Osama bin Laden and the fight against the West

The news of Osama bin Laden has trumped all domestic squables and personalities. Even the pouty mouthed bad-hair-day Donald Trump whose claim to fame in bringing to the press Obamas birth certificate, seems like a mosquito in front of the new eagle of the day, Barack Obama. Yes, Obama is now soaring on the wings of international fame and awe as he can take full credit for being the CIC of the US military that directed this operation.

No person should have died in 9-1-1, neither American nor foreign born. For disbelievers of the singular role of Al Qaida in 9-1-1 like myself, the blame for those deaths in NY and elsewhere rests on many souls and not just bin Laden and his followers. The facts that surround the inconsistencies of the the Twin Tower attack point to multiple complicities and cooperation between domestic and foreign groups. Bin Laden and Al Qaida cannot claim their attack was theirs alone and neither should they be the only targets of justice. But it was convenient to make them the reason for two wars and many trillions of US tax payer money for questionable public gain.

Bin Laden has been the most wanted person in the last 10 years. Nazi criminals (notice how they are never called terrorists) were brought to international courts of law where the rule of law applied and they were tried according to the international values of impartial justice. I continue to be uncomfortable with the cowboy justice of the United States, in the footsteps of Israel, with extra-judicial killings. Why would bin Laden not be brought to justice in an orange jump suit like Timothy McVay was arraigned and tried in court? Was TMV not a terrorist? Why was he not executed in his bedroom in a Navy Seals operation? Killed and dumped in the ocean for bin Laden? Not that he should not have faced the death penalty? Frankly the bastard and his group have made my life and millions of Americans lives miserable because I have to take off my shoes at the airport now and I cannot take a 6 oz bottle of cologne on board... I trivialize this absurdity of effect but in reality nothing good came of bin Laden and nothing good comes of Al Qaida, neither for Arabs, muslims, or anti-Americans. Even those of us pacifists who oppose US foreign policy yet would never raise a finger to harm others, have no joy in learning of Al Qaida exploits and could have found satisfaction in a proper trial of bin Laden in an international courtroom.

Bin Laden would have had too much to say I believe. His accomplices would be named. So not only is the evidence of complicity and collusion erased in the Bourne-like execution of bin Laden, it also functions to strengthen the Israeli-style extrajudicial killings of individuals.

Now, rather than discussing extraction of US from Iraq and Afghanistan and shutting down some of the 800+ military bases around the world, the hawks and pundits are emboldened by this Clint Eastwood version of justice. Shoot and dont ask questions, not now, not later. Congress will call for additional strikes around the world with the babble of "keeping the world safer." Already I am hearing about the future leaders of Al Qaida. The nightmare of perpetual "war on terror" is not ending, its just beginning. The press is all to happy to build this scenario of reprisals and revenge attacks. The death of bin Laden becomes the opening of a new chapter rather than the closing of a dreadful decade. War, killing, death, propaganda are all injected with dizzy hunger for more power and control.

As long as the discussion is framed by neoconservative and rightist pundits and politicians, the public will continue to be fed a diet of fear and temerity that allows the corporate state to control the lives of its domestic and foreign subjects.