I confess to being such a cynic about Obama that when the death of Osama was announced Sunday night, the first question in my mind was, "Why so long before the election?" This is exactly he sort of event (like the financial crisis of 2008) that can swing several percentage points of the vote with its halo effect.
A potential answer to my question comes from the UK Daily Mail. Neil Sears writes: WikiLeaks may have triggered the killing of Osama Bin Laden, it was suggested last night.
For although the CIA has thought since September that he was in hiding in Abbottabad, special forces stormed his fortress only days after the website published new secret documents.
These made reference to named 'couriers' carrying Bin Laden's message to his followers, and also to Abbottabad as a possible Al Qaeda bolthole. (snip)
Although the document does not suggest Bin Laden has hidden in Abbottabad, it clearly identifies the city as known to the Americans as a possible Al Qaeda leadership bolthole, and identifies by name several couriers.
It is not yet clear whether the named couriers are those who did indeed lead the CIA to Bin Laden - but even so the document could have provided evidence for Al Qaeda that the net was closing in.
We will probably never know exactly why this particular moonless night was chosen, but it was the first such optimal evening to occur after Wikileaks let the cat out of the bag.
Julian Assange, hero to the anti-American left worldwide, may have forced Obama's hand in deploying "Cheney's Assassination Squad" (Seymour Hersh's term) for a "targeted assassination" prematurely.
Life is full of ironies.
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