So it has been more than a month since my last entry. It would appear that with all that's been going on NHL playoffs, NFL labor strife, the near government shutdown, the ridiculousity of Donald Trump & the whole re-rise of the Birther fringe, there wasn't much on my mind. Well since it appears that I've been pseudo-locked out of my job, I've got some free time. Of course I haven't been terribly busy either but whatever.
So after nearly 10 years, the US military finally bagged Bin Laden. Was he hiding in a cave or incognito? Not really. He was in a compound, allegedly built at least 5 years ago, in Abbottabad, not too far from the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad. It doesn't appear that Bin Laden was living in a lap of luxury but he wasn't living off the land either. Speculation is that he's been there for at least 3 years & maybe even longer than that. There's always been the theory that Bin Laden was hiding out somewhere in the Afghan frontier of in the border region of Afghanistan & Pakistan. For years Pakistan officials "knew" he wasn't taking refuge in Pakistan. They "knew" it! It's almost like the scene from The Fugitive when they find the set of leg irons and the guard is asked if he wants to revise his statement. Tommy Lee Jones clarifies it by telling him, "do you wanna change your bullsh*t story."
Suffice to say it looks bad for Pakistan. For years they've been operating under the guise of being our ally in the war on terror. Then to find THE most wanted terrorist in the world living in comfort a mere 40 miles from the capital probably doesn't sit well with US officials. How much has Pakistan really been helping in the war on terror? Were only helping when it suited them. It looks like a Whitey Bulger deal, where they helped where it suited their needs. For those not familiar with who Whitey Bulger is, he was a reputed South Boston mobster who was an FBI informant. Only he really didn't inform on anyone and he ran amok but suspiciously never got in any trouble. That's because he was a protected FBI informant and the FBI did very little, or nothing, to keep him under control. You may remember it from the 2006 film The Departed in which Jack Nicholson's character is based on Bulger.
To be fair, Pakistan is not in an easy position. Before the war, the government wasn't that stable and there were a lot of problems. It seems like they were trying to keep everyone happy by periodically looking good for the US but not doing so much that it would enrage the populace that was sympathetic to Bin Laden's cause. It doesn't sit well with me but then again I'm a regular guy whom the military wouldn't take, if I were to join, and who's knowledge comes from CNN. I figure the guys who are knowledgeable about this stuff & who's job it is to handle it will indeed handle it.
On a side note, I would have liked to have seen a bit of medieval vengeance bestowed upon Bin Laden. Instead of burying him at sea, they should've cut his body into quarters, send it to the 4 corners of the country (Miami, San Diego, Seattle & Portland, ME), his torso to NYC and his head to be placed on pike in front of the White House. In the day, those actions would serve as a warning, "this is what happens to people who mess with us." Us being whatever medieval ruler or country. Think William Wallace after his execution in Braveheart. It's a bit gruesome & outdated but I thought it interesting to bring up.
On the drive from Charlotte, NC to Columbia, SC I was listening to Chris "Mad Dog" Russo on satellite radio. He spent the 1st few hours of his show discussing the Bin Laden death with guests like Tom Brokaw and taking calls. Chris brought up a point that President Obama gets the credit for taking down Bin Laden & that the his detractors should keep quiet, especially about the nonsense of his birth certificate. "Mad Dog" was correct, Bin Laden was taken down on Obama's watch & he gave the go ahead to execute the operation. The operation went down really well. No US deaths, no collateral damage & they took down the guy that everyone intelligence, military & police agency have been looking for since 2001. Obama gets the credit and he should milk it for all its worth politically.
In April 1980, President Carter gave the go ahead for a mission to rescue the American hostages in Iran, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_hostage_crisis. Suffice to say, everything that could've gone wrong did. There was a freak sandstorm, 2 helicopters collided, 9 people including 8 US servicemen were killed. The mission, Operation Eagle Claw, was a hideous failure. President Carter took a lot of heat, justifiably or not. No one cares that he had the stones to order an operation just that it failed. That event probably led to him being soundly defeated by Reagan in the 1980 presidential election. The 52 American hostages were subsequently released on Reagan's inauguration in January 1981.
That's the way it works these days. President George F.W. Bush was the president of record when the economy went into the take after the first Gulf War. He took the blame for that. President Clinton took the credit for the economic recovery. I don't know how much Clinton actually did to help the economy but it happened under his watch. For Clinton's run as President, the economy was great & regular people like myself were making good money. Although I was in my early to mid 20s & subsequently not that fiscally intelligent or responsible. When I was speaking with a friend over the weekend he brought up a good point about Bill Clinton, "if he could've, Clinton would've been re-elected." I agreed wholeheartedly. Point being that the POTUS takes the good with the bad regardless of how responsible they are.
Back to "Mad Dog's" show for a second. There was one caller who disagreed about Obama getting the credit. He then blamed the democrats for cutting the military budget & suggesting that Bin Laden & 9/11 were a direct result of the Clinton presidency. I'm not sure where this guy got his history lesson, it may have been 2 different callers but if so I'm combing them into one since they had the same rhetoric going on, but that's not completely true. The bin Laden family & the Bush family, the one that gave the American people 2 presidents, have been business acquaintances for years. That's FACT. Now I could be wrong about this, I "check my facts" through Wikipedia, but I was under the impression that Osama Bin Laden became anti-US after the 1st Gulf War when US forces stayed in Saudi Arabia. According to Wikipedia, "The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait under Saddam Hussein on August 2, 1990 put the Saudi kingdom and the House of Saud at risk, with Iraqi forces on the Saudi border and Saddam's appeal to pan-Arabism potentially inciting internal dissent. bin Laden met with King Fahd, and Saudi Defense Minister Sultan, telling them not to depend on non-Muslim assistance from the United States and others, offering to help defend Saudi Arabia with his mujahideen. Bin Laden's offer was rebuffed, and after the Saudi monarchy invited the deployment of U.S. troops in Saudi territory,[68] Osama publicly denounced Saudi Arabia's dependence on the U.S. military. Osama believed the presence of foreign troops in the "land of the two mosques" (Mecca and Medina) profaned sacred soil. Bin Laden's criticism of the Saudi monarchy led that government to attempt to silence him."
Bin Laden also fought for the Mujahideen, Afghan freedom fighters, in the war against the Soviet Union from 1979-1989. The Mujahideen as we know was armed & funded by the US. The US has been involved in the Middle East, mainly Iran & Iraq, since 1953. So what I'm trying to say is that no US administration has clean clean hands in this area of the world. We all know whose side we funded in the Iran v Iraq war in the 80s & looked how that turned out 2 Gulf Wars later.
On a closing note, I don't claim to be expert in any particular topic, except maybe the 1st Ghostbusters film. I'm no crazy right winger or as Martin Downey, Jr used to say "a pablum puking liberal." These are just my opinions. Thanks for your time.
Post Script: Nice work to Seal Team 6 for the job they did. Quick, precise & no collateral damage (which the politicians love). Servicemen like the this are consummate professionals. Thanks to all the servicemen & women for the work they've done over the last 10 years. Here's something else that just popped up that I brought up earlier, http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theenvoy/20110502/ts_yblog_theenvoy/frenemies-u-s-ally-pakistan-in-hot-seat-after-bin-laden-found-in-pakistani-army-town.
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