First it was the Gulf of Tonkin and many years down the line it was the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) that Saddam Hussein was supposed to have built up with a capability to bomb London in a matter of minutes, according Tony Blair. In between there have been many other lies that have resulted in the deaths of thousands of non-Whites and massive destruction of their property by the US Corporate Empire and her satellite nations such as Britain. All these 'enterprises' brought in billions of dollars to individuals and families running the US arms and security industry.
Now we have the Osama Bin Laden murder, by an arm of the US Corporate Empire known as the US Navy Seals. As gullible Americans party in a triumphant mood, Barack Obama is quickly cashing in on the moment like as if telling the naïve American public 'I made it possible' and with that brag up go his ratings which were too low for comfort. Which suggests that maybe Bin Laden's killing was timed to increase Obama's ratings during election year. Well, we wouldn't know - but its head scratching time as the sceptics in us ponder the possibilities of a stage-managed execution a la Chuck Norris in the Hollywood movie 'The Delta Force'.
For starters a pepped up President, his chest pumped like as if he was acting in a movie (wasn't he?), announced the murder of Bin Laden. 'We got him' he said and then stories from the White House said he was killed in a firefight and that the coward that Bin Laden was, he had used his wife as a human shield. When they probably thought that this story of a firefight would give him the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid kind of hero image they did an about turn. Even in death the Pentagon would not spare their one-time hero. A few hours later the narrative went into another mode. This time we were informed Bin Laden was not armed and that there was no firefight as reported earlier in the day.
Pray, why did they then kill him? Wouldn't he have provided a store of information if interrogated with a little bit of George Bush's 'water-boarding' torture technique and forced to give information on his 'Al-Qaeda's vast network of terror'? But then there should be another thought filtering through our minds. Wasn't there a programme on BBC that said Al-Qaeda did not exist? Hmm.
Gloating US newspapers went to town with Bin Laden's death. One newspaper had banner headlines that said 'Justice is Done', quoting President Obama, I think. Justice? Justice in a civilized world is usually meted out in a court of law where the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty - the finest American ideal, on paper that is. There was no such justice for Bin Laden. Neither was there an independent hearing on 9-11.
Still let's hope no one will find fault with those who say Bin Laden's killing was an extra judicial killing, because that's exactly what it was.
Why for, Pete's sake, was he buried at sea, when we know of US soldiers posing for trophy shots with civilians they had killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Here was a photo opportunity for Obama looking down at Osama's dead body, much to the envy of George Bush Jnr. The perfect headline or (hateline, if you like) would have been 'Obama Bids Adieu to Osama', and his rating would have gone higher still! But he did a fine job of it at ground zero.
They told us he was 'buried' according to Islamic rites and his body was 'dressed' in a white shroud and that his quick burial was in keeping with Islamic law. Is there an aspect of Islamic law that says bury a dead body within twenty four hours even if that death is suspicious? Tell us the name of the Imam who performed the last rites or was this done by a Christian chaplain in the navy?
All these stories doing the rounds make you want to agree with those who claim Osama's killing has been a staged event. After all Osama bin Laden has been dead at least once before according to former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Steve R. Pieczenik. He went on to say that 9/11 was a false flag operation.
Was Osama's killing timed to stop people talking about President Obama's controversial birth certificate issue and divert their minds to concentrate on matters hysterical, like breast thumping and flag waving patriotism? Or was the timing made to give the Empire an exit route from Afghanistan? After all, the entire objective of the American war in Afghanistan was to get Osama 'dead or alive' cowboy style. Is the Empire running out of cash? Does it want to cut its losses and scram from Afghanistan like it did in Vietnam? Osama Bin Laden has said that he wouldn't be able to defeat the US militarily, but that he would ruin them financially. Judging by the financial news coming out of the US, it seems like he has achieved his objective.
In the meantime we will have to believe the lies over and over again. That's if we want to. Bear in mind that all the news of the Empire's enemies comes from the Empire itself.
The writer is Vice President of the Sri Lanka-Palestinian Solidarity Movement |
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