Should We Kill When We Can Capture The Enemy

I believe it was a mistake to kill Bin Laden. If we had taken him alive, as apparently we could have done, he would have faced trial as a mass murderer. As my friend Ben says about taking him alive: "I believe that Osama would have lost a lot of his lustre as a federal prisoner, rather than his status now as a mythic figure  ever in the imagination of his still numerous followers.  But forget about propaganda for the moment--we had the opportunity to take the man alive, to do justice the right way, and we just did not do it."

I think that even those who are known to have participated in mass murder, whether they are common criminals, heads of organized crime syndicates or leaders of states who have committed crimes against humanity, they should be captured, if possible, and tried in domestic or international courts.