Visual Rhetoric Essay

On September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the U.S. orchestrated by the Al Qaeda terrorist network killed nearly 3,000 people. The following month, the U.S. launched military action in Afghanistan, after accusing the ruling Taliban government of harboring Al Qaeda and its leader, Saudi exile Osama bin Laden. As part of its antiterrorism effort, the U.S. targeted Al Qaeda officials in Afghanistan, capturing or killing many of them. However, bin Laden remained elusive, periodically releasing video messages from undisclosed locations to prove he was still alive. The U.S. mission was accomplished on May 1, 2011, when U.S. forces killed binLaden in a raid on a fortified compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where he had taken refuge. A team of Navy SEALs (members of an elite Sea, Air and Land unit) shot bin Laden twice after he reportedly resisted capture during the nighttime raid. U.S. officials declared that DNA testing proved that it was binLaden. However, they did not produce bin Laden's body or photos of his corpse; instead, they wrapped him in a cloth and buried him at sea in accordance with the Muslim custom of burying the dead within 24 hours of death.

Bin Laden's death was met with widespread rejoicing in the U.S. and in many other parts of the world. However, it also prompted debate. Should the troops have killed bin Laden or should they have captured him alive? Military officials said the goal had not been to kill bin Laden, but that the soldiers had been forced to do so after he resisted.

Critics insist that the SEALs should have tried harder to capture bin Laden alive because the U.S. could have gained valuable information through interrogating him. Others condemn the killing as mere revenge; a civilized nation would have captured him and placed him on trial to ...