Ding Dong, the Warlock Is Dead . . .
Finally, finally, after turning Tora Bora inside-out and hunting for years, the U.S. found Osama residing in broad daylight above ground and outside of caves, in a "luxury hideout" in Pakistan. The Afghanistan mission has been accomplished, a bit less than ten years after the catalyst.
Time to withdraw? What about the Taliban? And other terrorist organizations targeting the U.S. from everywhere, with cells enough to form this living, breathing dragon still attempting to rout out the West and all it stands for.
Not so easy. The plutocracy, anyway, is still stronger. Money shall still talk to al Qaeda, with its funds comfortably cradled in Swiss banks, located in the "safest country in the world," according to Greg Palast.
There's always a Prince of Wales on deck--in this case, if he's anointed, he may be ("she" is not applicable in this context) Ayman al-Zawahiri, sort of a Nixon to Eisenhower type, lacking Ike's winning smile and charisma. But the hatred will only expand exponentially, so Japan and the rest of us are elevating the color code . . .
Because ignorance may be bliss, but it's also scary--evident in the new Republican right as it climbs farther and farther up the reactionary cliff (and what if they don't fall off of it?) and in the new generation of terrorists growing up and being trained in the Middle East, whose only education consists of reading Qu'ran in madrassas. The rest of what they learn occurs at training grounds. At least bin Laden had some secular education, for what that was worth to a Wahhabi whose main interest in university was religion.
The new terrorist generation, rapidly expanding from what I know, though the MSM tell us otherwise, are vibrant with youth, energy, and hatred and will do anything, including self-obliterate or sacrifice babies or disabled people, to win their cause, our destruction. What happens next? Armageddon? A massive dictatorship that will be overthrown again and again? They know even less than we do about learning lessons from history.
All those spare nuke parts left open to the public during Russia's foray into "democracy" (which rapidly morphed into plutocracy until Putin grabbed the reins)--I still worry where they went and have bet bazillions of pennies that the terrorists have at least some of them--well, they're dangerous.
I have been reassured that putting together nukes is tougher than being in possession of some spare parts, which was somewhat of a relief, but who knows? They have buds in Pakistan, for instance, who may help them advance their spare parts into more, and then, well, we're all Miss American Pie or worse.
I read yesterday that U.S. troops were stationed within yards of a huge poppy crop in Afghanistan. They chose to off one of the innocent farmworkers instead of obliterating the pretty red flowers that yield one of the largest and most lethal exports in the world, equal in destructiveness to the thriving trade in weaponry that is a mainstay of whatever is left of the U.S. economy--that and the livelihoods of the huge number of people who depend on that mainstay. I've asked before what would happen to the economy if our entire war industry, including most of the military, were collapsed. Peace? Lack of war, the next best option? Or China taking over that industry at much lower prices?
Think about that and so much more. Bin Laden was buried at sea, denying his ardent followers their own ceremonies that usually attend the death of victims who to them are martyrs--the news shows so many of those funerals, coffin supported by members of crowds who attend it to its final resting place. That to them may be a worse offense than the killing itself. They are so devout in their extremism. Who will be blamed for that? What a massive ceremony would have unfolded.
So the Warlock is dead and his legacy will live longer perhaps than our enlightened Western civilization.
Why did it take us so long? The Iraq invasion perhaps? It has been suggested that Obama has greatly jeopardized his safety by authorizing this vendetta--something Bush, a blatant coward, might have purposefully avoided. Was that costly survival mechanism another motivation for the Iraq invasion?
To those still mourning for the victims of 9/11, victims themselves, as are all of us, closure has not been achieved.
(c)
ã ‚¬ ‚¬
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
