Finally, he's gone. American special forces raided his luxury compound in a Pakistan hill station, just 100 miles from Islamabad and less than a km away from a major Pakistani military academy, and shot him in the head, before "burying" his mortal remains in the Arabian Sea.
But this also raises some very loud concerns and questions about Pakistan, its military and its seriousness in combating terror. It is terribly humiliating for a country to end up in a position where a foreign country not only carries out drone strikes in its territory, but now sends in choppers with special forces inside its cities. It is even more shameful that American did not even let the Pakistanis know about the impending operation. The next few days will show how much the world is willing to overlook the disturbing facts behind all this.
A decade long chapter is closed, and while the war on terror is really not over yet, one hopes this is just the beginning of the end of Al Qaeda.
3 comments:
It's funny that no one got to see the "body" and he was hastily laid to rest at sea. Very very strange.
Pakistan doesn't look humiliated, to me, at all. Pakistan just looks fake-surprised.
Yes, the timing is definitely suspicious, given that the US gov was almost coming to a deadlock on the budget issues, Obama's popularity was at an all time low, and elections were pretty much around the corner.
At the same time, I think it is too much of a risk for Obama and the US to fake it completely... and with even the Taliban acknowledging the death, I think we can safely assume he died after all. And the photos and other evidence, well, time will tell - they might share it after all.
Now, the US might have known his location for a long time, maybe they knew the Pakis knew, and maybe Obama gave the final go ahead because this was as good a time as he'll ever get, but as long as it resulted in ridding the world of Osama, I have no compliants.
What is interesting is how they kept the Pakistani government completely in the dark, how they have pointedly made it clear that Pakistanis were not involved till it was all over. Hard to believe that they could fly in with choppers and conduct a 40 min raid in a Pakistani military stronghold, and not be noticed! I am pretty sure the Pakis were informed at the last moment, and warned to stay out of it. While it gives the Paki govt some breathing space back home against the fanatics, it is definitely humiliating for them on the international arena.
And Meghana, about Pakistani government not looking humiliated and only fake-surprised, that's pretty much how they look all the time. They are used to it. They fake-surprised after the Lahore attack on cricketers, blaming Indians for it. They fake-surprised the whole "terrorists came from Pakistan" angle after 26/11. I am sure they will even fake-surprise themselves before, one day, the US bombs them into a wasteland...
USA did not marinate Osama in a jail for years in the name of justice. They found him even if it took ten years and shot the coward point blank, no questions, no conversation :-)
(assuming it was all real)
Saddam, Osama are both examples. You do it, we will hunt you down, you might be lucky to get a 30 day trial but then, it's over. No marination for years. For Osama, I am hearing there was ZERO conversation. They confirmed it's him and shot him point blank. Killing fish in someone else's pond, love that. Pres. Obama really need to shut it with the bragging though, he did NOTHING except woke up from his beauty sleep because he had to announce to the world at 11:30pm local time.
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