The U.S. has killed a monster it helped to create.
But eventually the U.S. will just have to stop brutalizing Muslims. Only then might the U.S. have an actual national security policy. Only then might the U.S. have enough money to take care of its citizens. Only then might Muslims (and others living in predominantly Muslim countries) have a chance of living in freedom.
The other night we had a pretty good discussion-debate in which more than one person alleged that my aversion to I-woulda-loved-slittin'-OBL's-throat rhetoric suggested I didn't care sufficiently about 9-11 victims. With help from other commenters, I dispatched with the demagogic argument, but it got me thinking about how much we care, or don't care, about victims of brutality. (Here's where I can plug my friend's documentary about Simone Weil, who contemplated our responsibility in the face of suffering.)
As left-wingers of various stripes, we all by definition care about victims of brutality in all forms, but the intensity of our concern often depends on various human but unhealthy impulses. Simply put: we're more likely to care about victims who remind us of us. That's why white culture obsesses over the murders of wealthy white people while virtually ignoring the deaths of poor blacks. And it's why we weep for the victims of 9-11 while shedding few tears for the victims of American violence. In fact, the tribalism in the second example is likely to be especially strong because it's "our side" perpetuating the violence.
We tell ourselves stories to exonerate ourselves. Our motives are better than those of our enemies. There's no moral equivalence because they target civilians whereas we kill them by accident. We believe in liberal values. Yet through the fog of rationalization emerges one towering fact: the violence "we" do to "them" is so so so much greater (not worse, greater) than the violence they do to us. By Stephen Walt's estimation, the United States has killed more than a million Muslims since 1980 -- that's more than a 9-11's worth of killing every month. The actual number could be 1.5 million or 600,000, but you get the idea.
But even if we don't give a toss about the dignity, human rights, and lives of Muslims, we should still oppose American policy in the Middle East because it amounts to a terrorist-producing machine. The government want us to believe that the GWOT is making us safer. It's a lie. Robert Pape has amassed an extensive body of research showing that occupation is faraway the leading cause of anti-American suicide bombing. I'm grateful for his research, but I don't need an academic to tell me American violence breeds anti-American violence any more than I need one to tell me a punch in a bar tends to lead to more punches.
So even if your heart aches only for "our" victims, you should want the same thing as those Americans who care deeply about citizens in Gaza or Kabul or Sanaa.
The U.S. has to stop invading, occupying, and dropping bombs on Muslim-majority countries.
And the U.S. has to stop waging a "secret" special ops war in dozens of Muslim-majority nations.
And stop maintaining military bases in Muslim-majority nations and thereby deny Al Qaeda an overwhelmingly popular policy position.
Distinguished American diplomats have to stop thinking that killing a half million Muslim children is "worth it."
The U.S. has to stop putting Muslims in gulags and abusing them.
And stop claiming the totalitarian authority to keep Muslims in prison for the rest of their lives without a trial.
And stop propping up and selling arms to dictators who oppress tens of millions of Muslims and commit "shocking and illegal" human rights abuses.
And stop kidnapping Muslims and handing them over to dictators to be abused.
And American politicians have to stop giving a pass to war criminals who torture Muslims.
The U.S. also has to stop enabling Israel's occupation and war crimes.
If it's going to create a more peaceful and just world, the U.S. should do all these things. Or at least some of them. But we're probably going to keep doing what we're doing.