Hasty burial at sea... hmmm.... uhhh... Not so much.
In Islam, if you die on land, you're buried on land. You definitely aren't given a few scrubbing bubbles aboard a U.S. warship and then plopped into the North Arabian Sea. Just one of several weird moves that've played out over the past 36 hours or so.
To paraphrase (sorry, it's after 5AM, I'm tired):
A reported 24 Navy SEALS arrived at Osama's home in Abbottabad, Pakistan via two gigantic "quiet helicopters"... one of which mysteriously crashed on an 18-ft high perimeter wall upon descent, (and yet almost no debris or scorched earth is to be found in the aerial photos of the courtyard crash site)... errrr... uh....
Moreover, despite the home having no hard-wired phone lines or Internet service, and despite Osama's long-detailed policy of strictly prohibiting the use of computers, mobile phones or other electronic devices anywhere near him... newswires around the world are reporting that computers, hard drives, compact discs and other forensics were removed from the compound... As well as a DNA sample purportedly matching the deceased to various members of the extended bin Laden family... wheeze...
Shot twice through the left eyeball at point-blank range during a purported "fire fight" in his remarkably untidy bedroom on the 3rd floor... gurgle... while less than one mile away... the entire Pakistan Military Academy blissfully snored... Zzzzz....
Love him or hate him, that's your business. Not mine. However, the chorus of reports coming from the White House, intelligence community, and US news media all somehow feel way too chummy and more than a bit dubious. More holes than the lies of Pervez Musharaff and all the caves of Tora Bora combined.
Totally not buying it.
Not a lot of questions are being asked, which never bodes well for the truth. Just a whole lotta half-assed vindications of the CIA's secret prisons and sketchy interrogation techniques. A whole lotta cheering and rah-rah fist pumping. It'd be hilarious if it wasn't so... not hilarious.
All this cornball elation at Osama's passing won't ever bring back any of those 3,000 people killed during the WTC and Pentagon attacks. I know because I was there and I can recall the horror and weirdness of those weeks as if it only happened yesterday. And it sure as hell won't bring back all of those dead U.S. soldiers or Coalition forces. Nor the estimated 300,000 dead Iraqi civilians. Nor the untold numbers of dead Afghans. Nor will it give all those thousands of amputees their limbs back.
Only time will tell if Osama's death will bring about Al-Qaeda's eventual demise or if it'll simply open a door for the next martyr to pass through, and then the next, and the next... Either way, I have a feeling the Pakistan problem is about to become much more public. Cat's now out of the bag on that one, boys.
Later days, Geronimo. You finally hit the jackpot.
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