Dalai Lama suggests Osama bin Laden's death was justified

The Dalai Lama spoke to a crowd of about 3,000 students at USC's Galen Center on Tuesday. Wednesday he is scheduled to accept an award in Long Beach and speak at UC Irvine. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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As the leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the 14th Dalai Lama says he practices compassion to such an extent that he tries to avoid swatting mosquitoes "when my mood is good and there is no danger of malaria," sometimes watching with interest as they swell with his blood.

Yet, in an appearance Tuesday at USC, he appeared to suggest that the United States was justified in killing Osama bin Laden.

As a human being, Bin Laden may have deserved compassion and even forgiveness, the Dalai Lama said in answer to a question about the assassination of the Al Qaeda leader. But, he said, "Forgiveness doesn't mean forget what happened. … If something is serious and it is necessary to take counter-measures, you have to take counter-measures."

Via Weasel Zippers