The U.S. has an official policy that makes it illegal for the U.S. to assassinate people.
I don’t think the U.S. is very good at covert operations (at least big ones). It seems to me that there is a conflict in the minds of American politicians that will not allow the U.S. to be successful. Whether the chance of getting caught makes the U.S. timid, or it simply violates Americans’ sense of fair play is the reason, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the free press? Maybe it’s just bad luck?
Carter launched a covert operation to free the hostages held by Iran. Disaster. Poor planning, or “just one of those things”? When Hungary tried to throw off the yoke of Communism (at the urging of the U.S. especially) and asked for Western help, the U.S. didn’t help. The U.S. told the Kurds that we would help them overthrow Saddam Hussein. The Kurds rose up, but the U.S. didn’t help. Iran-Contra was supposed to free the hostages and help the anti-communists in South America. All over the news. Kennedy promised to help overthrow Castro in the Bay of Pigs invasion. The Naval and air support he promised did not come. Pilots were in their planes, the planes were on the cats, but the order came to stand down.
To be sure, there are most likely successful covert operations that came off splendidly; but we haven’t heard of them because they were covert. It seems though that the U.S. has been singularly unsuccessful when there is a high-profile job to be done that must be done with little fanfare. The former Soviet Union could do something and say, “So what? What are you going to do about it?” They knew we would not go to war over their little indiscretion.
Some Americans say, “Let’s kick their ass and take their gas!” and “Why don’t we do something?” And when we do do something and it becomes public knowledge, those same people are upset that other countries vilify us for it. I think Americans are very vain. As loud and obnoxious as we can be, I think most of us want to be liked. (In Europe, I was told that most Americans ask, “Do you like us?” or "What do you think of the U.S.?) The U.S. reminds me of a blue-collar worker who is invited to a formal dinner party. Very insecure, and unsure how to act. Sure, blue-collar-boy can lick any man in the house; but he’s trying to make a good impression.
So we have a law that forbids assassination. We lack the means to take out Bin-Laden covertly. We don’t have the temerity to do something that we will be severely criticized for.
Of course if Bin-Laden suddenly got dead, I don’t think the U.S. would shed any tears for him. The U.S. can only hope that someone else would do the dirty work for them.
