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Michael Moore: Bin Laden Execution Shows We've Lost Our Soul
By
John Del Signore
Published May 6, 2011
Modified May 6, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published May 6, 2011
Modified May 6, 2011
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Michael Moore was on Piers Morgan's show last night to say, "We've lost something of our soul here in this country" by "executing" Osama bin Laden without a trial. Moore is disappointed that the unarmed bin Laden was not taken alive, because he still believes in due process and crap like the Magna Carta. Moore contends the Al Qaeda leader was intentionally executed, and he thinks the right to a trial is "something that separates us from other parts, other countries where we say everybody has their day in court no matter how bad of a person, no matter what piece of scum they are, they have a right to a trial...after World War II, we just didn't go in and put a bullet to the head of all the top Nazis. We put them on trial." Whatever, hippie!
Moore was also critical of the spontaneous celebrations that took place after the news broke of bin Laden's death. "I hear a lot of people often say, what would Jesus do?" he said. "I don't think Jesus would go down to Ground Zero like a lot of people did...and have a party." But it's the lack of a trial that infuriates Moore, and he says those who just wanted to kill bin Laden are "saying that you hate being an American. You hate what we stand for, you hate what our constitution stands for. We stand for something different than that and we're better than them... We've lost something here."
Moore has been skeptically tweeting since the mission was accomplished, making statements like "What's so wrong w/ just saying the truth? 'We executed him.' Fine. I'm guessing most would applaud u. So I like trials! Call me an American!" He also wrote, "I'm not opposed 2 dumping him in the sea, I agree no monument 4 a mass murderer, I just don't need the added BS of 'according 2 Mulism law.' " In a follow-up, he added, "Yes, and to repeat, whenever I've gone 2 the funeral of a Muslim friend in Detroit, we all hop in a chopper & drop the body in Lake Erie." The Hollywood Reporter has a good roundup of Moore's most "controversial" tweets, which, if anything, just demonstrate how shocking the truth can be to some Americans.
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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