Noam Chomsky Has Difficulty Quoting People Accurately

Eric Alterman on the killing of Osama bin Laden:

The killing of Osama bin Laden was a just and necessary undertaking; just because he had the blood of thousands of innocents on his hands, and necessary because his continued escape from justice was an inspiration to others to try to follow in his footsteps. But it should not be occasion for joy. The Talmud tells the story of angels dancing and singing as the waters of the Red Sea close over the heads of the Egyptian troops after the Israelites have safely crossed over, only to be rebuked by their God: "How dare you dance and sing as my children drown in the sea?"

Noam Chomsky on Eric Alterman:

[Geoffrey] Robertson attributes the murder to "America's obsessive belief in capital punishment—alone among advanced nations—[which] is reflected in its rejoicing at the manner of bin Laden's demise." For example, Nation columnist Eric Alterman writes that "The killing of Osama bin Laden was a just and necessary undertaking."

Eric "It Should Not Be Occasion For Joy" Alterman now counts as an "example" of "rejoicing at the manner of bin Laden's demise"? How so?

For the record, my view is that Alterman is too generous to the Obama administration here. Killing Osama bin Laden was a perfectly legal and valid course of action under US and domestic law, but the option of asking US forces to put themselves at risk for the sake of taking bin Laden alive seems to have existed. I don't think the government was under a legal obligation to pursue that option, but the decision not to pursue it was a policy choice and not a forced move.