Another Osama Post: was it legal?

I don't like Osama.  Part of me is glad he is dead.  It is my id and recently, everyone's id's have taken over.  The id is basically the our libido, our base emotions, and our bloodlust.   Everyone has these, though some are more repressed than others.  An event like this brings even the most repressed beings some sense of cathartic vengeance.

That being said, were we right in killing him?  Not did it satisfy us, but was it the ethical thing to do and was it the strategic thing to do?  I lean towards no on both.


We created a martyr.  Plain and simple.  Al Quaeda did not have a lot of power, most of their work was "endorsing" suicide bombers.  Osama himself also didn't have a lot of power.  This gives Al Quaeda more of a reason to fight and puts Osama into martyrdom. We also basically secured that we are staying in that region longer and wasting more tax resources.


Should we have assassinated a foreign leader?  According to many of the previous presidents, no.  Ford issued an executive order saying no US employee shall engage in political assassination and Bush Sr. and Clinton supported the idea that assassinations were illegal.  However, I guess post 9/11, all the rules of law go out the window.  


I don't want to let the guy go free, I want to give him a trial.  It makes us look much more civilized first of all.  Secondly, if you look through our history, you will see we always try foreign targets, even as recent as Saddam...He got a trial.  The Nazis had the Nuremberg Trials.  And you want to say "Al Quaeda isn't an official group"? We gave Khalid Sheikh mohammed a trial.   


So I ask you, is Osama truly worse than Hitler?  Why didn't Osama get a trial?  Its not like when he was cornered, he was a serious threat, he was unarmed.