The Osama Blog

Instead of the occasional comment/quip on other peoples Facebook threads, which threaten to derail them and descend into chaos, I decided to sum up my thoughts and opinions in the form of a blog.  I've never written a blog before, so bear with me if this rambles on.

I suppose I should start by revealing where I heard the news first.  As many of you know, I'm on Twitter as well as Facebook (@totalkhaos if you're so inclined) and I am signed up to get breaking news stories from Sky News, and others.  I get the 'tweets' sent via SMS to my mobile.  So basically, on Bank Holiday Monday morning, I get woken up by my phone going manic with text message alerts.  So I read them, and immediately turned on the news to get the story.

Hardly a memorable moment to tell people when they ask "where were you when..." but it was early and I was tired. That's my excuse.

A story like this will immediately cause debate. Should he have been shot or captured?  Is it right to celebrate his death?  Will it ultimately matter?  What next for the world?  How much did Pakistan know?  I don't pretend to know the answers, and no-one should.  But I can tell you what I think...

1) Should he have been shot or captured?
Tricky one.  In an IDEAL world, the US armed forces would have raided his compound, rounded up all the occupants, without a bullet being fired and no death or bloodshed.  Then OBL would have been put on trial, found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment or execution (depending on where the trial was).

However, this is NOT an ideal world.  Firstly, he was a military target (not just for the US, it should be said) and so to capture him without bloodshed was always going to be unlikely, even impossible, with the arms and protection at his disposal.  If he can persuade young men and women to detonate explosives on their body then of course like-minded individuals will be willing to take a bullet for him.  Any operation would need to get him and disable him.  Which is what happened.

But what if he HAD been captured?  Would this have been better?  I really don't think so.  In fact, I can see how it would be worse.  Yes, tell the world you've 'captured' OBL and he will go on trial for his crimes but doesn't that leave it open for his followers/believers to take hostages, and demand his release?   I know it didn't happen with Saddam, but he was never a 'figurehead' and was never seen as a 'martyr' for his stance against America/the West.  OBL was the Che Guevara of Islamic extremists and I'm sure that there are many of his supporters willing to revenge his death.  I would also bet they would revenge his capture.  And would avenge anything they felt like because that's how they operate.

In either case, OBL would have been made to be a martyr, whether in death or in prison.  And where that prison would have been, who knows...

2) Is it right to celebrate his death?
Hmmm.  Have pondered this a lot.  Personally, while I'm not comfortable with the "USA! USA!" chants of the crowds you see on TV, I completely understand WHY they feel they need to let out their emotions.  And before anyone says "typical Americans" I can also point out how the UK responded to the death of Princess Diana.  You can't tell me that we're any better, as a nation.  Both examples are 'celebrating' a death, but one was mourning, one was joyous.

While I personally wouldn't be so jubilant and be out waving flags and dancing while my country's worst enemy was killed, I fully understand why some people do feel the need.  And I wouldn't dream of asking them not to.  Most of the people I've seen cheering and celebrating were probably children when 9/11 happened.  They grew up with a good part of their lives under a blanket of fear and OBL was the 'boogeyman' that symbolised that.  He's dead, so they're happy.  Doesn't make it right, but like I said, I can understand why they're dancing and singing, etc.

Of course, it might easily serve to piss off the extremists even more, but that's for the future to tell...

One thing I said on a friends Facebook thread was that even if OBL was captured alive, we'd still see celebrating in the streets, but without anywhere near the level of controversy.  I really think that it's the celebration of 'closure' more than his death that is causing the outpouring of emotions.  I hope I'm right.

3) Will it ultimately matter?
No.  OBL was only ever a symbol.  His ideals and beliefs are very much on the wane (as anyone in Egypt, Syria, Libya, etc will show) see:  Arab Spring  OBL and his like can no longer say that their way is the way to overthrow a regime.  Democracy can and has proven to be more effective.

However, just because OBL and Al-Qaeda are no longer the force they were (in OBL's case, very much so!) doesn't mean that they're a non-issue.  Extremists thrive on hatred and will always hate western society.  The death of bin Laden will likely focus their hatred, but it was there before his killing and would have been there if OBL had slipped off into history.

4) What next for the world?
Well, not much really.  There are still people out that that want to hurt/maim/kill and there always will be.  OBL's death will not stop them, unfortunately.  The world was forever changed on 9/11 with vigilance replacing complacency as the way of life.  I don't expect this will ever change, certainly not in my lifetime.

5) How much did Pakistan know?
This, more than any other question, is the one that's likely to rumble on for longer.   How could they NOT know that he was in their midst?  Yes, I'm sure that the higher echelons of power probably had no idea, but there HAD to be people that were protecting him and keeping his records from view.  And strange how that the US force that 'got him' did so without telling Pakistan intelligence.  At best this just smacks of incompetence on Pakistan's part.  At worst, it's a vile and despicable cover-up. 

So that's my thoughts on the matter.  I will be interested to hear/read others.

And I promise my next blog will be a lot more light-hearted (and hopefully shorter!)