Yesterday, as I'm sure you will all be aware, it was announced that Osama bin Laden, the leading Al Qaeda terrorist behind 9/11 and various embassy bombings, had been killed by US forces in Pakistan. And there was much rejoicing throughout the land. But a few remained suspicious, me included.
People seem to have readily accepted bin Laden's death as a Good Thing without much in the way of explanation. The automatic equation in people's minds seems to be "bin Laden = terrorist; dead terrorist = good" without any consideration of the practical consequences (positive and negative) of such an event. Personally, I think the best bin Laden's death is going to do is to throw al Qaeda into disarray for a while. But the advantages of even this, when we've heard a whole lot of nothing from al Qaeda for a while now, are fairly minimal.
Besides this, there are three main things to be suspicious about: was he actually killed yesterday? Will his death prevent any terrorist attacks? and How will the US government use this event?
The first point of suspicion is more merited than you're probably thinking right now. There's a fair lot of oddness surrounding his death.
For a start, his body vanished almost immediately. The official line is that it was buried at sea, within 24 hours of his death. It was buried within 24 hours because Islamic tradition demands it should be, and at sea because extremists might use bin Laden's tomb as a "shrine". But why would American soldiers care about Islamic tradition? They don't show the same respect to the rest of the Muslims they kill/have killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and recently Libya. And the reason for a sea-burial is a very weak one. If bin Laden's death is going to ignite the passions of the extremists, then it's going to ignite away, regardless of whether or not they know where the body is.
Another fairly simple point is that there's no footage of his death. Not that there would be; but it's worth taking under consideration that with no body and no image of the killing, we have no actual evidence the killing took place.
Just to clarify; I do not think bin Laden is still alive. I think the most likely scenario is that he died a while ago, the American government realised they missed an opportunity to incite lots of patriotism, and so faked his death yesterday. After all, he's been number one on the wanted list for nearly ten years, and every government/organisation that was allegedly supporting him had been decimated or dismantled. How was he supposed to survive that long?
Secondly, if he is dead, then like I said at the start: it isn't going to change a whole lot. The temporary confusion of what is now a fairly non-threatening terrorist group is not worth a particularly huge celebration, as far as I'm concerned. The vast majority of extremists currently capable of wielding an attack are outside the command of bin Laden's al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda are, effectively, no longer the problem. Even is they were, the death of their figurehead (like I said) isn't going to stop them completely, if to any substantial degree. If Britain was at war, and the Queen was shot, we wouldn't suddenly stop fighting.
Thirdly, we need to be aware of the intense nationalist/imperialist surge that will occur in America and, to a lesser extent, other countries in the West as a result of this event.
It goes without saying; because the US navy seals have (allegedly) taken out a very dangerous terrorist, there will be a lot of patriotism, and a great deal more support for America's operations in the Middle East/North Africa. Those who think the military presence in Afghanistan, Libya et al is pointless will simply be directed towards bin Laden's death, and expected to say "oh well, we are doing good then!".
Patriotism is not inherently a bad thing. But at a time when the American government is gaining more and more control over nation's and people's it should not, and Western imperialism is on the unmistakeable rise, any surge in nationalist-patriotic feeling has to be regarded with caution and wariness.
That's about all. In summary, you don't have to accept bin Laden's death as an undeniably good thing, and be ever-vigilant regarding the motives of the American and other governments.
People seem to have readily accepted bin Laden's death as a Good Thing without much in the way of explanation. The automatic equation in people's minds seems to be "bin Laden = terrorist; dead terrorist = good" without any consideration of the practical consequences (positive and negative) of such an event. Personally, I think the best bin Laden's death is going to do is to throw al Qaeda into disarray for a while. But the advantages of even this, when we've heard a whole lot of nothing from al Qaeda for a while now, are fairly minimal.
Besides this, there are three main things to be suspicious about: was he actually killed yesterday? Will his death prevent any terrorist attacks? and How will the US government use this event?
The first point of suspicion is more merited than you're probably thinking right now. There's a fair lot of oddness surrounding his death.
For a start, his body vanished almost immediately. The official line is that it was buried at sea, within 24 hours of his death. It was buried within 24 hours because Islamic tradition demands it should be, and at sea because extremists might use bin Laden's tomb as a "shrine". But why would American soldiers care about Islamic tradition? They don't show the same respect to the rest of the Muslims they kill/have killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and recently Libya. And the reason for a sea-burial is a very weak one. If bin Laden's death is going to ignite the passions of the extremists, then it's going to ignite away, regardless of whether or not they know where the body is.
Another fairly simple point is that there's no footage of his death. Not that there would be; but it's worth taking under consideration that with no body and no image of the killing, we have no actual evidence the killing took place.
Just to clarify; I do not think bin Laden is still alive. I think the most likely scenario is that he died a while ago, the American government realised they missed an opportunity to incite lots of patriotism, and so faked his death yesterday. After all, he's been number one on the wanted list for nearly ten years, and every government/organisation that was allegedly supporting him had been decimated or dismantled. How was he supposed to survive that long?
Secondly, if he is dead, then like I said at the start: it isn't going to change a whole lot. The temporary confusion of what is now a fairly non-threatening terrorist group is not worth a particularly huge celebration, as far as I'm concerned. The vast majority of extremists currently capable of wielding an attack are outside the command of bin Laden's al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda are, effectively, no longer the problem. Even is they were, the death of their figurehead (like I said) isn't going to stop them completely, if to any substantial degree. If Britain was at war, and the Queen was shot, we wouldn't suddenly stop fighting.
Thirdly, we need to be aware of the intense nationalist/imperialist surge that will occur in America and, to a lesser extent, other countries in the West as a result of this event.
It goes without saying; because the US navy seals have (allegedly) taken out a very dangerous terrorist, there will be a lot of patriotism, and a great deal more support for America's operations in the Middle East/North Africa. Those who think the military presence in Afghanistan, Libya et al is pointless will simply be directed towards bin Laden's death, and expected to say "oh well, we are doing good then!".
Patriotism is not inherently a bad thing. But at a time when the American government is gaining more and more control over nation's and people's it should not, and Western imperialism is on the unmistakeable rise, any surge in nationalist-patriotic feeling has to be regarded with caution and wariness.
That's about all. In summary, you don't have to accept bin Laden's death as an undeniably good thing, and be ever-vigilant regarding the motives of the American and other governments.
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