Who's Sayin Hussein Now?

The successful raid on OBL brings many emotions- the damn Pakistani ISI (and govrnment?) were protecting him for years, keeping this incredible secret against the 50-65% of Pakis who would have gladly killed him themselves for the many terrorist attacks they carried out in Pakistan. With a large Paki military compound only a km away, that is absolutely amazing- with a $25 million reward out for him? Obama's extraordinary patience in waiting since last August is incredible- given OBL's uncanny evasiveness, but there was another family of doubles reportedly living there; and secretly invading "allies" is dangerous stuff, not the least cause they can, uh, shoot you down.

I think it is too bad he wasn't taken alive, rotting in an American prison forever would evaporate his cultish superman status and reduce him to an ordinary man, and it's the one thing bastards all over the world fear above all. Now he become myth and martyr. Worse, disposing of him at sea will fuel endless conspiracy theories that he is NOT dead- where is the proof video now? When monsters are killed, they must be displayed- Mussolini, Pol Pot, Escobar, Ceausescu; or people will never really believe or overcome the fear. The fact that Hitler wasn't fueled Nazi groups for decades. OBL wasn't a dummy- I wouldn't be surprised if he created a banked "They say I'm dead, but it's a lie!" video with something current then woven in. Frankly I couldn't care less about honoring Muslim 24hr burial traditions- this wasn't a military leader- but a soft-spoken megalomaniacal killer who targeted innocents because of his twisted notions of Islamic purity.

My connections with 9-11 were many: from supposed to fly over Central Park at 5:30pm on 911, to feeling a huge attack was coming 2 months earlier just from accumulated Palestinian rage, to suffering a direct attack on my airline ticket business, to running into 2 of the hijackers in the Ft. Lauderdale public library 5 months earlier (I believe), to exploring the sealed ruins secretly for 2 hours in Dec 2001. If you really want to relive that day, find the incredible French documentary of firefighters shown once in US TV and disappeared, that shows the command center INSIDE the ground floor of WTC2 as WTC1 is hit by the second plane, or the horrific explosions from the roof above as jumpers slammed into it at 150mph.
http://hammernews.blogspot.com/2005/09/9-11-predictions-dreams-and-hitchens.html

It's hard to really celebrate- the waste, the destruction, the evaporation of American principles has been so extreme, in the insanely named "War on Terror". If the Repubs hadn't jimmied up Monica in the first of their 3 great treasons (w Bush election theft + Iraq Invasion), I believe Clinton would have sent commandos to wipe out OBL + his training camps in Afghanistan after the 1998 African US Embassy bombings. Bush's election + the Iraq Invasion + maybe 2008 meltdown wouldn't have happened. If only retarded Rummy had sent 2000 Rangers into Tora Bora rather than hew to his smarter faster lighter military theories, Qaida may not have metastasized into the world.

If Obama is smart, he would take this chance to ease Patriot Act outrages, stop continuing torture, rescind onerous restrictions on foreign students who go to China instead, and close Guantanamo- screw the Congress- he has the power. It's tempting to say this guarantees BO's reelection, but Bush 1 achieved a great victory in the Gulf War at this time in the election cycle, then lost in 1992 due to economic factors. Repub lunatics will keep hacking away at the Other with every tool they can find, and the US/World economy could easily tank again.

But in Bush's vicious manipulation of 911, he let the Islamo-radicals succeed- they changed us forever, and the massive security apparatus created will eventually and inevitably be used against us- imagine what a Prez Palin or Trump would do with it. The survival of the American Experiment is not guaranteed, and we still struggle against domestic extremist forces more dangerous than anything external.

Michael Hammerschlag’s (Hammernews.com) articles have appeared in the NYT, International Herald Tribune, Seattle Times, Providence Journal; Moscow News, Tribune, + Guardian, Kiev Weekly. He has spent over 5 years reporting from Ukraine and Russia.