Osama bin Laden, number one on America’s most wanted list was found in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Abbottabad is a town where wealthy people come to retire and he was living in a house eight times bigger than those around him. Abbottabad was named after Englishman Major James Abbott, the first Deputy Commissioner of the Hazara who founded the town in 1853. Before he went home to Britain, he wrote a poem called Abbottabad and waxed lyrical about his love for the town and his sadness at having to leave it.
Now the town of Abbottabad is about to be written into the history books again because of what happened there in the early hours of Monday morning. In all, 79 American commandos and one dog were involved in the capture of Osama bin Laden and after a fierce gun battle which lasted for around 40 minutes, he was shot in the head and killed. A heart-stopping moment occurred when one of two helicopters stalled as it flew over the 18 foot compound wall and they had to blow it up and call for one of two backups.
One of Bin Laden’s wives who was living in the compound with him identified his body and there was a 100 per cent DNA match. Some would argue that because Pakistan wasn’t officially informed of what was about to happen, their mission was a success.
American intelligence knew last summer that there was a “high-value target” being protected in Abbottabad and have been working on plan of how to catch him ever since. On Friday, President Obama gave the final order for the Navy Seals and CIA operatives to go ahead. Three men besides Bin Laden were killed - his son and two of his couriers. One woman was also killed as she attempted to shield Bin Laden and two other people were wounded. No Americans were injured or killed in the shoot-out.
Later, aboard the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, an officer read religious rites translated into Arabic. His body was washed in accordance with Islamic custom, wrapped in a white sheet and placed inside a weighted bag on a board which was then tipped up and eased into the sea.
Instead of rejoicing over the death of a cruel terrorist who last week sent a 12 year old boy on a suicide mission to blow up himself and others, people like Donald Trump will probably want proof of identity. Others will say he should have been taken alive. But now there is no shrine and there won’t be a trial, so well done America.
The rejoicing and public celebration of these events particularly on American media was sickening ! A reflection of modern day society where ugly, base acts of retribution can result in public outpourings of glee is despicable. Is this the beating heart of an evolving species ?
ReplyDeleteIf so it demonstrates that we have a long way to travel in the civilization stakes.