By Robert Morrison Michael Moore was all the rage at the Democratic National Convention a few years back. His conspiratorial “documentary” (try schlockumentary) called “Fahrenheit 911” was shown to convention bigs who praised it lavishly. Even Jimmy Carter invited Michael Moore to sit in the presidential box with him. Now, though, it’s the same Michael Moore who is calling President Obama an assassin. Moore finds the killing of Osama bin Laden “un-American.” Moore said, “No, no. They killed him. But what I’m saying is they didn’t kill because there was some kind of firefight or something going on. They went there with the intention to kill him. That’s an execution and – or an assassination, whatever you want to call it.” Apparently, Michael Moore thinks the appropriate way to have handled this operation was to have Attorney General Eric Holder rappel from an Apache helicopter down to Osama’s compound, and knock on the door to hand Mr. bin Laden a subpoena. Wouldn’t that have been inspiring? Mr. Moore seems unaware that Osama bin Laden declared war on the U.S. in 1996. When we didn’t pay sufficient attention, he did it again in 1998. It must seem bizarre that someone like Moore, who loves to pal with Fidel Castro, the murderer of 40,000 Cubans, is now giving the rest of us lessons on being American. But the President is not getting kudos from all of those on the Left for this stunning success. Even Juan Williams, conservatives’ favorite liberal, misspoke badly. He told viewers of Fox News Sunday that the operation to kill bin Laden was a “murder.” Good grief. Juan, keep your eyes on the prize, man! In no way is the killing of this mass murderer comparable to a murder. The best description of Osama bin Laden under international law would be one that goes back to Roman times: Hostis humani generis (“Enemy of mankind”). Terrorists share that designation with pirates and slave traders. Anyone who doubts bin Laden was an enemy of mankind need only consult the list of casualties in the World Trade Center. Americans were the vast majority (2,669) of those killed on 9/11. That’s as bin Laden intended. But there were also 372 citizens of other countries who were murdered by bin Laden’s operatives. Britain lost 67. India lost 41 and South Korea lost 28. Canada and Japan each lost 24. President Obama was perfectly right to state that he lost no sleep over the fate of this brutal mass murderer. The only thing that might have caused concern was whether the target was in fact bin Laden. I think of the Washington, D.C. schoolchildren who were excitedly headed out on a jet that beautiful morning, flying off to Europe as part of a school excursion. For some of these kids, it was their first flight. For all of them, bin Laden made it their last. No Christian who is “a man under authority” should have had qualms about the righteousness of this action. President Obama was right to give the order. As we’ve heard, “He does not bear the sword for nothing.” Our brave SEALs were surely right to carry it out. Michael Moore cites the example of the Nuremburg Trials. We didn’t just take the Nazis out and shoot them, but gave them defense attorneys and formal, public trials, he argues. Okay, Mr. Moore, but you forgot one thing: Before we tried the Nazis, we received the unconditional surrender of all German armed forces. It was called V-E Day. Maybe you’ve heard of it. The operation against bin Laden was morally comparable to the July 20th plot of Germans – most of them Christians – to kill Hitler in 1944. Would leftists today say that the German resisters should instead have arrested Hitler and put him on trial? In the book “Valkyrie,” Philipp von Boeselager tells of repeated attempts to kill Hitler. Boeselager is the last surviving member of the conspiracy. He notes that Hitler’s military cap was lined with several pounds of steel. And the Fuehrer regularly wore a bullet-proof vest. Thus, the army officers who sought to kill him when he visited their forward unit knew they would have to shoot him point blank – in the face. Which is just what our SEALs did with Osama bin Laden. As they say in the Navy, Bravo Zulu: Well done. Robert Morrison, who formerly served in the U.S. Coast Guard, is senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council.
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