Good riddance to an iconic enemy of freedom

10.MAY.11

EDITOR: “If we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistan government is afraid to take him out, then we will do what we have to do and take him out.” Those brazen words were expressed by a newly inaugurated President Barack Obama, who made good on his promise nine days ago.{{more}}

Peace-loving world citizens are indebted to the small band of US navy seals for erasing Osama bin Laden from the war on terror equation. Indeed, the death of this terror mastermind is a resounding triumph for world justice and freedom. No doubt, there will be reprisals from Islamic Extremists to avenge their infectious leader’s death, but this fear cannot overshadow the universal feeling of elation that resonates.

It is notable that President Obama and the select few US officials who knew what was about to happen, remained tight-lipped after US intelligence officials discovered Bin Laden’s compound last August. This was after monitoring the al-Qaeda leader’s trusted courier, who inadvertently led them to the fortified compound in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad, 50 miles from capital Islamabad! The CIA has been monitoring that courier ever since Guantanamo Bay detainees informed interrogators that he might be living with the terror leader.

What is mind-boggling, if not embarrassing for the Pakistani government, is that bin Laden’s million dollar mansion was located in plain sight of Pakistani military officials/facilities, including a military academy! Nestled in an affluent neighbourhood, the compound was surrounded by tell-tale walls as high as 18 feet, topped with barbed wire. Two security gates guarded the only entrance. A third floor terrace was conveniently shielded by a seven-foot privacy wall. No phone lines or Internet cables ran to the property and the suspicious residents burned their garbage rather than put it out for collection.

Indeed, the Pakistani military top brass would be hard-pressed to refute claims of complicity in providing sanctuary for the notorious mass murderer for over five years! Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s complaint: “America coming to our territory and taking action is a violation of our sovereignty. Handling and execution of the operation [by US special forces] is not correct. The Pakistani government should have been kept in the loop” shows that Mr Musharraf is trying to cover his crooked tracks.

Previous evidence has shown that the Pakistanis cannot be trusted in the fight against international terrorism. The Pakistan government’s well publicised, staunch resistance to granting the United States Air Force permission to hunt al-Qaeda leaders in the impregnable mountainous interior of tribal Pakistan certainly fortifies the argument that every Muslim, (humanitarian or terrorist),watches one another’s back. What’s more, the CIA has also frequently uncovered evidence that many Pakistani officials were sympathetic to the al-Qaeda cause. No wonder the US officials did not bring the Pakistanis “into the loop” in their successful mission to take out bin Laden.

It is imperative that brainwashed Islamic students acknowledge that Osama bin Laden, the iconic leader of al-Qaeda, showed cowardice in the face of death by using his teenaged wife as a human shield. Instead of hiding in a cave, he lived in an affluent mansion, while authorizing innocent Muslims on suicide missions in the name of Allah. Here is a man who has masterminded the deaths of thousands of innocent victims, including 9/11, Embassy bombings in Nairobi and Tanzania and the hit on HMS Cole. Cowering behind a woman to feint death is symbolic, because it showed how much he valued his life.

The taking out of OBL will certainly boost Barack Obama’s presidency ratings, since it comes at the lowest ebb in his tenure as Commander-in-Chief. With blatantly prejudiced Republican bigwigs snubbing the President’s ambitious and proactive health care plan and frustrating his economic recovery programme, the US government was on the verge of a virtual shutdown last month! Unlike George Bush’s ambiguous and braggadocious leadership style, President Obama didn’t want to risk notifying the shady Pakistani officials; that’s why he displayed clear and decisive leadership in ordering the classical and surgical strike.

Osama bin Laden’s death does not guarantee a safer world, since no one knows if this charismatic leader’s demise would dispirit his followers or galvanise them into a campaign of terror and reprisal. What it does, is bring some measure of closure to the heart-wrenching family members of victims of his reign of terror. May he rot in hell!!!



Collin CA$H Haywood