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PrintMay 2, 2011
Obama gets Osama
For what it's worth, here are a couple of things I wrote well over two years ago.
From Predictions of Hope and Change, Feb. 1, 2009:
"Osama bin Laden will be killed or captured, with credit going to US troops. President Obama will be hailed as doing what President Bush could not get done in eight years. The War on Terror will be considered over, with Iraq relegated to one huge mistake for all history. Pakistan and other Muslim countries won't be too happy about Osama's demise or US actions in Pakistan, but Obama will make them an offer they can live with: let me get credit for getting Osama, and the US will not intervene in the Mideast - develop your WMD and harass or attack Israel as desired. We'll release some former Gitmo detainees for good measure."
From Bingo! Call It Communism, Mar. 1, 2009:
"Only one item out of 44 [of the CPUSA's platform] is being violated: Obama is sending more troops to Afghanistan... What's up with that?"I also have another suspicion. I think Obama really, really wants to get Osama bin Laden. He's even willing to lose Pakistan, with its nukes, to Taliban and jihadi warlords if that's what it takes. Not that I think Obama cares all that much about the War on Terror. But can you imagine the press he'd get, bagging the A-Number-One 9/11 terrorist after Bush let him slip away for eight years? I admit it's just a guess."
Oddly, the US already had the guy who actually planned the 911 attacks: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He has been in US custody for over eight years and has yet to go to trial, military or civilian. For some reason we made the guy who might have "blessed" the attacks our most important target. But the FBI did not have enough evidence on Osama bin Laden to pin the 911 attacks on him. The FBI wanted him for the embassy attacks in Tanzania and Kenya. That is, if we had captured OBL instead of just killing him, he most likely would not have stood trial, or even military tribunal, for 911. Whether he would have gone to Gitmo is also an open question. A shot to the head sure cleared up a lot of messes.
