Dante Alighieri in Translation

Dante Of all the people for consideration of placing in Inferno, Osama Ben Ladin is by far the most worthy candidate. He is directly responsible for the death of thousands of innocent men, women and children and has caused unspeakable grief and sorrow, not only in the United States, but around the world. His actions directly led to military intervention in Afghanistan and possibly in Iraq as well.

These events have led to the loss of thousands more, with many being civilians unable to escape the death and destruction of war. Ben Ladin is also guilty of betraying the Muslim religion, using it to justify hate, war, and mass murder and has mislead the religious beliefs of his followers. In doing so, he states that God has blessed a group of vanguard Muslims, the forefront of Islam, to destroy America.

There's no question of whether Ben Ladin should to go Hell, but rather a slightly more challenging task of figuring out where exactly in Hell he belongs because he is guilty of so many sins. Dante's Circles in Hell house souls based upon their type of sin, grouped in sin categories of incontinence, violence, fraud and betrayal. Dante ranks these sins based on their evil properties, the closer to the center of Hell a soul resides, the more evil their sin.

Based on the structure of Dante's Inferno, Ben Ladin has at least earned in place in lower Hell, The Realm of Violence and Fraud. He has committed every sin that would qualify him for Canto 12, Circle 7, Round 1, violence against neighbors and fellow men, murder, and war making. In this Level of Hell, Ben Ladin would accompany Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun and Chiron and Nessus.

However, it's more likely that Ben Ladin has earned a place in The Realm of Compound Fraud defined as treachery against those to whom sinners have special ties. In this realm, Ben Ladin's actions map to the Canto 34, Round 3 Judecca Region. The sinners in this Canto and Region include traitors to lords and benefactors and those who set out to destroy the rightful God. In this level, Ben Ladin would join Judas, Brutus, and Cassius.

Like these men, Ben Ladin has betrayed his religion and his God, but doing so differently with the pretext of a holy war conducted on his people's behalf through the approval of God. Therefore, his actions warrant the punished allocated to the Realm of Compound Fraud. In Dante's Hell, souls are not only separated based on their defining actions while alive, they are also punished in a way that reflects the severity of their deeds.

The punishment is based on any eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a notion Dante referred to as Contrapasso. At the least, Ben Ladin will be allocated to Canto 12, Circle 7, Round 1 where his punishment will be to be submerged in hot blood for eternity. He will be guarded by centaurs that will automatically shoot him if he should attempt to rise from the hot blood. It's appropriate that Ben Ladin should bathe in blood after causing so many blood bathes in the U.S. And abroad.

Just as nothing can ever bring back the innocent lives that he took or revert the pain and suffering of the family's who unexpectedly lost their loved ones, there's nothing that Ben Ladin can do to escape his eternal damnation and punishment. But, the punishment of Canto 34, Round 3 Judecca would be even more fitting for Ben Ladin. Here, he would be placed in the center of earth completely submerged in ice.

He would be held in Lucifer's mouth and Lucifer's wings would send forth freezing blasts of impotence, ignorance and hatred. Bin Ladin would be subjected to the same icy coldness as his uncaring actions that claimed the lives of innocent victims and he would be constantly reminded of his inaptness, stupidity and ire. All punishment in every level of Dante's Inferno is eternal, and Ben Ladin would never escape the grasp of Lucifer's mouth just as nothing will ever undo the damage to property and lives that Ben Ladin masterminded.

While Virgil provided a useful companion for giving comfort to Dante in his visit by confronting the frightening demons of Hell, Virgil's views of Hell are not sufficient for someone such as the likes of Ben Ladin. Unlike Dante, Virgil did not rank the appropriate place in Hell based on the severity of the sin. For Virgil, the exact nature of a doomed soul's suffering is not important; the mere existence of that suffering is enough to make Hell an undesirable place.

But, Ben Ladin belongs in a more severe category than those that are in The Gate of Hell or The Realm of Simple Fraud. He is guilty of atrocities that are far crueler than sins such as lust, flattery, and theft included in these Cantos and Regions. Also, Virgil is an inappropriate guardian based on his belief that suffering in Hell must be endured for at most a thousand years.

Virgil feels that once a soul's suffering is complete and he is cleansed, he may live the rest of the thousand years with others than have been similarly cleansed. These ideas are based on Virgil's faith in reincarnation. Contrary to Virgil's beliefs, Ben Ladin's stay in Hell must be permanent. His soul is too corrupt to ever be resurrected and justice demands that he.