Reply #16: Dowd is dumb as a stump.

[Vattel]

Dowd: "The really insane assumption behind some of the second-guessing is that killing Osama somehow makes us like Osama, as if all killing is the same."

Nice straw man Dowd. Assert that some of the second-guessing is premised on the belief that all killing is the same. Then ridicule that silly belief. Brilliant.

Dowd: "Only fools or knaves would argue that we could fight Al Qaeda’s violence non-violently."

Again, who says that we could? Dowd can really kick ass when she fights straw men.

Dowd: "President Obama was prepared to take a life not only to avenge American lives already taken but to deter the same killer from taking any more. Aside from Bin Laden’s plotting, his survival and his legend were inspirations for more murder."

I didn't know that a dead person can be deterred from taking lives. Setting that aside, who knows whether OBL's death will, on balance, save lives? Dowd doesn't. She says that his survival would inspire murder? Maybe. Of course his being killed might also inspire murder.

Dowd: "The president chose the riskiest option presented to him, but one that spared nearly all the women and children at the compound, and anyone in the vicinity. Unlike Osama, the Navy Seals took great care not to harm civilians — they shot Bin Laden’s youngest wife in the leg and carried two young girls out of harm’s way before killing Osama."

This is an important point to make. I too applaud the President for his choice of an operation that minimized risk to innocent bystanders. If only this were his usual modus operandi.