Michael Moore To Piers Morgan On Bin Laden: 'We've Lost Something Of Our Soul' (VIDEO)

Michael Moore doubled down on his criticism of the killing of Osama bin Laden, telling CNN's Piers Morgan on Thursday that, while he is glad bin Laden is gone, America "lost something of [its] soul" in killing him without putting him on trial.

Moore first gained attention for calling the killing an "execution" in an interview on Wednesday, and he repeated that charge to Morgan. He also criticized people who went to Ground Zero to celebrate 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." Morgan asked him why he took issue with the way bin Laden died. Moore said that the killing deviated from the notion that everyone has a right to a trial:

"We've lost something of our soul here in this country...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."

He said people who did not want a trial for Bin Laden were "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."

WATCH:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Comments

[brainonbrett]

01:15 PM on 05/19/2011

Michael Moore is a sheep among sheepdogs. Him and his "soul" rhetoric. Are you serious?? The Right is wrong about every single thing?? Anyway, I wrote about Mr. Moore on my blog site a few days ago in response to his article on here about his thoughts on the bin Laden ordeal. Please check it out on my website. www.brainonbrett.com. I welcome all comments...and criticisms...

[Faith Bowie]

11:53 PM on 05/14/2011

I'm not anti Moore, I can see what he's saying but it just doesn't compute in these circumstances.

I do, however, take extreme offense to his BS Right-wing sounding rhetoric with a Liberal twist - it's ridiculous to say that if someone doesn't see things your way they hate the constitution and being American. That's crap Bush was saying to defend the war in Iraq. Please, please, stop using their own medicine against them. Are you forgetting that it sounds stupid when they say it?

[IncredulousInNorthDakota]

06:56 PM on 05/13/2011

In a perfect, world, Mike, I agree.
However, executing UBL was truly delivering justice, even without a "trial".
Trials CAN determine guilt or innocence, but don't always deliver justice.

[Reggie Licious]

05:53 AM on 05/14/2011

Don't forget that the term "justice" can mean two totally different things in two different persons' eyes.

To "bring someone to justice" without a proper trial can also be called arbitrary action.

[Reincarnation TPS]

04:44 PM on 05/13/2011

This all assumes that OBL could have been taken alive.....................

I doubt that's true..............

[kriket]

02:01 PM on 05/13/2011

I don't understand the argument for the execution of OBL being made that "he didn't look like he would surrender", so they just shot him in the eye. Like someone living in some country would expect american commandos to barge in and arrest him. If that argument was being made by Pakistani police or whatever legitimate Pakistani law enforcement agents, it would be legit. It certainly cannot be legitimate for foreign soldiers to expect from anyone to "surrender" to them. Would any American "surrender" to, say, Pakistani commandos barging into his own house in the USA? I don't think so.

[Loxinabox]

11:23 AM on 05/13/2011

The face of the Democratic party is not a pretty sight

[tudster88]

05:05 AM on 05/12/2011

yeah i think Moore is totally wrong on this issue. i see where his point about how the US works and how our judicial system supersedes many others systems, but i just cant agree with Bin Laden being on trial. Say we capture Bin Laden and bring him back to the US and put him trial, then what? we hold him in a cell until the trial ends, which like most high-profile trials in the US, would probably take years. This would just give time for Bin Ladens minions to plan something to get him back. Again, i understand and only agree with Moore about how our judicial system in general, but in this case, in this situation, there was no other option than to kill bin laden. Bang, in the head...goodbye! life is now just a little bit safer.

[Genders]

04:25 PM on 05/12/2011

We could have tried Osama in court long ago. Since Osama bragged about killing, I don't have a giant problem, but we easily could have follow the laws in this case and still executed him. Just try these terrorists in absentia before we take out a contract on them.

[Terri Dowd]

01:32 PM on 05/13/2011

I agree with you (and many others) that taking him alive & putting him on trial would have put Americans at further risk. However, I do agree with him that while it is okay to be happy that bin Laden is dead, I think it dehumanizes us to celebrate the killing of another person, however horrid they may have been. I also agree that we do not need to see the pictures, because in this day & age, you just know that they would be everywhere & photoshopped to death in ways we don't need to see.

[exile]

11:40 PM on 05/10/2011

"I hear a lot of people often say, what would Jesus do?" he said.
lol
that's kinda lame mike
i hear that probably once every 3 or 4 years

meanwhile
mike
go through seal training
please
i used to like your work
now i wonder if that's a mistake.

[victoria ghy]

10:27 PM on 05/10/2011

I, too, am normally a fan of Mr. Moore, but feel differently on this occasion. I would like to know how Mr. Moore would handle all of the likely kidnappings that would require the exchange of bin Laden, had we captured him rather than killing him. There was no other way of handling this situation and it was bin Laden who painted himself into this corner. We had no alternate choice, even if it is said that we didn't go in knowing we would kill him. What would happen if we had bin Laden in custody? What if terrorists captured innocents and asked for the release of bin Laden? Would we give him up again or let the terrorists kill those innocents? The killing of bin Laden takes that horrible situation out of the realm of possibilities. We were left with no other options BUT to kill him.

[TaoistG]

05:13 PM on 05/14/2011

absolutely best point made about this decision.

[binisdead]

07:56 PM on 05/10/2011

I think Michael Moore needs his head examined.

[jokerdanny]

03:40 PM on 05/10/2011

i usually agree with michael moore, but on this topic i have one question for him....you know which nazis we didn't put on trial?....the one's that got shot in the head!....(and a few scientists)

[libwithaclue]

04:25 PM on 05/10/2011

After you contract have breast cancer. What an ugly thing for you to say. You sound like a b|tch on wheels.

[KWHOO]

05:12 PM on 05/10/2011

Congratulations, you out uglied her. You must be so proud.

[HannaSchmitz]

04:31 PM on 05/13/2011

Ok, why don't you also reply to LIBWITHACLUE? He wished me cancer. Why don't you saynsomething to him/her? Because you don't care about a liberal saying that do you? BTW, I'm a liberal not a fan of MM

[redbud9]

12:41 PM on 05/13/2011

Nope....Michael Moore.

[Gerald Sheffield]

02:40 PM on 05/10/2011

Tuesday morning quarterbacking helps none. I would understand your POV if the American public was sitting in the situation room giving the order. Unfortunately, this was decided in the mind of a man who decided he wanted to live to tell the story and see his family, not possibly get shot or blown up in the process with no evidence to gather and another failed raid under a democratic prez. The 60 mins interview clearly stated there was a 50/50 chance OBL was not even in that house, let alone if the house was rigged. This was the best option giving the circumstances and ultimate result...

[Billar]

01:23 PM on 05/10/2011

President Obama called it right with the bin Laden operation. We should all be proud of the exemplary job done by SEAL team6 and the National Security Team.

[Gerald Sheffield]

02:21 PM on 05/10/2011

Exactly. This was planned out over a year in advance. I think the options were pretty clear by the time this mission was carried out. I know guys like this. Every option was considered in the planning.