Okay, I'm really getting sick of Reed's inconsistencies since the lead up to Civil War. But I was sure someone would explain why exactly Reed was giddy as a school girl after a national tragedy.
Reading JMS's newsarama interview, it looks like I have it:
"Moving back to story elements, when asked about Reed Richards’ motivation for joining the pro-registration side in Civil War, Straczynski said that in an upcoming issue, he has Peter Parker ask Reed that very question. As Straczynski related, Reed tells Peter about his uncle, who was a writer and creator, and was caught up in a McCarthy-esque witch hunt, and as a result, was jailed and saw his career destroyed. When Peter expresses his feelings of how horrible that must have been for Reed’s uncle, Mr. Fantastic says it was, but the law is the law is the law, and his uncle was wrong for not cooperating with the government – a stance by Reed which Peter finds unsettling."
The law is the law.
The problem is that Reed Richards has broken the law time and again when the laws were unjust. The FF got their powers only after Reed led them to steal a rocket ship from the government. In the run just previous to JMS's, Reed decides to defy international law that has given Doom safe haven and diplomatic immunity, and he frees the citizens of latveria.
Another problem? Reed testified against the Mutant Registration Act. And because of this, he's going to turn against Sue and Johnny, just to uphold a law that he may or may not agree with?
WTF?