A reader writes:
When I was in Iraq I was on a mission once to find a dead Marine. The Marine had been killed, pulled out of his truck, and dragged through the streets. This is what these people thought of us. The people we had been told we were helping, and we thought, naively, had wanted our help. The war had just begun but this was a wake-up call that not all was at we were told. After dragging his body through the streets they hid his body somewhere. Our job was to recover it. We searched high and low throughout the town, but we never found him. Apparently, his body was discovered a few weeks later in garbage dump. In death bin Laden's body was given better treatment than is showed by our enemies to us. That is the way it should be. There is a difference between us, and too often we have went the easy route, but this time at least we remained true to our values. We gave one of our bitterest enemies all the rites of burial that are too often withheld from ours.
The other night when I learned of his death I was stunned and didn't believe the text message that told me he was dead.
Turning on the news and watching it all I sat dumb on my couch in disbelief. I saw the people that were gathering outside the White House celebrating and I understood why they were there. My girlfriend asked if I wanted to go but I didn't want to. I couldn't celebrate. Instead we went to a dark, dim local pub–the kind of bar that Marines always feel at home in–and I bought some Jim Beam watched the President's speech, and cried–for the first time in years. I don't cry at all ever, but that night I couldn't help it. I thought of all the pain, suffering, and sacrifice, and thought that maybe, just maybe, it finally means something. So while I could never go celebrate an event like that with jubilation and dancing in the streets, I don't condemn those that do.
(Photo: Jessica Falcone holds a candle and a photo of her Uncle, Craig Silverstein, who died on 9/11, during a candlelight vigil for 9/11 victims at a memorial site following the death of Osama Bin Laden May 2, 2011 in East Meadow, New York. 344 Nassau County residents lost their lives during the attacks on the World Trade Center. By Daniel Barry/Getty Images.)
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