justice." But if we're talking about the kind of justice discussed in the New Testament, or the Constitution or American jurisprudence, then what happened to bin Laden is as far from justice as Abbottabad is from the World Trade Center.

After World War II, I watched newsreels of some of the biggest scumbags in world history stand trial in Nuremburg, Germany. Among them were people who participated, not in the murder of 3000 innocent people, but over six million. They stood or sat in court, listening to witnesses in front of a judge and were duly sentenced and, in some cases, executed. Later, even Israeli agents, after kidnapping Adolf Eichman from Argentina and taking him to Israel, put him on trial for the murder of hundreds of thousands of their fellow Jews. The key world here is "trial."

Regardless of how heinous a person's actions may be or what kind of person he or she may be, under American justice and, incidentally, the justice system of any advanced nation, a person must be judged. This means arguments for both sides must be heard and a verdict delivered. Here, there must also be a jury to hear the evidence. That's the way American Justice works.

Shooting an unarmed man in the head is not American Justice.

So let's not quibble over whether we're better off as a country - or a world - without Osama bin Laden. Let's instead debate what kind of country we want and be honest enough to admit it when we want it changed. If, for example, we think torture is justified if it results in a desired outcome, then be honest enough to say it. If assassination squads are needed for our country's survival, then change the law to permit it. Don't teach our children about things that don't exist - it's unfair to them.  Justice is justice. Murder is murder. Let's not confuse the issue with flag buttons or shouts of "USA! USA!"

If you believe in justice, then you have to believe in equal justice. If it's OK for us to shoot bin Laden, then why isn't it OK for some member of the Taliban to shoot President Obama? Because Obama is a good guy and bin Laden is a bad guy? You can call this idiotic because everyone knows our way of life is the best in the world, right? Our kind of justice is the best, right?

But you have to be able to back this up with evidence. In America, a person should be believed innocent until proven guilty. In America, a person's color, race or national origin shouldn't matter in a court of law. In America, a person is entitled to a trial before a jury of his/her peers. When Lee Harvey Oswald, accused of shooting President Kennedy, was gunned down by Jack Ruby before going to trial, many of us cheered. But the fact was Oswald was innocent when he died. He had not been proven guilty. Cumbersome, but that's the way our justice system works.

Think of this when we think of Osama bin Laden.