Osama bin Laden

I have not mourned for a moment over the killing of one of history’s most evil and deranged killers. Nor do I have a problem with the straightforward manner of his death.

Osama bin Laden was a megalomaniac who used the verses of the Quran to incite hate and loathing of Western culture and society amongst a motley crew of assorted extremists and misogynists. Regretfully his legacy will live on in the annals of history through the trail of death and destruction he inspired or directed.

However, there is one aspect of bin Laden’s demise that does sit uncomfortably with me and that is the misleading characterisation of the events surrounding his death. It is clear that the Obama administration has been less than honest with the world. We were told that bin Laden used one of his wives as a human shield, then that he was armed, then that he was reaching for a weapon. All of which appear to be untrue.

An unsuspecting public saw photos of the Obama ‘war room’ where a candid camera captured the top team watching the raid live on the big screen – except they were only pretending to watch because the transmission was interrupted.

Then there are the edited videos released that allegedly show a vain-glorious but dishevelled bin Laden watching a tribute reel of his greatest hits. England’s BBC has since reported that the man in that video isn’t actually bin Laden at all. One witness says it is the local owner of the house that bin Laden used to direct his network of terror. I suspect we will never know the truth of that particular claim but it adds further fog to an already clouded government credibility.

Now, the US government may have plausible excuses for the misinformation emanating from the White House, but surely they understand that any spin surrounding bin Laden’s death is entirely unnecessary.

Apart from the Islamists and the apologists, the world would celebrate the death of bin Laden however it came about.

Whether that attitude is right or wrong will be determined by individual views; however, the actions of the US government post-op is something we all should be concerned about.

For the most powerful nation on Earth to be reduced to the cycle of claim, correction, claim, correction has been a humiliating exposé of a government lying to its people.

I regret that this further adds to the increasing disillusionment of voters that their governments will say and do anything they think they can get away with. Is it any wonder that politicians are held in such low regard?


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