Perhaps the end of the beginning?*
OK, sorry for doubling on the Osama topic, but I guess this is gonna be chewed over and over for the next few days. So let's form something like a bandwagon here, buhaha.
First of all, I have to say this.
HE'S DEAD, JIM! WE KILLED HIM! AND THREW HIM IN THE SEA! AMERIKKAAAA!
No, I promise not to troll any more. Now seriously.
Just a few thoughts I'd like to throw around, you may like to have your say on some of them if you like, or just call me an idiot, your choice. Most are picked from a neighboring post which already became too big to follow. Addendum, then?
Point 1. Amidst all the (deserved!) triumphant ecstasy, we're forgetting the really important thing: Osama's death. Does. Not. Change. Anything. But sure, it's a historic moment, so let's rejoice for a while. We do need the occasional good news.
Point 2. Would've been even more impressing if they had captured him, for everyone to see him being hung on a wire in a basement. But still, well done.
Point 3. I understand that it's a very emotional moment for an insider (American). The time for a more sober assessment would come later. Let's just cheer now for a while. Or maybe not?
Point 4. So who is Middle America going to direct their hate to, now? We MUST hate somebody, no? I say SUPERMAN! Superman is unpatriotic and unAmerican. He hates the American values, Freedom & Democracy(TM) and All That We Stand For. Down with Superman!!!
Point 5. OK, did we calm down a bit already? Osama's assassination may not be changing anything much, except maybe for Obama scoring a few more points before the election. (Osama's death may have very little significance outside the US, save for creating even more violent America-haters, but you can never please everyone, can you). Al Qaeda remains there and it still has its leaders and capacities. As Donald Rumsfeld once said when asked where is Osama, "He's now irrelevant". (Yeah I know. I just cited Rummy. WTF is wrong with me).
Point 6. Sure, sitting at the bottom of the sea sounds pretty irrelevant, yep! BUT OH WAIT. Is it the REAL Osama? How do we know that? He's at the bottom of the sea now. Why was he deposed of so fast? Where's the expert autopsy? Where's the face recognition, the DNA test? HIS LONG-FORM DEATH CERTIFICATE? Really. What's there to hide? Oh my. I'm opening a can of worms here...
Point 7. Also (and this is probably the most important point), note that he was found in Pakistan. And not in the mountains but in a city. Islamabad actually. This must tell us a lot. He wasn't hiding in a cave but in a mansion next to the biggest city of a supposed ally in the war on terror? How come?
Point 8. On a side note, how will the recent revolutionary / democratic changes in the Middle East affect America? In a way, the war on terror has been undergoing a transformation into a war for democracy(ies) for some time now. War On Terror is so 2002. So how should international relations be adapted to the new realities now?
Point 9. All that said, it's still great news. One ghost less to chase and maybe already focus on the real stuff now, like why the hell do the Pakistanis use US money to fund and hide people who are fighting against the US.
Point 10. And lastly, can we focus on Zawahiri now? Because he's the real thing, and has been running Al-Qaeda for ages.
Speaking of Zawahiri...
Future of al-Qaida: Will death quell movement bin Laden inspired?
After all, his heir apparent, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is a harsh, divisive figure who lacks the charisma and mystique that bin Laden used to hold together al-Qaida's various factions. Without bin Laden's iconic figure running al-Qaida, intelligence officials believe the group could splinter and weaken.
Let's hope so.
But really, let's look closer at Zawahiri, shall we?
Although the whole story about Osama's demise may look like a Hollywood fairy tale where the good guys prevail over the bad guys and the Top Bad Guy gets killed in the end (and the cool guy walks into the sunset with the hot chick), reality instantly hastens to sober us up and tell us otherwise. Newsflash: Terrorism won't go away.
A few years ago the Dalai Lama XIV warned that the life of the world's most wanted man should be spared, because if he was killed, instantly 10 new Binladens would appear in his place.
Although Osama was more like an ideologue and inspiration rather than real leader who's pulling the strings and organizing every single attack with the Al Qaeda brand around the world, he'll now be substituted by someone exactly like that - a figure like Aiman al-Zawahiri.
Until now Zawahiri was #2 on the terrorist network, Osama's hit-man, and a guy worth millions of dollars of reward for those who could help catching him. Zawahiri has been featuring on most lists of most influential leaders in the world for the decade.
A couple of years ago (still in the Dark Ages Bush era), he called for W. to adopt Islam. Funny, isn't it? And in 2008 he called the newly elected Obama "a home negro", as the black slaves who were servile to their masters used to be called (our resident experts on the Civil War, correct me where I'm wrong - you know who you are).
But the crazy doesn't just end there. Al Qaeda marked the 8th anniversary of 9-11 with a 106 min. video of Zawahiri where he predicted a rout for Obama to the hands of the Muslim world. And in his most recent video address (from March this year) he called for all Muslims around the world to fight NATO and the US forces in Libya (although part of the Benghazi rebels are Al Qaeda sympathizers or even members). Of course he couldn't openly admit that Al Qaeda seems to be siding with the Western forces in Libya, no way.
There's been a long list of messages from Zawahiri where he has threatened and warned the Christian White West and summoned the faithful to attack it wherever they meet "it". Apart from religious and political, his motives might be also personal - his wife and three daughters were killed in a US bombardment in Kandahar in 2001. A PhD'd medic and surgeon, Al-Zawahiri is the "brain" behind most of the recent Al Qaeda attacks.
The rumors about a split in AQ are as old as 2007, and Zawahiri has been always dubbed the most influential figure there, who's been trying to take control of the whole network. The last time he was videotaped together with Osama was in 2003 when the two were walking on a mountain path side by side, calling for a global Jihad and praising the perpetrators of 9-11.
The two first met in the 80's in Peshawar in Pakistan as supporters of the Mujahideen who were being funded by CIA to fight the Russians in Afghanistan (another ironic moment).
Zawahiri was born in 1951 in a well-to-do family in Cairo. His father was a professor in pharmacy and his grandfather was a Grand Imam of Al Azkhar, one of the most important mosques in the Arab world. Boy Ayman graduated at one of the most prestigious medical schools in Egypt, but somehow got radicalized there and joined the Egyptian organization Islamic Jihad at the year of its foundation, 1973. And in 1981, when some of its members dressed like soldiers killed the legendary president Anwar Sadat, Zawahiri was among the 300 arrested people. However the court decided that he wasn't an accomplice in the assassination, but still he stayed behind bars for 3 years for illegal possession of a gun.
In 1993 Zawahiri finally headed Islamic Jihad in Egypt and embarked on a campaign to create an Islamic Caliphate in the country, which led to the death of over 1000 people. In 1999 a military court in Egypt sentenced him to death in-absentia, as he had already fled the country.
In a 2005 letter to the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab az-Zarqawi (who was later found and killed), Zawahiri called for the beheading of hostages to cease, and Zarqawi to act like an adequate political leader in wait for the US forces to leave Iraq.
A curious moment: in 2007 the PR department of Al Qaeda (yeah, because they have one) suggested that everyone interested could send questions to Zawahiri through e-mail so he could address every single one of them. Answering to one such question, "Why are you killing innocent people", he was categorical that Al Qaeda doesn't intentionally kill civilians, and if someone becomes a victim of a terror act, it's "a mistake an an unwanted necessity". The denial here may be stunning, but remember that most of those guys are brainwashed and may actually believe what they're preaching.
So that's in a nutshell the bio of the new #1 most-wanted-person in our part of the Galaxy. Now that Darth Laden is gone, regardless of who he was, who created him and who eventually destroyed him, that's largely irrelevant now. Let's go after Darth Zawahiri now.
* credit to policraticus for the title.
First of all, I have to say this.
HE'S DEAD, JIM! WE KILLED HIM! AND THREW HIM IN THE SEA! AMERIKKAAAA!
No, I promise not to troll any more. Now seriously.
Just a few thoughts I'd like to throw around, you may like to have your say on some of them if you like, or just call me an idiot, your choice. Most are picked from a neighboring post which already became too big to follow. Addendum, then?
Point 1. Amidst all the (deserved!) triumphant ecstasy, we're forgetting the really important thing: Osama's death. Does. Not. Change. Anything. But sure, it's a historic moment, so let's rejoice for a while. We do need the occasional good news.
Point 2. Would've been even more impressing if they had captured him, for everyone to see him being hung on a wire in a basement. But still, well done.
Point 3. I understand that it's a very emotional moment for an insider (American). The time for a more sober assessment would come later. Let's just cheer now for a while. Or maybe not?
Point 4. So who is Middle America going to direct their hate to, now? We MUST hate somebody, no? I say SUPERMAN! Superman is unpatriotic and unAmerican. He hates the American values, Freedom & Democracy(TM) and All That We Stand For. Down with Superman!!!
Point 5. OK, did we calm down a bit already? Osama's assassination may not be changing anything much, except maybe for Obama scoring a few more points before the election. (Osama's death may have very little significance outside the US, save for creating even more violent America-haters, but you can never please everyone, can you). Al Qaeda remains there and it still has its leaders and capacities. As Donald Rumsfeld once said when asked where is Osama, "He's now irrelevant". (Yeah I know. I just cited Rummy. WTF is wrong with me).
Point 6. Sure, sitting at the bottom of the sea sounds pretty irrelevant, yep! BUT OH WAIT. Is it the REAL Osama? How do we know that? He's at the bottom of the sea now. Why was he deposed of so fast? Where's the expert autopsy? Where's the face recognition, the DNA test? HIS LONG-FORM DEATH CERTIFICATE? Really. What's there to hide? Oh my. I'm opening a can of worms here...
Point 7. Also (and this is probably the most important point), note that he was found in Pakistan. And not in the mountains but in a city. Islamabad actually. This must tell us a lot. He wasn't hiding in a cave but in a mansion next to the biggest city of a supposed ally in the war on terror? How come?
Point 8. On a side note, how will the recent revolutionary / democratic changes in the Middle East affect America? In a way, the war on terror has been undergoing a transformation into a war for democracy(ies) for some time now. War On Terror is so 2002. So how should international relations be adapted to the new realities now?
Point 9. All that said, it's still great news. One ghost less to chase and maybe already focus on the real stuff now, like why the hell do the Pakistanis use US money to fund and hide people who are fighting against the US.
Point 10. And lastly, can we focus on Zawahiri now? Because he's the real thing, and has been running Al-Qaeda for ages.
Speaking of Zawahiri...
Future of al-Qaida: Will death quell movement bin Laden inspired?
After all, his heir apparent, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is a harsh, divisive figure who lacks the charisma and mystique that bin Laden used to hold together al-Qaida's various factions. Without bin Laden's iconic figure running al-Qaida, intelligence officials believe the group could splinter and weaken.
Let's hope so.
But really, let's look closer at Zawahiri, shall we?
Although the whole story about Osama's demise may look like a Hollywood fairy tale where the good guys prevail over the bad guys and the Top Bad Guy gets killed in the end (and the cool guy walks into the sunset with the hot chick), reality instantly hastens to sober us up and tell us otherwise. Newsflash: Terrorism won't go away.
A few years ago the Dalai Lama XIV warned that the life of the world's most wanted man should be spared, because if he was killed, instantly 10 new Binladens would appear in his place.
Although Osama was more like an ideologue and inspiration rather than real leader who's pulling the strings and organizing every single attack with the Al Qaeda brand around the world, he'll now be substituted by someone exactly like that - a figure like Aiman al-Zawahiri.
Until now Zawahiri was #2 on the terrorist network, Osama's hit-man, and a guy worth millions of dollars of reward for those who could help catching him. Zawahiri has been featuring on most lists of most influential leaders in the world for the decade.
A couple of years ago (still in the Dark Ages Bush era), he called for W. to adopt Islam. Funny, isn't it? And in 2008 he called the newly elected Obama "a home negro", as the black slaves who were servile to their masters used to be called (our resident experts on the Civil War, correct me where I'm wrong - you know who you are).
But the crazy doesn't just end there. Al Qaeda marked the 8th anniversary of 9-11 with a 106 min. video of Zawahiri where he predicted a rout for Obama to the hands of the Muslim world. And in his most recent video address (from March this year) he called for all Muslims around the world to fight NATO and the US forces in Libya (although part of the Benghazi rebels are Al Qaeda sympathizers or even members). Of course he couldn't openly admit that Al Qaeda seems to be siding with the Western forces in Libya, no way.
There's been a long list of messages from Zawahiri where he has threatened and warned the Christian White West and summoned the faithful to attack it wherever they meet "it". Apart from religious and political, his motives might be also personal - his wife and three daughters were killed in a US bombardment in Kandahar in 2001. A PhD'd medic and surgeon, Al-Zawahiri is the "brain" behind most of the recent Al Qaeda attacks.
The rumors about a split in AQ are as old as 2007, and Zawahiri has been always dubbed the most influential figure there, who's been trying to take control of the whole network. The last time he was videotaped together with Osama was in 2003 when the two were walking on a mountain path side by side, calling for a global Jihad and praising the perpetrators of 9-11.
The two first met in the 80's in Peshawar in Pakistan as supporters of the Mujahideen who were being funded by CIA to fight the Russians in Afghanistan (another ironic moment).
Zawahiri was born in 1951 in a well-to-do family in Cairo. His father was a professor in pharmacy and his grandfather was a Grand Imam of Al Azkhar, one of the most important mosques in the Arab world. Boy Ayman graduated at one of the most prestigious medical schools in Egypt, but somehow got radicalized there and joined the Egyptian organization Islamic Jihad at the year of its foundation, 1973. And in 1981, when some of its members dressed like soldiers killed the legendary president Anwar Sadat, Zawahiri was among the 300 arrested people. However the court decided that he wasn't an accomplice in the assassination, but still he stayed behind bars for 3 years for illegal possession of a gun.
In 1993 Zawahiri finally headed Islamic Jihad in Egypt and embarked on a campaign to create an Islamic Caliphate in the country, which led to the death of over 1000 people. In 1999 a military court in Egypt sentenced him to death in-absentia, as he had already fled the country.
In a 2005 letter to the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab az-Zarqawi (who was later found and killed), Zawahiri called for the beheading of hostages to cease, and Zarqawi to act like an adequate political leader in wait for the US forces to leave Iraq.
A curious moment: in 2007 the PR department of Al Qaeda (yeah, because they have one) suggested that everyone interested could send questions to Zawahiri through e-mail so he could address every single one of them. Answering to one such question, "Why are you killing innocent people", he was categorical that Al Qaeda doesn't intentionally kill civilians, and if someone becomes a victim of a terror act, it's "a mistake an an unwanted necessity". The denial here may be stunning, but remember that most of those guys are brainwashed and may actually believe what they're preaching.
So that's in a nutshell the bio of the new #1 most-wanted-person in our part of the Galaxy. Now that Darth Laden is gone, regardless of who he was, who created him and who eventually destroyed him, that's largely irrelevant now. Let's go after Darth Zawahiri now.
* credit to policraticus for the title.