After it’s successive failures in the region, on the military and political levels, Washington is struggling to mark a victory in its decade long war on still-to-be-defined terror.
Al-Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden’s “killing” was the “victory” that US allies have grasped regardless of the one million dollar questions: Why kill Bin Laden instead of capturing him? Why now? And why dump his body in the sea?
What makes these questions urgent is the transformation of the Middle East region due to revolutions and unrests often looked by Washington from different angles.
The United States lost Hosni Mubarak’s regime to Egypt’s public disposition that is not willing to stay submissive to Israel. It has lost Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and it’s economy. Compensation could have been enough if the regime in Syria had fallen recently, but it didn’t.
With presidential elections drawing near, Barack Obama threw his last card to bolster his chances of winning another four years in the White House. He announced the “killing” of the most wanted man blamed for the 9/11 attacks; the man who the US army occupied Afghanistan for 11 years for the sake of eliminating him.
For now, the American public and some countries around the world have swallowed Obama’s story, however commentators have already started to question when this rapture will end? They expect it to be soon because Obama failed to give tangible evidence about his claims.
Bin Laden’s doctored picture was immediately withdrawn from the media, Obama’s announcement that no pictures of the dead man will ever be shown, and Bin Laden’s lost body are all elements that will most probably become a heavy burden on Obama, enough to rule him out as president in 2012.
Remembering the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the whole execution process was made public, and pictures of his body were available, and most importantly, his next of kin were able to bury him according to the Islamic law. Barack Obama claimed that Bin Laden’s body “would be treated according to Islamic law”, however, this law does not sanction burying bodies in the sea.
According to the Lebanese expert in US affairs Dr. Kamel Wazne, the operation carries a lot of mysteries and left behind many unclear points.” He pointed out that “Bin Laden’s residence throughout this period turned out to be in a military location for the Pakistanis …This whole script and direction is like one of those American movies where you get exited but you don’t know how all these events happened”.
However, Dr. Wazne assured to Al Manar website that this whole operation and its timing had political considerations that should be taken into account. “In addition to its internal electoral purposes, the US wants to send a message that this is the end of an era for Al Qaida and Bin Laden, and probably they are trying to say that it is time for changes in the Middle East, specifically into a new system that the US is trying to promote, that is an Islamic system similar to Turkey”.
Furthermore, Dr. Wazne pointed out that “the Americans knew all along where bin laden was and where he was hiding in Pakistan. The fact that they launched the attack in the past couple of days is for political purposes”.
“The Americans want a new Islamic system like the Muslim Brotherhood which they are now trying to put as a replacement; and the Turks as well as the Qataris are assisting them in promoting the idea. In their estimate, that system could assist them, as they are trying to hijack the revolution that took place in Egypt, and trying to do the same in Syria and in other parts like Libya and Tunisia”, the US affairs expert suggested.
“The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt differs from that in Syria. Moreover, the Salafi Muslims that are present in Bahrain have sent a clear message about their type of Islam, the “moderate” Islam that demolishes the mosques and Hussainiyas,” Dr. Wazne clarified, referring to the demolishing and bloody incidents currently taking place in Bahrain.
He added “I think they wanted to say that we put an end to Al Qaida and open a new chapter and you would not have bin Laden to stand in your face. Now let’s get together and choose a new path for the Middle East that could serve the American and the new alliance in the region. Qatar is playing a major role in that, so is Turkey that is helping; as we see the Turks are trying to lecture the Syrian president and other forces in the Middle East”.
Bin Laden’s phase is now history. It lasted for one whole decade and ended as soon as a new plan was set and a new claim for having control over the region was available. As for the secrets bin Laden carried about the US policy as well as his role and emergence, these were buried with his body in the sea.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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