Osama bin Laden Killed- some thoughts

By now the world knows that Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces last night, just about 9 years, 8 months after 9/11, and close to 18 years, 3 months since the initial World Trade Center attacks were carried out in 1993. In between both attacks on WTC, he masterminded attacks on US Embassies in Somalia in the mid 1990's and on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000.

So now that a few hours have passed since the announcement of his death, I wanted to express some thoughts even though my forte and expertise is not on the war with Al Qaeda, terrorism or related topics.

1)  People around the world, particularly in the US are extremely happy and some are celebrating into the night in places like Times Square, New York as if the war on terror is over.

This is wrong.  

This is not VE or VJ day.   Al Qaeda was not toppled, nor is the world safe from terrorism.   The US simply got rid of a very bad man who originated the Al Qaeda apparatus.  It is a network, not a hierarchy- this means killing one specific leader doesn't make the world that much more safe.

2)  Like him or Loathe him, this makes an Obama 2012 re-election victory pretty much assured.  Something pretty disastrous would have occur such as another severe 9/11-like strike on US soil attached to Presidential incompetence to prevent a second term.

Starting with the propaganda of George W. Bush in 2001 which included such idiocy as "You're a patriot if.."  and " You're defeating the terrorists if..." (by basically shopping at the mall, going on vacation and 1000 other asinine things all meant to stimulate commerce), many people have been duped into believing that the entire war on terror was centered on capturing or killing bin Laden.

So now that its done, many believe the war is over and Obama will get credit.  The Republicans look weak and Obama has the full financial backing and support of the financial Elites..  so its a fait accompli.

Also, I expect his popularity polls which were hovering currently in the low 40% approval to spike up to about 70% as a result of his announcement late last night.

3)  The markets will spike from this.  Its not like they need any excuse- the soulless cockroaches who profit daily from the market would find a way even a 9/11 type tragedy occurred.  So an event such as bin Laden's killing makes Monday especially a big-profit day.

4)  If it wasn't clear already by now, Pakistan is Not a true ally of the US in the war on terror.   The fact that Obama was not living in a cave but a luxury multi-story compound in the heart of the country meant that high ranking Pakistan officials were supportive and working with bin Laden.

In addition the fact that is was US forces only and not US forces in concert with Pakistan forces who killed Osama, and we notified Pakistan officials only at the last second, shows we saw the nation as more of a hindrance than help in this matter.  For the war on terror to be a success, ties between the two nations must genuinely improve and its not going to be easy.

5)  The overall likelihood of an attack by Al Qaeda against the US and/or US interests abroad will spike exponentially,  particularly against a US embassy somewhere in the world if Al Qaeda is so inclined to retaliate within a very short window of time.    When NATO illegally tried to assassinate Ghadafi this past Saturday by bombing his residence and killing his son instead, the retaliation was quick and the British Embassy in Tripoli took the brunt.

Osama bin Laden is dead which is a good thing, and both President Obama, CIA Chief Leon Panetta, and those specially trained units who did the job deserve credit.  Even the fact the US knew where bin Laden was located as far back as 8 months prior and yet the US did nothing, is not enough to sully the achievement.

Celebration is warranted but it must be tempered-  the US did not win the war on terror... it just moved now into a new stage, and people will need to be even more vigilant than before.