This blog explores the contemporary political and cultural trends from a distinct perspective

Fist things first. USA gave an accurate and truthful account of the mid night encounter in which Osama bin Laden was killed. Had the same event happened in my part of the world, the Government would have lied saying that the man was armed and was using women as human shield. A rifle or M-16 would have been placed next to him to make it appear that the truth has been said. I appreciate the Obama Administration and the Navy Seal VI unit for resisting the temptation to score brownie points. Second, as I have often said the Pakistani Administration was abetting in the crime of shielding Osama. The fact that he was found within meters of the Military Base at Abbotabad shows that the ISI and the Army knew of the high value asset located there. It is quite possible that the Pakistanis surrendered Osama bin Laden to the US for some concessions in Afghanistan. The truth will eventually come out. For the moment let us assume that the civilian administration knew little of value. The CIA, NSA, the Department of Defense handed the entire Operation Gerimono is a professional manner, and they deserve a big round of applause.

There has been a controversy over the burial--some would even say, hasty and thoughtless--of the body of Osama bin Laden. The fact is that a tomb or burial site anywhere in South Asia would become a magnet for would be jehadis and a cult would have grown around it. A lieux de memoire is uncalled for and an anonymous burial was the need of the hour. The body of the terrorist could have been burnt and disposed off. Instead the Arabian Sea has been polluted with this corpse. The Obama Administration did what it thought best and it need not have revealed the facts about the disposal of the body. A picture of the dead Osama should have been published in order to quell the nay sayers and the inevitable conspiracy mongers. Why there was such haste is disposing off the remains of Osama bin Laden. USS Carl Vince and its identity ought not to have been revealed.

 The hunt for Osama bin Laden was long and wearisome. Countless false leads and deliberately misleading clues were sifted in order to establish the identity of al-Kuwati the courier whose existence was first revealed by Khalili,a Git Mo detainee. In fact the success of the operation shows that the policy of questioning the detainees in a thorough manner was not off the mark. The CIA did a good job in tracking down the fugitive. I do not know why the lack of internet connectivity was troubling. The man was using a data card and it is just possible that WI FI connectivity was there. As for telephone who has land lines in these days of mobile phones. I just do not think that these were important clues that led to the identification of Osama bin Laden. I would like one of the 22 seals who participated in this encounter to write the history of this extraordinary event which in the words of a great historian of ages past, an event likely to be remembered for eons to come.


Comments
on May 04, 2011

Bahu Virupaksha - I see there is no point on covering OBL as you have laid it on the table nice and official like. I took stock when you disclosed how distrustful you felt about your government, not because I am knowledgeable on the subject, but because you live there and have firsthand experience, humm. When I think of conspiracies, I think of people conspiring to commit some dastardly deed or another. My nondescript dictionary defines CONSPIRACY as follows.

1. a secret plan or agreement between two or more people to commit an illegal or subversive act
2. the making of a secret plan or agreement to commit an illegal or subversive act
3. a group of people planning or agreeing in secret to commit an illegal or subversive act

At no point could I make the connection that the main requirement was a disbelief in the official government dictates, fantasies or storylines. I can site ample evidence that the USG is guilty under all of the above definitions, but not the supposed conspiracy theorists. These people do not hide in the wings, create slimy backroom deals nor do they fly under the radar. They do not have the power to sequester and hide information and they are outspoken ... they present their evidence openly and have asked for little more than clarification, transparency and access to vital information absconded by said USG. I guess I am saying that this whole “conspiracy theory” thing is nothing but a defense mechanism to sideline more often than not valid concerns from people who have good reason not to trust the USG. So they are just classified as kooks and nay-sayers and whatnots and are pretty much ignored, or so the they would have you believe. I do not believe there storyline about OBL, so I am just supposed to swallow it because the USG said so? When did the USG and the Truth become synonymous? It sounds more like a Freudian slip and has no basis in reality in the least.

Sorry but I havce to disagree with much of this. It is my opinion that this new erra , the war on terror, was a product of the Bush admistration and the last 11 years was predicated on lie after lie..