I appreciate that this kind of event stirs conspiracy theorists into a tizz but I don’t buy it for one moment. Bin Laden had been recently increasing his posts of recordings to Al Jazeera, who had apparently been playing more of his recordings, and he was seemingly traced through his more-active-than-usual courier. It wasn’t pending Primaries that caused this – it’s was bin Laden’s arrogance. I don’t think there’s a single American who’s going to be sitting at home thinking “Well, the economy’s in a shocking state, I’ve got no job, my home is about to be repossessed, tornados have ripped through my town, but I’ll vote for Obama because he killed Bin Laden.” Once again the conspiracy doesn’t make sense, not only for this human reason but because if bin Laden is actually still alive then he would probably let the world know, wouldn’t he? He’s probably post a video saying “It’s May 3rd, here’s something else that happened in the world to prove the date and it’s not true – I’m still alive.” And if he had died already, how did he send messages in the last few years with up to date news?
I’d like to ask “What if there’s no conspiracy? What if the American government/military disposed of his body as quickly as possible because (a) parading his dead body in the streets would have sparked international Muslim outrage, (b) because delaying any kind of burial would have sparked international Muslim outrage “See, these Americans are at war with Islam!”), (c) because they didn’t want a martyr’s grave, (d) because keeping him alive to stand trial, which I would have preferred, would probably have led to numerous kidnappings demanding his release or the death of whoever had been kidnapped? Isn’t this more likely?”
I’m no expert on International Relations or Al Qaida, so as I say in my latest blogpost “A Jewish Response to the Death of a Mass Murderer” (http://www.rabbineil.com), I don’t know if Al Qaida is a Hydra that will get stronger once you cut off its head or if the ideology will die with the man (that’s not saying terrorism will end, just that Al Qaida might be significantly weakened). I would be particularly interested to read the opinion of anyone on this forum if they are an expert in the subject, though. Reprisals or not I can’t comment on because I, like probably everyone else here, know essentially nothing of Al Qaida other than what I learn from the news or online (even worse!).
I’d also like to respond to some of the comments about the American reaction. I watched Obama’s press conference and not once did I see him practically jumping for joy as has been suggested. Any hint of a smile would have been unforgivable morally and diplomatically. We must have been watching different press conferences.
I also think it’s worth noting that the overwhelming majority of Americans in the US and worldwide did not act the way that was portrayed on TV. I would like to urge people to please be careful about the language they use after having witnessed two groups of people celebrating - not all Americans are the same. If there is any opportunism from this entire thing, it is not the timing of this event but only Obama’s newly-planned visit to Ground Zero this week. That’s political opportunism, the rest was just the appropriately opportunistic assassination of someone who masterminded the first external terrorist attacks on American soil, whom the Americans had finally tracked down and whom they wanted dead and gone as quickly as possible. Whether or not I agree with it, I don’t blame them and completely believe that they did it.
