By the Pig’s Arms Middle East Correspondent Reuben Brand
“USA! USA! USA!” echoed through the streets of New York City, as thousands of people, adorned with American flags, placards and slogans, congregated at Ground Zero to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden.
“Now that he’s dead, it feels good! To feel excited about somebody’s death is a weird feeling, but when it comes to him (bin Laden) it’s alright!” Said Michael Carol, a young man who lost his father on September 11.
Since the death of Osama bin Laden the popular media has been awash with White House spin. Commentators, politicians, analysts, anyone with a public voice, all towing the official line and like good little boys and girls, not questioning the vast holes in the abyss that is US “intelligence” in this mess that is the death of one man.
“Bin Laden is dead! Bin Laden is dead… Osama bin Laden is dead! Happy days! Happy days everybody! This is the greatest night of my career! The bum is dead! The savage who hurt us so grievously… and I’m so blessed, I’m so privileged to be at this desk, at this moment!” Cheered Geraldo Rivera from Fox News, as he high fived a colleague.
So quickly the West descends from its moral high horse, so quickly it returns to a mob mentality, so quickly it becomes the thing that it hunts. The thing that it hates.
Osama bin Laden’s death was the result of a targeted assassination. But there are too many holes in the official story to believe it outright. I am a sceptic and refuse to ingest garbage that is continuously served up by a super power with such a bad track record. WMD’s in Iraq, ring any bells?
The initial story was one of a heroic mission, wherein a triumphant team of US Special Forces stormed bin Laden’s “heavily fortified” compound (which was apparently only 50 kilometres from the capital Islamabad – but we will address that later), encountered an armed struggle with bin Laden who resisted detainment and then callously used one of his wives as a human shield. The result of which was the death of bin Laden, his wife and a number of al Qaeda operatives.
Bin Laden’s body was then airlifted away by US Special Forces only to be dumped at sea 24 hours later. Even a common criminal’s body would have been kept for longer – bear in mind, this was the most wanted man in the world, so where is the post-mortem examination report? Where are the DNA tests to prove identity? Where is the video evidence of this sea burial? Where is any evidence from the entire operation?
According to Washington and regurgitated by the Sydney Morning Herald, “Bin Laden’s body was washed and placed in a white sheet, following Islamic custom. The body was then put in a weighted bag. A military official read religious remarks that were translated into Arabic. The body was placed on a board that was then tipped, and the body was ‘eased into the sea’.”
“Eased into the sea,” it sounds so gentle, so poetic, like an act of kindness and care. I am curious as to when the US military suddenly became so respectful of religious customs, traditions and formalities. The actions at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and Bagram Prison in Afghanistan all tell a different tale of respect.
Remember, the West has been hunting this man for nearly ten years now. One would think every aspect of this operation would have been documented.
Apparently, President Obama has the official death photos of bin Laden, but does not want to release them for fear of offending and infuriating the Muslim world – news flash Obama, you just killed the leader of al Qaeda – pretty sure you’ve pissed of a few people already.
The simple fact is that a large majority of the Muslim world do not follow, or believe in bin Laden’s ideology. They want freedom and democracy, just like you and I – the revolutions and uprisings against corrupt dictatorships and regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria are all testament to this.
Yes, al Qaeda will use bin Laden’s death photos as propaganda pieces to inspire more hatred, just as the West uses every available media outlet as a vehicle of propaganda to do just the same thing.
New versions of the official story are emerging – now we learn that the official story has been changed, again. This time, apparently bin Laden was not armed when he was shot, he didn’t use his wife as a human shield, she wasn’t killed, she was shot in the leg and his young daughter was present and witnessed her father’s assassination.
One curious piece to this story is the geographic proximity of Islamabad to Abbottabad. The popular media would have you believe that it is a short 50km drive, that bin Laden was living just next door to President Zardari, that Pakistan itself is in on the whole thing.
I have worked in Pakistan and have travelled up into the mountains to Muzaffarabad – the road to Muzaffarabad goes directly through Abbottabad and I can tell you, it takes a lot longer than a brisk 50km drive. Do a quick Google maps search and you will find that the average distance is actually around 123km on roads that are sometimes very precarious. When simple facts such as these are so blatantly overlooked and not even fact checked by so called journalists, we have to question the full story and its authenticity.
We have no proof; we only have the word of an administration that is known for its mistruths. It does make for a good story though, but who’s to say bin Laden didn’t die a long time ago? Who’s to say he isn’t still alive? Without proof we are left with hypothetical stories.
As long as we are speaking in hypothetical’s, here’s one for you. Osama bin Laden, an old, weak and very sick man, who was reported to have been on a dialysis machine for much of his time, died peacefully in his compound in Abbottabad, explaining the large amount of family members who were present to attend the funeral. The US, who had surveillance of the region caught wind of this and seized an opportunity too good to pass up – Osama bin Laden cannot die of natural causes – America must take credit for capturing public enemy number one!
Hypothetical? Yes. True? Who knows, but it is just as plausible as the official US version.
Has US Foreign Policy become synonymous with targeted assassinations, covert espionage and clandestine raids? Is the West safer now that the leader of al Qaeda is dead?
The actions of the US have violated and vilified Pakistan’s sovereignty. Pakistan is now under intense scrutiny by the international community, the very convenient capture and killing of bin Laden have given the US carte blanche (not that it needs any more) to do as it sees fit in the region. Pakistan has become the new public enemy number one.
Make no mistake, Osama bin Laden is no victim. The acts of September 11 were gruesome, they were brutal and they were uncalled for. The loss of innocent life is an inexcusable travesty no matter where it occurs, how it occurs or who perpetrates it
Reuben Brand is a Freelance Journalist – for more information please visit his website at: www.reubenbrand.com
Pingback: Osama: A death marred by mistruths | Reuben Brand
lloyd brand said:
c,mon …we all know OBL died of kidney failure ages ago, his double is the one who has been bandied around by the media and militant propergandists and the one taken out by the SEALS. Why else would they have dispossed of the body so quickly? So no one could take a DNA sample and run an independant analysis to prove it was in fact OBL.
The more the governments, media and so called “experts” blather on about the incident the less credible the whole senario becomes.
LikeLike
Emmjay said:
Man, this has a ring of truth about it ! I’m pretty sure I saw OBL over at Michael’s pub, having a beer with Elvis.
LikeLike
merv said:
Well, why didn’t you say before? Thanks Lloyd. It’s doubles all round then── make mine a Stolly!
LikeLike
lloyd brand said:
you da MAN Emmjay, I hear Ms Monroe frequents Micks as well.
LikeLike
H said:
Heaven full of virgins sounds like a pretty severe punishment , but a life time in prison for sure is even worse…it also reads like justice, at least to me.
LikeLike
Vectis Lad said:
What keep him alive, providing comfort; three meals a day; literature; a comfortable bed and clean clothes and soap? Just so he become a revered sage?
Why don’t you poll the relatives of his dead victims andthe living who are maimed?
What everyone is forgetting is that it is now over!….. By the time Bob Brown’ team could have arrived in Pakistan (previously, West Pakistan), to negotiate the terms of his surrender, accompanied by Hudson Godfrey et al, he would have authorised another round of killing: hundreds dead: blown up or beheaded.
Good Riddance. Top decision. Next subject?
……
Just look out the window and walk down the road, stop bleating about that vile creature. Enjoy normalcy and camaraderie.
LikeLike
Warrigal said:
While I can personally say with certainty that I feel his death as no great loss, I none the less would personally be far more reassured if they had captured him alive and put him on trial.
The deconstruction of the myth that would have inevitably been entrained in such a prosecution would have better in my humble opinion.
In the end this death by executive fiat ensures that bin Laden can now safely assume the mantle of martyr and continue his filthy work in absentia. His image a banner, his words a rallying call, his death a good death in the cause of jihad.
To indulge in self gratification over any death is a more than a little callous, a little sick, but what I’ve seen on TV and read and heard strikes me as equally aberrant.
Yes he was a self admitted mass murderer, an obviously very sick little puppy responsible directly and indirectly for the deaths of thousands, and in certain jurisdictions that would ensure that if found guilty he would eventually find martyrdom, probably by firing squad given the way the US is at the moment, and the saga would continue, as it will anyway.
But if we, whomsoever you wish we to be, don’t abide by the niceties, how can we ask or expect others too?
The vicissitudes of war always cover a multitude of the most heinous crimes. My simple point is they shot an unarmed man they found asleep with his wife, or one of them, I’m not sure of his marital arrangements, and a child. It just doesn’t have the tincture of grandeur on it does it? Just another tawdry violent death carried out by men trained to do exactly what they did and given the go ahead by supposedly the most powerful man in the world.
It’s pathetic.
LikeLike
Vectis Lad said:
The simple facts are that, a) he was in a country where there was no certainty of getting him out alive*, b) he was not just a criminal, he was a legitimate military target, and as such the action prosecuted was legitimate, c) I don’t believe that he will become a martyr**. The videos released show that although he was prosecuting (military)atrocities against innocent unsuspecting civilians, he appeared to be a voyeur, rather redolent of a paedophile watching porn, in his drab surroundings, c) why risk his escape, or possible legal expunction–just to gratify intellectuals who want to give him a fair go.
He is in the category of “terminate at all costs” in my view, for the betterment of humanity.
*Although they removed his body, the plans (to capture him) probably were changed in the aftermath of the helicopter crash, and the shooters knew that the exit strategy had been compromised, so had to make split second decisions.
**Of course that is not a fact; it’s just my view. He may be regarded as a hero, amongst the dregs of humanity, however let’s not loose any sleep over that.
———————-PS
It does seem strange that he was found there! I suppose it was the last place to expect. He must have been protected by The local police. or military. After all that surveillance (4 months), The US must have reached a conclusion: And I suppose it will come out in time. In the meantime we will probably read that it was all about the oil!!
LikeLike
Emmjay said:
Gee, VL, have a cuppa, a Bex and a good lie down – for Pete’s sake 🙂
LikeLike
Vectis Lad said:
Yeah, I know what you mean Emmjay….he wouldn’t have needed the soap?
LikeLike
Hung One On said:
Thought you were being a bit generous
LikeLike
Vectis Lad said:
Apropos my 8th May comment:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/14/3216816.htm?section=justin
LikeLike
Warrigal said:
How are you Rube? I should have asked earlier.
Just love the confection of the Seals taking advantage of the bin Laden funeral to extend the narrative of US exceptionalism and violence triumphant.
Even given recent press releases from who knows who or where seemingly confirming the death, I do like a good conspiracy theory.
LikeLike
Reuben Brand said:
Hey there Waz. Has been a while in between chats – how is life, the universe and everyting? (42?)
Regardless of what has already happened, it is now more worrying to think of what is going to happen. OBL was always more like an enigma – the poster boy for terrorism. His image was used by both side as a tool of propaganda.
Fanatics on both sides of the fence will now be vying for each others blood. Sadley the ones in the middle are generally the ones who suffer most.
LikeLike
Warrigal said:
In the end all evil is shown to be mundane, ordinary human aberrance, just another dud human, and singularly lacking any “greatness”. Bin Laden was nothing more than a better than well funded psychopath with a big plan and plenty of willing henchmen and he’s now dead.
That the western press have been having something of a field day with this news says more about the failing news models of most of the big communications players than it does about the death of the man, which we all know will change very little.
While a small number of commentators have drawn attention to the almost complete lack of “justice” in the summary execution of bin Laden, the overwhelming majority are in paroxysms of praise for Obama, as if he actually pulled the trigger, and an upwelling of that most ugly of international excresences, American Pride.
But hey it’s a geopolitcal win win. Osama gets to heaven with his virgins and Obama just put a lock on re election.
Business as usual; hey ho, ho hum.
LikeLike
Cosima said:
I think at this point, it doesn’t matter whether Osama is alive or dead. What matters is the official narrative that is being offered for public consumption (and boy are they woofing it down). Sadly we’ve gone past the point where the truth of a situation actually counts, because the official narrative, whether true or false, is what they build policy on…and by the looks of the official narrative, Pakistan is being marked. Maybe with Osama and Gen. Petraeus out of the way of withdrawing from Afghanistan (he’s being moved to head of the CIA in June) they will send all those troops across the border? Sounds like a bit of a Hollywood movie plot line, I know, but then so has the whole of the last ten years.
LikeLike
Hung One On said:
Will we ever find out the truth Cosima?
LikeLike
Checky Munkee said:
Next subject please. Bin-Laden has gone!!!
LikeLike
Hung One On said:
Says who?
LikeLike
Vectis Lad said:
SAYS THIS:
http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/KJRH_al-qaida-confirms-bin-laden-death,-vows-revenge1304691599639
LikeLike
Vectis Lad said:
“The statement was entitled “You lived as a good man, you died as a martyr,” and stressed the notion that al-Quaida would live on and continue its war of terror.”
That was party of this organisations message?
LikeLike
Hung One On said:
Fair enough VL
LikeLike
Warrigal said:
Cosimo De Medici is often quoted as having said “Painters always paint themselves”, or words to that effect, and we know that the Medici men were all real “princes”.
And there’s more to this than just the male cognate of your name.
I think the whole regrettable Osama saga is a case of the Americans and their supine pusillanimous allies setting out to paint their enemy, only to discover they ended up with a self portrait.
LikeLike
Emmjay said:
Waz, I really appreciated this reference. Bronzinoi is one of my favourite painters. He painted a portrait of Cosimo de Medici (amongst many other portraits – some of which I had the pleasure to look at face to face in the Uffizi). Bronzino regarded Cosimo as a thug amongst women and children but a coward in battle. He was obliged to paint Cosimo posed in a suit of armour helmet in lap, hand on helmet. His opinion of Cosimo is reflected in the fact that the hand draped over the helmet is a woman’s hand. Bronzino was a gay man, but he certainly lacked nothing in the courage department himself.
Risky, but delightful business !
LikeLike
Hosni Mumblebrain said:
“The actions of the US have violated and vilified Pakistan’s sovereignty. Pakistan is now under intense scrutiny by the international community, the very convenient capture and killing of bin Laden have given the US carte blanche (not that it needs any more) to do as it sees fit in the region. Pakistan has become the new public enemy number one.”
Umm yeah. I think that even the Pigs Arms’ scullery maid can work that one out. Of course the bit about them being P.E. No 1, is something we’ve known about for twenty years.
It’s a shame that they didn’t force him to wear a suicide vest and walk slowly, with the finger of one of his victims’ mother on the button.
LikeLike
Hung One On said:
Hosni, why don’t you tell us how you really feel?
LikeLike
H said:
International Courts would have been able to deal with this legally, we stooped in by taking the law in or own hands, we are diminished by this…
LikeLike
Reuben Brand said:
Agree. Even Sadaam had his day in court.
LikeLike
Emmjay said:
Yeah, but there were a lot of Kangaroos in court that day too !
LikeLike
Reuben Brand said:
Sure were Emm… But at least he wasn’t executed on the spot when they pulled him out of the hole.
LikeLike
Vectis Lad said:
Yes…but that is because he was arrested in his own country.
Obviously The Pakistanis weren’t trusted to do that; and in my view, although the Yanks planned to ‘kidnap’ him, that became untenable. So rather than risk a fire-fight and more loss of life, trying to drag him out, they shot him–as I would have done.
It’s easy to sit in arm chair and hypothesis about asking him to accompany them to the garden and await some more transport; but not easy at the time. You should have a go. See if The SAS will take you for a weekend orientation. Maybe a false beard & some tuna sushi on lunch break 😉
LikeLike
Reuben Brand said:
One would think that a group of heavily armed and highly trained men could subdue one unarmed man and arrest him. Isn’t that what ordinary police do on a daily basis?
Not sure about you, but my armchair has been to these countries and has talked to some very intersting personalities to get first hand information…
No need for the false beard – Will bring my own… But I do like sushi – might see if they can arrange some ginger and wasabi to accompany… “Wasabism” is the fanatic love of sushi and wasabi…
LikeLike
Vectis Lad said:
Ok, we’ll leave it….Excepting to say that I’m not sure of the powers of arrest by ‘seals’ over ‘tentacles’, in third party abodes.
And yes, I have been to Nepal Pakistan, Iran, Siria, India, Turkey, Egypt, Aden, West Africa Borneo, Lebanon, Morocco ,Cambodia , Malta Greece Italy, Scandinavia, ect ect. and am tune with Moslems since my schoold days in Jakarta, which left me speaking Indonesian and Malay (with an Indonesian accent).
One thing that I always found is that with an “open” mind one can see through protestation, but/yet, often one will find what one seeks and sees what one wants!
It is often in the eye of the beholder. In other words, one construes what one wants!
LikeLike
Vectis Lad said:
Anyways, it was good to have a little tête à têt–and all the best Reuben…sincerely.
Julian
LikeLike
Reuben Brand said:
Bisa bahasa? Hebat! Anda tingal di mana di Indonesia? Sama saya, waktu saya hanya dua belas tahun saya tingal di Indonesia juga.
I do enjoy our back and forth my friend – it is good to question and be questioned. Open dialogue is the only way.
Hope all is well.
Cheers,
R.
LikeLike
Vectis Lad said:
Sama sama.
LikeLike
Vectis Lad said:
Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta.
Although it wasn’t so new then!
LikeLike
Reuben Brand said:
Fantastic!… Hehe, yeah, funny how sticking a “new” onto the end of something is somehow supposed to make it more appealing…?
Sampia jumpa lagi saudara.
LikeLike
Voice said:
If he’s still alive, he’s being uncharacteristically quiet about it. Perhaps he doesn’t want to embarrass the US government.
LikeLike
Voice said:
P.S. Nice to hear from you. I wonder whether every day life changed much in those countries that have had revolutions.
LikeLike
Reuben Brand said:
Hi there Voice – Sadly the sceptic in me does not think that much will change. I am hopeful that it will, but one just has to have a look at history to see that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
LikeLike
Toben said:
Yes absolutely spot on! Well done Reubs
LikeLike
Vectis Lad said:
“Remember, the West has been hunting this man for nearly ten years now. One would think every aspect of this operation would have been documented.”
Of course it has. But the last thing that they need to do is tell you. I wouldn’t.
LikeLike
Checky Munkee said:
I’ve just got some hot news Vectis, old friend.
The White House has given in and released a photo of his death.
It’s too upsetting to show, so I’ll just have to describe it:
It’s a black buffalo-leather thong, floating in the ocean.
LikeLike
Reuben Brand said:
Fair enough… Difference of opinion is the spice of life. Imagine if we all agreed, we would then be left with online discussions about the weather… Speaking of which, lovely day for the race…
LikeLike
Emmjay said:
Gee I lead a sheltered life ! What race ?
LikeLike
Vectis Lad said:
Camel.
LikeLike
Reuben Brand said:
The human race… 🙂
LikeLike
Hung One On said:
Absolutely spot bloody on. Well said RB. I was just giving them some cold steel over on Lehan’s UL article, they don’t like cold steel up ’em
LikeLike
Reuben Brand said:
Cheers Hung. Indeed they don’t… But someone has to do it – none of this ‘pre-warmed steel’ nonsense… Cold is gold! 😉
I am more concerned now about the aftermath – the world does not feel safer now OBL has gone.
LikeLike
Hung One On said:
Excellent article Reuben, yes the world is no safer for his death. Cheers mate.
LikeLike
Reuben Brand said:
Thanks mate.
Will be interesting to see what unfolds – let’s see how many civil liberties are taken in the name of “safety and security.”
Fear is a great tool for control.
Cheers.
LikeLike