Am I Crazy?

I totally believe in the death penalty for those who are undoubtedly guilty of murder that is not in self defense. Still, I find myself deeply disturbed by the horrific deaths and images of dead bodies bandied about on the internet and TV these days. I am largely ignorant about the extent of Gaddafi and bin Laden's crimes against humanity and am more than willing to hear what those more knowledgeable have to say, but I struggle to find the deaths of two men who I do not know to be murderers personally justified. Americans so value their "freedom of speech", so how do you celebrate the death of men who seemed to have simply used their speech to convince others to do their dirty work

I am also hesitant to group the two together. As far as I know bin Laden did not oversee executions as Gaddafi did. He was a zealot with charisma, but I don't believe that he forced anyone to do anything he or she did not want or choose to do. Guilty of conspiracy sure, but deserving of being killed while in his home with his family, I'm not so sure. Not to mention the "collateral damage" incurred during the murder/assassination. Gaddafi did supposedly oversee executions and certainly abused his power. Does that justify his horrible torture and murder? Maybe only those subjected to his tyranny can answer that and I suppose they already have.

Still, I find myself singularly disturbed by these events in the last year. Even the most liberal of American media figures seem to find justice, and even amusement in the deaths of these men. My socialist friends who staunchly oppose the death penalty in the US, hardly blinked at the gruesome deaths of these two Muslims. And I can't help but wonder if that is not at the heart of this--I mean the Muslim part. The US has been going into foreign countries and killing terrorists like bin Laden and Awlaki among others. Of course, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, as they say. I, personally, can say that I did understand to some extent the anger of the Irish back in the 80s and 90s; not that I believe what the IRA did was right. Were these Muslims so different? So undeserving of any kind of due process under the law? We keep proven serial killers on death row for years while their sentences are appealed, but swoop in and brutally murder "terrorists" on foreign soil.

I know that many will be offended and I would appreciate any educated insights into this topic. Maybe I am missing something. Or maybe there are others at least uncomfortable with these murders and I just haven't heard from them.