Osama bin Laden is dead – but US imperialism’s worldwide war lives on
The following article is the editorial for the upcoming edition of ML Update. It is posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal with permission.
* * *
By the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation
May 7, 2011 -- The US has proclaimed its success in its decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, culminating in the killing of bin Laden by US military operatives in a house in Abbotabad in Pakistan. As the televised triumphalism and images of hyper-nationalist celebrations in the US fade, however, Washington's heroic narrative is being subjected to uncomfortable questions.
Ironically, Osama bin Laden’s death has come, not in the wake of 9/11 when he was at the peak of his strength, but at a time when bin Laden and his al Qaeda were effectively sidelined in an Arab world that is witnessing a democratic awakening and upsurge. This fact too robs the US narrative of some of its sheen.
The US itself has put forward conflicting versions of the night-time raid by its military team. The initial US claim of an intense firefight has now been discarded, with the US admitting that in fact, only one man opened fire on the US operatives. The claim that bin Laden himself opened fire too has been withdrawn, and the US has admitted that he was in fact unarmed. Osama bin Laden’s killing is said to have been witnessed by his 12-year-old daughter. Apart from Osama and his son (whose bodies were speedily disposed off in the sea), at least three other men and one woman were killed, while many have been injured.
Why was it necessary to kill an unarmed Osama bin Laden rather than arrest him and bring him to justice? Why has his body been hurriedly disposed off in a way designed to prevent the possibility of any closer scrutiny of the manner and circumstances of his death? The US has yet to answer these questions convincingly. Moreover, an armed attack on a sleeping household including several children, the killing of an unarmed terrorist in the presence of his child, and the killing of other unarmed men and a woman – these are not the stuff of a heroic encounter with a dreaded terrorist.
US President Barack Obama has claimed the killing of bin Laden to be the crowning achievement in the war on terror. Some have even tried to glorify it with comparisons to the end of Hitler and the defeat of fascism. Such inflated claims are quite baseless. The end of Hitler did mark the end of WWII and a world historic defeat and decline of fascism. The killing of Osama bin Laden, in contrast, spells neither the end of terrorism as a phenomenon nor the end of the US imperialist "war on terror".
By-product of anti-Sovietism
Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda are known to be the most dangerous by-products of the anti-Soviet strategy pursued by the US in the 1980s using the popular resentment in Afghanistan and the Islamic world against the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. Modern-day terrorism is largely a US strategy that has backfired, and this cannot be contained or ended by the end of Osama bin Laden. Rather, continuing US occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and wars on Libya are likely to keep spawning more terrorism.
The most immediate political effect achieved by the Osama killing is the sharp rise in popularity ratings of Obama, who is soon to face elections. The Osama coup has effectively taken the wind out of the sails of the aggressive Republican/Tea Party campaign that had been gathering momentum in the backdrop of growing unemployment and continuing economic crisis in the US and the huge politico-economic costs of the US misadventure in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, Obama’s claim to have avenged 9/11 may well outweigh the propaganda of his rivals.
There are indications that the despotic Saudi rulers, threatened by the Arab uprising and seeking a convergence of Arab ruling interests and those of US imperialism and Obama in particular, helped deliver Osama to the US.
Pakistan’s military establishment is facing tough questions within its own country about how much it knew and concealed of Osama bin Laden’s hideout, which was a stone’s throw away from a military academy. The Raymond Davis episode, Wikileaks revelations of Pakistan’s rulers’ doublespeak on US drone attacks, and now the Osama episode, have created some ferment in Pakistani society about the nexus between the Pakistan ruling class, the military establishment, terrorism and US imperialism.
The Pakistan rulers and military as well as the US are wary of possible reverberations of the "Arab spring" in Pakistan. Whether Pakistan will indeed witness some version of an "Arab spring" remains to be seen, but it must be stressed that only a democratic and anti-imperialist awakening of the people can be an effective answer to both imperialism and terrorism (which, after all, is nothing but an imperialist ploy gone berserk).
India
In India, we are witnessing some hawkish clamour to use the US Osama operation as a precedent for unilateral action to hunt down the masterminds of 26/11 [the November 26, 2008, Mumbai terrorist attack] inside Pakistan. The Indian army and air force chiefs have indulged in irresponsible statements about India’s preparedness for a similar operation against terrorists in Pakistan. Instead of indulging in such misplaced jingoism, India should re-examine its own relationship with the US in the light of the US treatment of Pakistan.
The Osama operation, like the Raymond Davis episode, has underscored the sheer contempt the US has for the sovereignty and independence of its so-called allies and partners. All US "partners", including new members of the club like India, should be warned. Terrorism and imperialism pose similar threats to both Pakistan and India. With the increased US presence in South Asia, with its accompanying spiral of terrorism, people of both countries need to recognise the need to come closer to tackle these twin challenges of terrorism and imperialism effectively.
Bin Laden is Dead
I am posting this which I wrote on the 1st May. Although the assassination may only be to help with Obama's election and possibly make it easier for him to extricate the US from Afghanistan (The Osama myth was less relevant to the Arab spring anyway) I think there may be something more sinister to come:
O B L is Dead
What incredible nonsense. At least I could not have predicted this propaganda nonsense about the death of Osama Bin Laden, as I had with the Twin Towers: immediately after it happened I said that it was hardly surprising that an attack of this type was made against the symbols of the US hegemony after their terrible record in the poorer parts of the world. They have along with Britain been responsible for millions of lives all over the world in wars, to enforce their control over the globe. Even on that day 24,000 people died of hunger; 6,020 children died of diarrhoea; 2,700 were killed by measles (GATT Statistics - and they were directly related to GATT and WTO Agreements): these are the real causes and motives behind terrorism and are a form of terrorism themselves. The world media did not mourn these deaths and just as they applauded the millions killed, for which Bush and Bliar are responsible: how many millions does it make to be a holocaust.
Osama Bin Laden was a heavily bearded man (unrecognisable from many others) of little import. Al Qiaeda did not exist: after many years there are now groups that call themselves Al Qiaeda but the “evil” international network never existed. Whether the original character of Osama was actually still alive is indeterminable but of little importance. What the American US propaganda machine did was to manufacture a myth. So now they have killed that myth: or tried to.
It is almost indisputable that Osama had nothing to do with the actual attack on the Twin Towers. A considerable time later Osama applauded this action (and would no doubt like to have claimed himself as the inspirer of it) but he never said that he was Al Qiaeda or that he actually organised 9/11 (11/9!). There are many inadequately answered questions about the destruction of the Twin Towers and we may never know. To reiterate some of the history may be valuable.
Al Qiaeda (The Base) was a name put by the US secret services way back in the early nineties on a small group somewhere in the middle east. After the attack on the Twin Towers which was the excuse to bomb Afghanistan then this mythical group was invented with the US's previous agent Bin Laden named as its leader. At no time has Bin Laden called his group Al Qiaeda. When a video of Bin Laden was released the group of para military around him were hired for the day: they were not “his” group.
Bin Laden had first backed, on request from US, the Mujahadeen, in Afghanistan, to drive out the Soviet Army that had been invited by the legitimate (and only true national government) of Najib Bulla to stop the fundamentalist war lords mostly of the north of Afghanistan. The US supplied many millions of dollars for arms, through Bin Laden and eventually the War Lords took over the government. However the war lords set-to fighting each other, to gain ascendancy and even the US was appalled by them, so again they backed Bin Laden to back the Taliban until they controlled the government who turned out to be even worse and also not to favour the US. During this period the secure, fairly luxurious caves were built for Bin Laden and his friends in the Taliban, so when the invasion happened the US knew exactly where he was. The final break of the US with the Taliban was when Karsai (later to become president) the chief negotiator (employed by Unical - Bush's Oil Company) failed to get Taliban agreement on building the oil pipeline across Afghanistan.
The campaign against Afghanistan was, of course, planned by the neo-conservatives even before they managed to corruptly get Bush into the White House. However just a week after the pipeline talks broke down the US bombed Afghanistan as a prelude to invasion. Let's be honest the Mujahadeen/War Lords and the Taliban were very bad but the US could not care less whether they shot women for adultery in public, when they had been raped: the only motives were oil and global control. This was made possible by the Twin Towers destruction which got the public of the US to accept this war and later Iraq: the Twin Towers had no direct connection to Afghanistan just as Bin laden and his form of terrorism had nothing to do with Iraq. Many years later and long after Saddam was killed, a group started to call themselves Al Qiaeda in Iraq. The Myth of Al Qiaeda and Bin Laden became an inspiration to terrorists everywhere and his so called charisma was mainly manufactured by the US. Just as George Orwell explains in “1984” to control people you have to manufacture an enemy which is “evil” against your “sainthood”: the greater the super evil the better it works.
It is significant that they have “got rid of” the body (at sea) so no-one can independently verify DNA or even if they had a body. There is no independent verification of the manner of destruction of the Twin Towers but the official story is the most crazy conspiracy theory of them all. Don't either forget that people like Megrahi who was made out to be so evil but the evidence shows that it is very unlikely that he had anything to do with the plane blown up over Lockerbie: in fact the most likely suspects are Syria. Then there is the case Abu Musab al-Zarqawi another probably invented person based on the name of a Jordanian killed a long time before “The Battle (or massacre) of Fallujah”, where it is claimed he was killed. He was almost certainly another construct incorporating several identities. The US have claimed he has been killed several times but he was resurrected when ever necessary; Zarqawi was probably never the same person during the name's life but it is claimed he was the one that renamed a group in Iraq as “Al Qiaeda in Iraq”.
No doubt some fundamentalist group will also resurrect a bearded man called Osama Bin Laden but basically it is probable that the devil/enemy myth was no longer sufficient for the US/Global Capitalism purposes. So the real question is what will they, the US and Global Capitalism, do now? Look out for some new super Bullshit!!
Peter M Le Mare 1 May 2011
what Pakistani youth think about it.
I agree with your long comments. 911 was a biggest betrayal of USA with world int he history. its not war against terrorism but war to spread american terrorism. its not about osama or alqaeda but for resource and control of Illuminati over the world. america is been manipulated by those powers whom religion is money and business is wars. but it doesn't really meant that americans are very innocent. after all they are doing everything with their consent. and europe is not helping usa for free. all of them have partnership is dirty business of war. wars not only give the control of food to them but also the scope of selling weapons using proxy increases. american are doing was in Pak Afghan area but also they are selling their weapons in this regions.
as far as osama is concern he was america's super hero in 80's but when got his own direction they didnt liked it. as they didnt like Sadaam, Zulifqar ali bhutto etc, America buy traitors, use then and then fight to dispose them.
Being a pakistani young man I represent the youth of my country. Im education and aware of geo political situation. If you ask me what we, the youth, think is that; we want to crush america and remove this part of land from the face of earth. and this approach is not developed by and religion, alqaeda or osama but america want us to test. they are driving everyone into this war.
Replying to 'what Pakistani youth think about it'
I hear you. In our transition to an education's culturally evolutionary impact to sustain a heritage and peacefulness among all people throughout the world are on the minds of almost everyone in the world. There are always ways to seek answers to problems within our world through dialogue and a respect for human life. I was sad to have to remember the impact that this whole thing has had on so many people from the U.S. and Everyone..... It is my wish to see the forces of the world unite through a common compact of human dignity and the right to life.
On a lighter note, a prayer,
May the wind always blow,
the water of life with it,
the seas always flow,
if it be the will of god,
or merely good for all,
bless everyone,
all living things,
we are life