…or “a huge achievement in the fight against terror”. If, as journalists are encouraged, we sidestep the confetti for a moment and do some observing instead of reacting, the remarkably well-timed death of Osama Bin Laden might not be cause for celebration.
But let’s start by looking a list of positives:
1: We’re now safe from terrorist attac- wait, no we’re not. There will almost certainly be retaliation.
1: We will no longer spend billions on operations in the Middle East. Oh, that’s not right either.
1: Everyone killed in terrorist attacks will come back to life. Huh? Oh this is real life. That won’t happen at all.
1: Obama is popular again. There’s a real one.
Now that we have balance in this article, we can look at some of the fishier stuff. Let’s start by looking at the only positive; increased popularity for Obama. He’s been under a lot of attack lately, both personally and for his handling of the US economy. This boost couldn’t have come at a better time for him. Funny how the sun suddenly comes out at the darkest part of the storm and Americans are proud to be American again. To be fair, they’re not able to do Royal Weddings over there so some other morale boosting device was needed.
But perhaps this was just a happy coincidence. After all, they couldn’t have known where he was, waiting for a convenient moment to strike all along. It’s not like Bin Laden was living in a huge mansion in plain view.
I’m sure it’s all as we’ve been told though. Shot clean in the head, stone dead. We’ve seen a body to prove it. Well, not yet, but we will. What’s that? Buried at sea within 24 hours “out of respect for Muslim tradition”? Oh. Bodies in the sea tend to wash up on shore after a while. I wonder if this one ever will. It probably vaporised.
He also never got to stand trial. That’s unfortunate, because it would have been good to see the 9/11 evidence, the files and footage that the CIA has always refused to release, finally laid out for all to see. I believe the US Government would have liked to bring him to trial.
Or rather, I would believe it if the Navy SEALs weren’t given a specific ‘kill not capture’ order.
