Quid Est Veritas: Is That You Isoroko? Taking Out Bin Laden

By Patrick Weadon

“A man cannot lay down the right of resisting them that assault him by force, to take away his life.” - Thomas Hobbes

The recent death of Mr. Bin Laden may seem like a unique event, but history tells a different story. In fact, there have been other critical moments in the past where U.S. forces have sought to eliminate the leaders of our adversaries.

In the spring of 1943, U.S. code breaking elements in the Pacific intercepted a Japanese navel message noting in excruciating detail, that Admiral Isoroko Yamamoto, the chief architect of Japan’s naval operations in the Pacific, planned to travel to several Japanese installations in the Solomon’s. To boost morale, the Admiral would be traveling by air. After some thought, U.S. leaders determined that it might be possible for a squadron of U.S. Army Air Corps P-38’s based on Guadalcanal to intercept his plane and take him out.

As David Kahn notes in the seminal work of the code breakers, “The question was: Should the order be given? If Yamamoto were shot down, would a better man succeed him? The answer was no.

Yamamoto was the dominant figure of the Japanese Navy. American intelligence rated him as ‘exceptionally able, forceful, and quick thinking,’ if at the start of the Pacific War,” wrote Commander Fuchida, leader of the Pearl Harbor attack.

“A poll had been taken among Japanese naval officers to determine the choice of the man to lead their Commander in Chief Combined Fleet, there is little doubt that Admiral Yamamoto would be selected by an overwhelming majority.” In addition, U.S. naval officers knew that it was Yamamoto who had slaughtered their shipmates and wrecked their ships at Pearl Harbor.

To most at the time, the decision was an easy one. And on April 18, 1943, the P-38 pilots, in a brilliant but daring attack, found their prey and shot the admiral from the skies over Bougainville. As Kahn noted, when the Japanese lost Yamamoto it was akin to the Allies losing Eisenhower, Marshall and Churchill in one fell swoop.

So, with the above in mind (and with history as our guide), was it appropriate and proper for the United States to shoot Bin Laden in cold blood? The answer is unequivocally, yes!

As stated in the May 17 edition of the Associated Press, “They had trained for this… They had to blow their way through barriers at each stair landing, firing back, as one of the men in the house fired at them… As three of the SEALs reached the top of the steps on the third floor, they saw bin Laden standing at the end of the hall. Bin Laden also saw them… and ducked into his room. The three SEALs assumed he was going for a weapon, and rushed after him through the door… Two women were in front of bin Laden… trying to protect him…. The first SEAL grabbed the two women and shoved them away, fearing they might be wearing suicide bomb vests. The SEAL behind him opened fire at bin Laden, putting one bullet in his chest, and one in his head. It was over in a matter of seconds.”

From the aforementioned story one can only conclude the SEALs, who carried out the raid, like the pilots pursuing Yamamoto, were operating in a Hobbesian “state of nature” where the only law available to them was the business-end of their firearms.

To return to Yamamoto, some experts in international law might suggest that rather than shoot him down, the P-38’s could have forced the plane to land, taken him into custody and then shipped him off to the states for trial by military tribunal. First off, most would agree the chances of forcing the plane to land were slim to none. Second, Yamamoto had given no quarter at Pearl Harbor and he should not have been surprised the pilots pursuing him that day were intent on giving him some of his own medicine. In the same vein, based on his past conduct at murdering innocents, Bin Laden should not have been surprised the U.S. was more than willing to play by his rules when the time came to get him.

Let me be clear, the rule of law is sacrosanct, but there are times when self-preservation trumps everything. You cannot obey the law if you are dead. Thus, upon hearing of Bin Laden’s demise, I did not celebrate or call a right wing talk show for purposes of stirring up hatred against Muslims. I simply said a prayer of thanks that an evil and unforgiving man had finally been purged from the face of this planet.