Is anyone surprised by this? Pakistan has been double-dealing us for years, using us to schwack the terrorists they don’t like, while shielding their own little trained vipers from the wrath of Uncle Sam. Can’t really blame them, all nations rely somewhat on deception and diplomatic double-talk, but other nations put up with it only if they can get something in return from the whole kabuki.
Is there anything left for us to gain by dealing with these duplicitous bastards?
Pakistan is using us much like rival tribes in Afghanistan and Iraq have: As a revenge tool against their enemies. If we get inside their loop and understand the dynamics we can actually use this to our tactical advantage, but at some point you’ve got to stop and assess if it’s all advancing our goals. I think the Army understood and worked this dynamic to good effect in Iraq. It’s not perfect, but we got the country to a relatively stable state. Notice there are no “Arab Spring” riots there, and if there was outrage at Osama’s death, it was subdued.
Afghanistan is a different story. Spring fighting season has just started, so we'll have to wait and see how it goes…
Women and Children First
Now they’re saying maybe Osama didn’t use one of his wives as a human shield. I don’t buy it. I choose to believe the original story. Jihadis are famous for hiding behind women and children. They reported that Osama’s son also died cowering behind a woman, and I noticed that the government spokesman left that report stand without correction.
Our Muslims are Better than Their Muslims
American Muslims are relieved to have this stone around their necks removed. More telling, they are relieved and satisfied as Americans that Bin Laden has crossed the river Styx. The language they use is telling. They talk of justice, of the shame and the consternation felt after 9/11 as they lost the blessed normalcy of their lives. They speak of “our country,” and indeed it is.
President Obama Done Good
Finally, a hearty salute to President Obama. It was a tough call and he did the right thing. Those upset that he has won a political windfall should contemplate the alternative. Would you rather that this operation had failed, with loss of American lives and national embarrassment? We should take any opportunity we can to praise the man; they are so rare.
Gitmo and “black site” interrogations led to this successful operation. Now that he has access to all the information, does Obama now realize the utility of these tactics?
Bottom Line
Killing Bin Laden was a victory for America, and it's thanks to the diligent intelligence community and a highly disciplined military, especially that SEAL team. The piddle-down-the-leg Euro-whiners and the military-hating scribblers in this country yapping about Osama being unarmed can shove it. The POS killed over 3000 unarmed people on our soil, and our Special Forced put him down like the cowardly dog he was.
For comments more thoughtful than these, see Jack Camwell's "The Meaning of Osama Bin Laden's Death"
18 comments:
It is time to develop a Pakistan policy. They are a menace to the world, unstable and have nuclear capabilities than can (and maybe already have) wind up in terrorist hands. Hell, the Pakistani government is defacto a bunch of terrorists. I say that based on the Bush Doctrine, which essentially states that the US is at war with Islamo-terrorists, and those who harbor them, as we will make no distinction between the two.' And there is no question that Pakistan harbored bin Laden for six long years within a luxury chalet, probably funded by our 20 billion dollars in foreign aid over those six years, feeding bin Laden and his brood pheasant under glass, courtesy of Uncle Sugar. What irony.
You do the math. Pakistan is no more noble than Iran or North Korea. They should be treated as such, and their known nuclear caches targets for destruction.
For the record: many officials are saying that waterboarding did not give us the information we needed.
I wouldn't be quick to dismiss that as "liberal propaganda," because even Donald Rumsfeld has publicly stated that waterboarding didn't do us any good on this.
I don't care how many lives it may save, or how much justice can be meted out because of it: torturing is never, ever justified.
Jack: I never mentioned waterboarding or "torture."
I'm referring broadly to the whole GWOT. We got information from captured prisoners.
"Gitmo and “black site” interrogations led to this successful operation."
No they didn't, from what we know so far. They could have been interrogated in Yosemite park for all that mattered. We didn't need to beghave like slobbolas to get that information. Our good name is and always was worth more than that.
I don't usually agree with Jack - but he hit this one right on the head, even if that's not exactly what you meant, Silver.
Kudos to you and the other honest and good conservative bloggers who applauded Obama for a job well done. He did good. If it was Bush, or a president McCain, I'd have said the same of him.
As for Pakistan... That is a very difficult situation. Attacking them, as Fredd suggests, is right out of the question. If, and only if, the Pakistani government falls to some radical regime, then we can talk about that. In the meantime, the government they have over there is the best we can hope for for now.
I like the Obama doctrine on Pakistan - deal with them when you can, work around them when you have to.
JMJ
My bad. =(
Nevertheless, you indirectly gave me my idea for tomorrow's article.
Thanks Jack!
No, Jersey. Wrong again. All I will grant you is none of know the specifics. We do know that captured prisoners provided information that led to this successful operation.
We can be pretty certain the interrogations didn't happen at Yosemite, but that would make a great conspiracy theory.
Have a look into Senator Kerry's role in the ISI/Taliban/OBL/U.S. mission -- unsettling at best...
Still, well done, SEAL Team 6.
It is not the purpose of water boarding to elicit information from a captive. Anyone who makes that argument is full of beans. The purpose of water boarding is to reduce individual resistance to interrogation. The flow of information comes later, after someone has been properly “reoriented.” No one has ever died as a direct result of water boarding.
I was one of those who gave the president credit for a gutsy decision, but that was before I realized that Obama put everyone on hold for sixteen hours while he “slept on” his decision. Having people stand around waiting for a presidential decision may not qualify as a gutsy decision. And then I remembered Obama took forever to “approve” an operation against Somali pirates. So the man is consistent and probably not our finest president after all, no matter what John Brennan tells us.
What does surprise me is that Bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan. I was betting he was hiding out in Jersey’s basement.
Bert was always the brains of the outfit anyway. How else can you explain millions of dollars to the Children's Television workshop while Obama hides in a two story shack in Pockeestan*?
*Obama pronunciation
Everything being discussed on the blogs and elsewhere about bin Laden is pure conjecture based on here-say.
There has not been one fact produced about it and before someone says; 'What about the war room pic', well a pic of people sitting around a table with laptops does not count as proof.
The 'story' changes with each passing day much like the,,ahem,, famed birth certificate i.e., "I have shown it", I will fight to suppress it, "I myself can't get it", "I filed a FOI to get it", "Here it is!",,Photo Shop/PDF fraud revealed. Then boom, the MSM dropped it like a hot potato and now this.
As to the point about American mulims being pleased, I am sure they, not much of a sleeper cell if people are watching them 24/7.
You're right that Pakistan is a problem. Along with China, they are trying to convince Karzai to climb in bed with them. The War in Afghanistan is beginning to take on a new flavor.
Jersey: Wrong again. Go read this...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42863247/ns/world_news-death_of_bin_laden/
Christopher: What makes you think this same group you mistrust so much wouldn't present you manufactured proof?
The US had better not let this go by without a thorough investigation. Pakistan is getting kind of upset that Leon Panetta basically accused them of harboring Bin Laden.
That country is nuclear capable and we must never forget that or dismiss that Bin Laden hid in their country for six years.
Country Thinker is right. China is trying to convince Pakistan that they would be a better ally than the US. I see difficult times ahead for the US in geopolitical afairs.
I would love for us to get the hell out of there and see China enmeshed in that stinking pit of snakes and scorpions.
I think the people there would develop a fond nostalgia for the US of A after a few tastes of the the Chinese lash.
we are too busy in Libya....what a mess!
"Would you rather that this operation had failed, with loss of American lives and national embarrassment? We should take any opportunity we can to praise the man; they are so rare."
Exactly right, i'm no fan of him, but we shouldn't kick him just for the sake of it, that'd make us just like the lowly leftist scum. Mind you, don't expect any appreciation for it.
"The piddle-down-the-leg Euro-whiners and the military-hating scribblers in this country yapping about Osama being unarmed can shove it."
Yep, all the way up their ass.
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