Patriotism
Killing bin Laden…Saluting our Soldiers
While visiting Los Angeles this week, I read a copy of Peter Bergen’s Man Hunt: The Ten Year Search for Bin Laden from 9-11 to Abbottabad. It’s a thrilling account of the teamwork and courage of both CIA operatives and the US military in bringing the world’s most wanted terrorist to justice. It seemed a fitting read for Memorial Day week.
There are a number of lessons we can learn from the killing of Osama bin Laden. More importantly, Bergen’s book gives us pause to thank the men and women of our incomparable armed services for what they do to protect and defend our freedoms on a daily basis.
I dedicate this blog to them–our truest heroes. We salute you with our prayers and thanks.
Lessons from Bin Laden
There are a number of insights to glean from the life of one of the most evil men of our generation–Osama bin Laden. We must understand him, because according to a 2007 Gallup Poll taken in ten Muslim nations, over 100 million of the estimated 1.2 billion Muslims on earth “whole-heartedly endorse bin laden’s rationale for 9-11 and the need for Islamic revenge on the West.”
That’s very sobering. And bin Laden’s death doesn’t solve the problem. If bin Laden has his way, more of them are coming because he believed like Muhammad that Muslims should “marry and increase in number because that increases the nation of Muslims.” Thus, bin Laden himself had over twenty children and a total of five wives (four at a time).
Lesson One: The Western world had better start valuing children more than radical Muslims and discipling them better than our adversaries. (We can do that with only one wife each.)
Following bin Laden’s escape at Tora Bora, little is known about his whereabouts. In 2006 he had a compound built in Abbottabad, Pakistan, which also was home to the Pakistani Military Academy. The 8000 square foot, 3-story residence housed three of his wives and about twelve of his children. The children sometimes went hungry in the austere environment.,
Bin Laden lived exclusively on the third floor of the residence from 2006 to 2011 with his youngest Yemeni wife, Amal, whom he married when she was seventeen (and he was forty-two). The accommodations were primitive in keeping with bin Laden’s frugal nature and the drying up of Al Qaeda funding.
Bin Laden spent his last years reading books in a Spartan office across from his bedroom, monitoring the news, giving a daily “jihad” speech to his family members, “pacing” in the vegetable garden each afternoon, and sending messages via the courier to his lieutenants. Bin Laden even cut his beard short and died it jet black to hide the effects of middle age.
To the end, he was confident that America would withdraw from the Middle East because we were soft. “Americans love life like we love death.” But the opposite proved true. Instead of America retreating, the 9-11 massacre served more as a 21st century Pearl Harbor that mobilized the nation against the evils of terrorism.
Lesson Two: We need to be more committed, informed, and devout in our faith in the loving God than bin Laden was to the cause of jihad.
Interestingly, Osama bin Laden was an Islamic version of a liberal politician. According to Bergen, he railed against the US dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he was anti-big business, he lamented the savage treatment of Native Americans in the colonial period, and he disparaged America for not signing the Kyoto treaty (affirming a commitment to global warming).
Bin Laden was simply a “green progressive” who handed out suicide vests. For six long years he lived peacefully in his Abbottabad compound trying to ignite the fires of terrorism worldwide.
The “lead” that brought about Laden’s death was a man named Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed, “the Kuwaiti,” who had taken an oath to be loyal to bin Laden. After five grueling years of intelligence gathering, the CIA was able to identify (through enhanced interrogations) the man who carried bin Laden’s messages from the Abbottabad compound to the world. A number of agents perished in pursuit of bin Laden’s trail–including a woman CIA operative with three young children.
Now let’s turn to the heroes who ended the life of the world’s most wanted man.
Saluting our Soldiers
Emblazoned in the marble floor of the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia are the following words: “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). It was a courageous commitment to that principle that led to the death of Osama bin Laden. We first salute the CIA who did the “finding.” Without their tireless efforts, bin Laden might never had been seen again.
Next we salute the entire US military–especially the Navy Seals, who are a part of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) located in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. They include the Army’s Delta Force, Rangers, and the Air Force’s Special Operations Air Regiment.
They were linked to this vision of Major General Stanley McCrystal who felt that the US needed to become more like Al Qaeda to defeat them–in his words “to be a network within a network.” It was all about winning, as McCrystal said: “making as few trips to Arlington Cemetery en route to that objective.”
SEAL Team 6, also called DevGru, is the elite portion of the JSOC–250 commandoes out of two thousand total specials ops. They are battle hardened and usually in their thirties. Their base is called Dam Neck which is near Virginia Beach. Basic training remains the hardest in the military and includes a “Hell Week” in which they swim fifty yards underwater with their hands tied behind their back and their feet tied together. The dropout rate is 90%.
Everything they do involves “relentless perseverance.” After Hell Week, they are required to use scuba gear underwater where instructors rip off their masks and flip off their oxygen tanks. Those who make the cut have to figure out how to remain calm and reestablish their lines to the life-giving oxygen. The point to all this is: “You are going to push people as hard as you possibly can. You push them to their mental, physical, and emotional limit so that when combat happens, they are ready.”
To practice for their Abbottabad mission, JSOC built a life-size replica of the suspected bin Laden compound both in Virginia and also in New Mexico where they practiced the raid at night in desert conditions.
Operation Neptune Spear took place in the dead of night on May 1, 2011. That particular evening had been chosen because it was a moonless night when the sky would be dark. (The next occasion would be thirty days later and the Administration felt their cover might be blown by then.)
CIA operatives inside Pakistan had also found a way to cut off electricity to the neighborhood for the raid–so bin Laden would have to meet the American’s who would bring him to justice in nearly absolute darkness. (The SEALS wore night-time goggles.)
The first helicopter on the raid nearly compromised the mission when it made a hard landing due to the desert heat. The tail of the helicopter broke off by hitting the stone wall that surrounded the compound and the chopper had to be shut down. The second one, which wanted to drop SEALS on the third story roof, had to land in another part of the compound.
SEALS from the downed helicopter first stormed the small house that was separate from the compound that housed the Kuwaiti courier and his wife. When the courier poked his head out through an iron gate he was shot twice in the chin and killed instantly. The silenced weapons made little noise.
Other SEALS secured the grounds by using a highly trained Belgian Malinois dog (similar to a German Shepherd) named “Cairo.” Cairo’s job was to track down any human beings who tried to escape. None did.
The SEALS then blasted one metal door to the compound, but found a solid brick wall behind it. Having no knowledge of the actual layout of the compound, they entered another door and ran up to the second floor where they encountered bin Laden’s 23-year old son, Khalid, who was shot and killed on the stairwell.
On the third floor, in pitch darkness (there were only two small windows on the floor where bin Laden lived with his 29-year old wife), bin Laden stuck his head out through a metal gate to see what was going on–then drew back inside. Fatally, he left the gate unlocked which gave easy access to the approaching SEALS.
According to military protocol, if bin Laden had said “I surrender,” the SEALS would have honored his request and taken him prisoner. But he did not. As three SEALS rushed into his room, bin Laden’s wife Amal shouted something in Arabic and threw herself in front of her husband. The first SEAL shoved her aside, assuming she might be carrying a suicide vest. Amal was shot in the calf by one of the SEALS and fell unconsicious onto their double bed mattress which lay on the floor.
Bin Laden himself offered no resistance. He was killed instantly when a double “tap” of shots hit him squarely in the chest and left eye–some of his brains splattering on the ceiling and oozing onto the bed.
Bin Laden was fifty-four when he met his Maker–and not the seventy virgins he had promised his henchmen. A measure of justice had been served to a man who authorized the killing of thousands of innocents.
The SEALS immediately radioed the Administration officials watching the raid on closed circuit television in the White House Situation Room. Their code words of triumph were “Geronimo”–meaning they had found bin Laden. The White House immediately asked in return, “Was bin Laden captured or dead?”
A few seconds later, the reply came back, “Roger, Gernomio EKIA (Enemy Killed In Action). There were gasps but no high fives among the officials at the White House. President Obama quietly said, “We got him, we got him.” Hours later he would announce to the world that Osama bin Laden was dead.
The SEALS then dragged bin Laden’s corpse down the three flights of stairs and loaded it into one of the awaiting helicopters (a third helicopter had arrived to take the place of the downed craft.) At this point, only about ten minutes had passed from the initial arrival of the SEALS. The final step, which took about 25 minutes to accomplish, was to wire up the downed helicopter and set it ablaze to not allow the secret stealth technology to get into enemy hands. The burning helicopter exploded in a fireball which began to draw neighbors to the site.
But the 25 SEALS were already gone. Bin Laden’s body was eventually buried at sea in a weighted body bag provided by the USS Carl Vinson. Photos had been taken for verification purposes and DNA samples eventually proved his identity. Because his visage was marred from the gunshots, the first “proof” that they’d gotten the right man was determined when a six foot four sailor laid out by the corpse to measure bin Laden’s height.
Six foot four inches–a rarity in the Middle East. The courageous SEALS had gotten their man.
In conclusion, we must be as devoted to changing the world for good as Osama bin Laden was to promoting jihad. And next time you see an American soldier, give him or her a firm handshake of appreciation.
We salute their dedication and sacrifice this Memorial Day week.
Getting Bin Laden: What Should Be Our Response
I’m in Washington, D.C. this week for meetings that include the National Day of Prayer on Thursday, May 5. Sunday evening I went down to the front steps of the US Capitol where a group of friends were beginning a “Bible-reading Marathon” where the Scriptures are read out-loud from cover to cover over a three day period. We anointed the steps with oil and then the public proclamation of God’s Word began.
Four hours later, now comfortably in my quarters directly behind the US Supreme Court building, I heard the news that President Obama was to make an unusual Sunday night announcement from the White House–just ten few blocks away. I and the nation waited an hour for the president to appear. But before he did (the White House must have been scrambling), the extraordinary news leaked out.
Osama bin Laden was dead.
Forty-five minutes later, the president came on television and told the American people the details of what had happened to the mastermind of 911 who killed thousands of innocent American citizens on September 11, 2001–now nearly ten years ago.
We had gotten our man. Justice had been rendered.
What should be our response?
Here’s how Family Research Council described the significance of the event:
“Four months from now, when Americans unfurl their flags over 10 years of loss, the families of 9/11 can finally mark the anniversary with the assurance that the man responsible has finally met his Maker. Most of us were just sitting down to Sunday dinner while, a half a world away, U.S. forces were engaged in one of the most significant military operations since 2001.”
“After months of coordination with American intelligence officials, an elite team of Navy SEALs stormed Osama bin Laden’s million dollar hideout in suburban Pakistan. With high-ranking security and military personnel watching from a situation room thousands of miles away, the assault was fast and furious. Forty minutes later, President Obama got the news the world had waited two decades to hear: the reign of America’s most wanted terrorist was over.”
“In an operation that showcased the power and precision of the U.S. military, 22 people were killed or captured–Osama bin Laden among them. For years, brave men and women, whose names we will never know, laid down their lives to see this mission accomplished. Today, their sacrifice is not in vain. The United States has sent a message to the world that terrorists can run and hide, but America will not rest until they’re brought to justice.”
There was an incredible atmosphere in the capital city that night. Thousands came down to the White House to celebrate the news. New York City also saw spontaneous crowds show up at Ground Zero–as did other US cities.
As I watched the details unfold, and in the coming forty-eight hours pondered the killing of the world’s most wanted man, I kept asking myself the following question: What should be our response to the death of one of the most evil men of our time?
Here are some of my conclusions. The second-to-last point may surprise you:
First, we should be very grateful for the courageous and skilled men and women of our US armed forces who are protecting our liberties and who exacted justice by killing Osama bin Laden. The elite group of Navy Seals who carried out the mission were amazing in their preparation and success. Behind them were all branches of our armed services who have been gallantly fighting the War of Terror for over a decade in Afghanistan, Iaq, and other nations around the world. Thousands have given their lives in that cause.
Because of their commitment and competence, we are still the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”
I salute our mighty warriors on a job well done. Their work is not finished–the greater war remains. But an evil and charismatic figure who guided much of the mayhem of the last ten years has now been removed from the battle field. This is good news for the world.
A Hitler of our generation is gone.
Thank you US military.
Second, praise is due for the leadership of President Obama, his Administration, those of the CIA and other intelligence branches who didn’t take their eye off the ball in finding the world’s most famous terrorist.
The story is now unfolding on how this operation came into being over the past five months; Five briefings with the president; Plans drawn up to carry out the mission including building a replica of the bin Laden fortress in Abbottobad that would be the site of the siege; The go ahead finally given; The president’s senior team watching and monitoring the mission; The word “Geronimo” being uttered–code for “we’ve found Osama bin Laden” just before his life was taken; Identifying his remains by DNA testing; His burial at sea being sensitive to Muslim practices and the wisdom to not allow a land-based burial “shrine” for the prince of terror.
Good job President Obama and team.
Third, thanks are due to former president George Bush and his administration who faithfully launched America’s response to terrorism after President Clinton’s dithering. George Bush laid the groundwork for the death of UBL. He didn’t get the satisfaction of seeing the terrorist leader brought to justice on his watch, but without his laser beam focus and policies he inaugurated, the Obama Administration would probably not have succeeded.
We are now learning that President Bush’s so-called “harsh interrogation techniques” including water-boarding were vital to getting the information that led to Osama bin Laden’s death. So was the use of Guantanamo Bay as a staging ground for captured enemy combatants.
Let’s put to rest the nonsense about “water-boarding” being torture and Guantanamo Bay needing to be shut down. These techniques are not torture and Guantanamo is necessary.
Thank you President Bush and team for preparing the way for victory.
Fourth, we should be happy for the survivors of 911 and the families who lost loved ones who now have a greater sense of closure after the attack. As President Obama declared, “Justice has been rendered.” That justice cannot bring back a lost loved one, but it reminds us that human life is important and should be avenged when it is unlawfully taken.
I will be visiting New York on Friday and Saturday and look forward to praying and having a greater sense of closure myself at the sight of Ground Zero. I’m sure many will be joining me there this coming weekend.
We need to keep persevering in prayer for the freedom and renewal of Islam worldwide. President Obama said one thing on Sunday night that was not true when he intoned that we were not fighting against the Muslim faith. Yes we are. We are fighting against one form of this global religion that is probably supported by thirty percent of its adherents.
Jihad is not an extreme fringe of the Muslim faith. It is a central teaching to many. Even those who are “peaceful Muslims” must admit that the advance of Islam over the past thirteen centuries has primarily been linked to violence and bloodshed. It is not the exception. It is the rule–from the time of Mohammed to the present day.
Most Muslim people are not murderers. But some of Islam’s tenets support it. They need to be repudiated.
Let’s pray that the current volatility in the Middle East and other Muslim nations will lead to an honest examination of their faith and the total rejection of violence. This could be a day of great salvation for the Muslim world.
Fifth, I was very disappointed by the celebrating in the streets over the death of Osama bin Laden. Though it was good for the world that an evil man had been taken from us, I don’t believe we should giddily applaud the death of anyone–even a mass murderer. Life and death are serious–and should be looked at with self-examination and sobriety. The European response to bin Laden’s death seemed to be more appropriate: sober joy.
Here’s why. As I looked at the pictures of the young people celebrating in the streets of Washington, D.C., I was struck with this reality: We, too, will meet our Maker one day. We, like Osama bin Laden, will have to give an account for the life we’ve lived, the choices we’ve made. That’s where real justice meets each individual–without exception.
As I looked into their celebrating faces, I thought about their lives–and mine. Are they sleeping with their girlfriends and will have to give an account to God? Do they cheat on their tests? Have some of them also joined in Obama bin Laden’s sin by killing other human beings through having an abortion?
Murder is murder–despite the quantity. It’s worthy of death.
When true justice dispensed, it’s not just for dictators. It’s for all of us. We stand on equal ground condemned by the sinful lives we’ve lived either in word or deed.
We should soberly think about that–and repent–before we celebrate or point fingers. Our day is coming too. Are we right with God through faith in Jesus Christ which washes away our sins?
Finally, let’s truly give thanks to God that justice has been achieved in small measure through the death of Osama bin Laden.
The theme of this year’s National Day of Prayer is “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” Let us celebrate his incredible holiness, justice, protection, and love.
That would be our wisest response.
Glenn Beck & 8-28: Pointing Us the Right Direction
Some friends attended the August 28 rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. spear-headed by talk-show host Glenn Beck. Most estimates pegged the crowd at 250,000 to 300,000 people. That’s an incredible turnout for a hot summer day. My friends came away amazed, excited, and encouraged that God is indeed at work in our nation.
I wasn’t able to be there due to attending a reunion in Montana. But from Big Sky Country I interceded for our nation on 8-28 from a golden wheat field in the morning and joined a prayer group at night in one of the farm houses that dot the landscape.
I believe August 28, 2010 was a special day for re-directing America.
Unfortunately, many members of the main-stream media missed it. The once illustrious New York Times–the paper that famously says it gives you “All The News That’s Fit to Print”–buried the story on page fifteen though Glenn Beck lives and does radio and TV from their fair city. Apparently this type of gathering was not “fitting” to their their secular progressive agenda. To its credit, the Washington Post put the story on its front page, but CNN labeled the rally “Conservative” and highlighted the large number of white people in attendance.
When was the last time you saw an environmental rally called a “Liberal” rally? And last time I checked, the United States was 65% made up of Caucasians–so they usually predominate at all rallies.
Obviously, the “Conservative” and “white” labels were deliberately used to create the impression that the people who attended 8-28 were “out of the mainstream” “fringe” and “extreme.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The 8-28 Rally was grassroots America awakening to a time of desperate need. It represented the true mainstream American.
I believe that libertarian Mormon Glenn Beck heard a word from God and obeyed him in calling for the 8-28 rally. He’s not Billy Graham, and he’s not the prophet Jeremiah. He’s not even an evangelical Christian. But he’s a concerned citizen with a respected voice that is pointing the way forward to liberty and renewal.
That’s a desperately important message because the current course of America is backwards–toward tyranny, poverty and mediocrity.
Now–after the rally–it’s time for the leaders of the American Church–pastors, teachers, evangelists and prophetic voices–to flesh out that direction for our people and nation and guide us back into the favor and blessing of God.
Here’s where the 8-28 rally pointed and how we must go forward.
HONOR – this was one of the rally’s great themes. Beck used the occasion to greatly thank the American troops who’ve been laying down their lives for freedom, both at home and around the world.
It’s time for the spiritual leaders of this nation to teach and preach the importance of courageously fighting evil during our time.
CHARACTER – The 8-28 rally took place on the same day that Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the same location–the Lincoln Memorial. Some of Dr. King’s most famous words were prominent at the Beck event–that we should be “judged not by the color of our skin, but by the content of out character.” Glenn Beck exhorted America to “self-regulation”–what used to be called “self government”–which is at the heart of successful societies.
Self-regulated people do not seek entitlements or allow themselves to become slaves to a growing welfare state. They agree with the words of James Madison who said: ” We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments.”
It’s time for our spiritual leaders to equip God’s people to live lives of holiness, self-control, and to speak out against the sins of our day that are destroying our families and our children.
PRAYER – The 8-28 Rally didn’t focus on prayer as Washington For Jesus did in 1980, but prayers to God were uttered, expressing our need to turn to Him. Returning to God begins with prayer as humble intercession is the doorway to friendship with our Creator. God made us to be dependent beings on Him. One of our great sins of our affluent time period is the spirit of independence which brazenly reveals itself in prayerlessness.
It’s time for our spiritual leaders to lead the way back in prayer! We must fast and pray, make prayer a prominent feature in our corporate life, and learn once again that “what a person is on their knees before God, that’s what they are–nothing more.” (Robert Murray McCheyne). A growing prayer revival is the most certain means to national reformation.
REPENTANCE – This vital area was not taught in detail at 8-28, but it was implied by the very gathering itself. Glenn Beck said “We need to return to God.” That’s the basic definition of repentance–a U-turnaway from self-centered living into a God-centered lifestyle that serves and blesses others. Repentance is change from a me-orientation to a God-and-others outlook. It’s having the necessary humility to admit where we’ve gone wrong and to change directions.
It’s time for the spiritual leaders in our churches to call their congregations, cities and towns, to repent before God. We need to learn once again to hate sin and love righteousness. This was the greatness of past American revivals: the pastors of the nation led the people in repentance and faith. It is needed once again.
UNITY – This was one of the crowning achievements of the 8-28 gathering numbering hundreds of thousands in Washington, D.C. . They dropped their petty differences, theologies, races, and issues, and came together in heartfelt unity to call the nation back to God. When times are desperate, you shouldn’t care whether a Mormon, a Quaker, or even dumb donkey calls you to attention. What’s important is agreeing on the truth of the message. I’ve read some people who take issue with Glenn Beck’s Mormonism or possible motivations. I don’t care. His message is from God.
Jerry Falwell got this right during the days of the Moral Majority, which, at the least, retarded the pace of cultural decline in America during the 1980s. Dr. Falwell, a strong fundamentalist, didn’t care who joined the coalition to improve American morality. All hands were needed on deck. When the ships going down, it doesn’t matter who mans the bailing cans. The 8-28 rally ended with hundreds of different leaders uniting in prayer and common commitment.
It’s time for the spiritual leaders of America to call for sacrificial unity among people of good will. United we can stand tall once again. Divided, we will collapse as a nation and civilization.
VALUES OR WORLDVIEW – At the center of the 8-28 rally was the recognition that our nation was built upon Judeo-Christian foundations that are the secret to liberty and prosperity. In fact, the American Revolution was a quantum leap in applying Christian maxims to governing institutions. A decidedly Christian worldview is the genius of the United States of America. That worldview shows great toleration to people of all faiths and those of no faith.
But you can’t have America without Christian beliefs. This is why the people gathered on 8-28. Our current leaders are trying to dismantle the Christian foundations in this nation and replace it with a godless secularism. That is the wrong direction. We must turn back to faith in God and put his principles back to work in all aspects of our culture. America can’t exist without a Christian worldview.
The spiritual leaders of the US must teach the Christian worldview to their people and the nation. We must once again believe that “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17).
Glenn Beck and the 8-28 rally are pointing us the right direction. Honor, character, prayer, repentance, unity and Christian values.
Spiritual leaders of the USA: Rise to your duty and lead us all the way home! May your pulpits once again be aflame with righteousness for the glory of God.