Obama sees the end of Osama

Osama in my slumber

Just before I fell asleep my Twitter time-line revealed Barack Obama was about to make an unusual Sunday statement and so my dreams were invaded by content broadcast by Al Jazeera concerning Osama bin Laden.

I eventually stirred up and the alertness that came was hit with the comprehension of my dreams, Osama bin Laden is dead.

A very evil man

It is a welcome development but it needs to be taken in context. This man was a very evil man whose Midas touch was death and destruction under the guise of an extreme form of religion that took its strains from Islam.

He found brotherhood amongst fellow religionists, usually sexually ascetic and repressed who were cajoled into giving up their lives for a paradise of debauched harems of virgins. With these bedazzled foot-soldiers he waged Jihad with impunity and unspeakable atrocity.

East Africa, Yemen, New York, Washington and spin-offs in Bali, Madrid and London, it was carnage like Armageddon and the man behind it every few months released videos to taunt and tease that he was still around – Catch me if you can.

The cost in life and property cannot be quantified in Afghanistan and Iraq, in some circles he could have been the precursor to the Anti-Christ, if a mere mortal can make destruction a global business you can only wonder about those who are destined to wreak biblical proportions of havoc untrammelled.

Justice is not served, revenge is

Amazingly, whilst he launched 9/11 from Afghanistan and was almost smoked out in Tora Bora he was found in a monumental edifice just North-East of the capital of Pakistan a classic case of hiding in plain sight.

I am not convinced justice is served, his actions changed our world that the rights, freedoms and liberties that many gave their lives for in the wars of the 20^th Century have systematically been rolled back in the blanket interests of safety and security, the world will never be the same again.

However, revenge has been taken, vengeance exacted and it is important that our celebration of his death especially amongst democratic nations should see this as the removal of a leader, a figurehead and an international nuisance, it would have been nigh on impossible to take him alive to face our courts and answer for the crimes he committed – we need to maintain that view of justice being served in that kind of structure.

Managing the fallout

An embarrassed Pakistan should have something to say about the unwanted guest that took residence in their country, as for the body that is in the custody of the United States in Afghanistan, he was shot in the head, he deserves no burial rites derived from the religion he professed to follow but besmirched with his actions and philosophy – there is a whole lot of rebuilding of systems, creeds, beliefs and reputations to be done.

He should never become a martyr and those who seek inspiration from his causes should begin to diminish and let our hope and future begin to take shape into a world that is safe, free, secure and less threatened by terror not forgetting the conflicts that allow for these extreme activities to take hold.

Palestine needs resolution, repressive regimes in the Arab world need to come to an end, some accommodation needs to be found for Iran, the Muslims should not find persuasion in the view that they are under siege.

The news today and the paralysis of analysis will for the moment be; Obama sees the end of Osama.

An interpretation of Islam lost in the embrace of a house slave

I never taught you

A good friend of mine about 12 years ago asked me for an academic reference to complete an application for a university course. I was at first surprised that I was asked for such a reference indicating I needed to manufacture a story of how I observed and assessed him academically.

I had in some ways been a mentor but that did not make me his teacher or lecturer, I could however give him a character reference which in all honestly and for all intents and purposes would be glowing and commendable that readers would be interested in him.

An argument ensued that ended up in my being called a coconut to which I retorted, it was the not the exclusive preserve of the white man to be objective – I almost had my head torn off.

Owning the house and the field

As the conversation cooled down, I had an interesting question thrown at me, it went – Are you a field slave or a house slave? [1]

It did not take me long to answer back that I was neither and if I did have anything to do with that sort of thing, I would probably be someone to own a field and house slave.

That was my first real exposure to the fact that the black race is not one homogenous identity and one collection of people, we all differ in our heritage, societies, communities, upbringing and outlook.

More interestingly, it showed how blacks from different cultures have tried to identify with blacks of other cultures and subsumed themselves to histories and cultures that have no semblance to their heritage.

Skin colour is only a visual identity it does not offer anything close to a shared heritage and we should be careful not to be caught up in such false identities in the quest for assumed brotherliness.

Understanding my own heritage

I had to check myself the other day in Amsterdam when someone thought he was racially abusing me by calling me a nigger – without catching a breath, I replied, I do not understand that term, I am free-born African.

In other words, even though I was born in the UK and have a British passport, I also have a Nigerian heritage where when I was growing up my blackness was always part of me that I feel so comfortable in my skin any abuse simply presents an opportunity for any education [2] rather than fall into a fit of uncontrollable anger and more abuse which many expect.

So, it was interesting to read that Ayman al-Zawahiri of Al-Qaeda had the most derogatory stuff to say [3] about President-elect Obama when he called him a house-negro. It exposed more of the ignorance of Al-Qaeda than the little understood heritage of Barack Obama.

Fatherly duties matter for impartation

Being born of a Kenyan father and a white American mother, there is no way Barack Obama would have been that acquainted with the realities of those who really did descend from slaves who were yanked out of Africa hundreds of years ago into so hostile a society that made animals of human beings.

He might have had an identity crisis but the worthy contributions of the maternal line of his heritage made him what he has become and we can all be grateful for that. President-elect Obama ran as an American who just happens to be black, NOT as a black man who happens to be an American – we need to get that distinction very, very clear.

Much as the Al-Qaeda stooge tried to play on Barack Obama’s supposed Muslim heritage, he seemed to forget that bequeathing a religion to a child includes the father being around to nurture the child.

Obama’s father was an absent father, a negligent father and someone who contributed very little to helping shape the identity and outlook of his son – I would suppose there is nothing that requires a father take responsibility in those matters of child development in the mind of Al-Qaeda and that it is best for the child to show the utmost ingratitude to those who poured themselves into the child to make him the success that he has become – they being Christian.

Muslim crimes and kafir exploits

Furthermore, I am concerned about that the other development that portrays Islam in even worse light, Somali Islamists are pursuing the pirates that took the Saudi-owned super-tanker on the premise that hijacking a Muslim owned ship is a major crime [4]. Bunkum!

A crime is a crime regardless of the religion or the victim, to consider that offending non-Muslims is a lesser crime than offending Muslims might be a matter of conscience but in has no place in modern-day civilisation.

If such hair-splitting analyses of heinous crimes are becoming the brand of Islam that has the louder voice, I would contend that Islam has nothing good to offer humanity and it should come under the siege of tolerant and reasonable sanction till it begins to see its greater function in the wider world.

The concept of Muslim crimes and kafir [5] exploits is abhorrent to the extreme, it is unimaginably callous and it must be completely unIslamic until I am told otherwise, it is out of kilter with civilised expression.

I know Muslims too

I also have a Muslim heritage [6], my paternal grandfather was a Muslim and he was the most reasonable and tolerant man I have met in the matters of religion; he married a Christian wife and of the 6 children he had, their religious inclinations came down to three on either side.

We celebrated both religious festivals with goodwill, good humour and reverence on all sides and there was never a time when we the Christians were treated with any contempt or lesser consideration with respect to our other relations that were Muslim.

I expect the well-meaning Islamic intelligentsia and elders around the world to condemn in the most severe terms this endorsement of lawlessness against non-Muslims – a crime should be a crime regardless of inclination or adherence, this kind of view must not gain traction.

All religion must be in aid and service of humanity or it has no place amongst us; I hope that message becomes the cornerstone of every creed, gospel, faith, affirmation or religion practiced anywhere in this whole wide world.

Sources

[1] House slave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[2] Do Africans still live on trees? [akin.blog-city.com]

[3] BBC NEWS | Middle East | Al-Qaeda vows to hurt Obama's US

[4] BBC NEWS | Africa | Somali Islamists 'hunt pirates'

[5] Kafir - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[6] The people are high on opium - III [akin.blog-city.com]

War on terror - Where suspects have no recourse

Verify before pulling the trigger

The reporting of news does get to me as nothing seems to be definitive and a lot seems to be assumptive.

Now we hear that suspected Al Qaeda elements have been attacked and bombed out on the border between Somalia and Kenya, so, it would appear, suspects would be dead before we probably confirm that people other than terrorist elements have been killed.

If one person is being targeted and many more are being wiped out, the justification begins to find no basis in good humanitarian analysis.

In Iraq, we also hear that alleged insurgents were attacked and killed by Iraqi and coalition forces, we might well find out something to the contrary, no one can tell.

We can change the popular saying of Ronald Reagan and say, “Distrust, but verify” – however, hawks would contend that leaving suspects or alleged terrorists to dig in their trenches could lead to the preventable loss of Iraqi and coalition forces lives.

My concern really is predicated on this pre-emptive propensity to obliterate with overwhelming force using suspect and sketchy intelligence before ascertaining that what was intended has been verifiably fulfilled. Friendly fire comes to mind, and the only friendliness is the opportunity to cover up an error that has involved killing comrades in arms.

All warfare is based on deception

That fateful day

Let us really break this war on terror down into its fundamentals and understand what really happened to us after the ninth day of September 2001.

A number of foreigners mostly of Saudi origin had over months before the attack been learning how to fly planes in flying schools in America, a rather expensive hobby to have but generally inconspicuous as part of a terror plan.

The important thing was that they had already gained access to America and when they regrouped, they boarded planes that were flying inter-state in America; none were intercontinental because they wanted to wreak havoc on American soil.

On that fateful morning, they hijacked four planes, two flew into the twin towers, one into the Pentagon, the fourth which probably was on its way to the Capitol or the White House crash-landed in Pennsylvania with the convenience of the talk of heroism from passengers and crew of the plane than the possible shooting down of the same on authority of the American government.

The words leading to war

This tragedy of that day left 2,973 dead and 24 declared missing a majority of who were Americans. The President first made a broadcast to the nation that day to comfort the American People, prioritise the issues of rescue, help and succour, then stressed the need to return to normalcy in families, in the federal agencies and financial markets – This was the beginning of the making of the Bush presidency.

Nine days on, on the 20^th of September 2001, the President addressed a Joint Session of Congress and the American People outlining a number of points, the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security to be run by the governor of the state where the fourth plane crash landed – Tom Ridge, he also demanded that the Taliban hand over all terrorists of the Al Qaeda clique and give Americans access to all terrorist training camps in Afghanistan to ensure they was not one terrorist left in Afghanistan. This is a thinly veiled sovereignty issue on analysis.

Picking at a the speech

The speech was a rallying call and the sounding of defiance in the light of this atrocious attack and a number of quotes stand out in the speech.

“Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen”. They are still ongoing and the cost now exceeds the number of lives lost on American soil, but that does not matter, they have been lost in foreign lands fighting terror.

“What is expected of us? I ask you to live your lives, and hug your children”. However, we would change your lives with the doctrine of fear and threat to emasculate your freedoms and liberties – thinking aloud.

“I ask you to uphold the values of America, and remember why so many have come here. We are in a fight for our principles, and our first responsibility is to live by them”. Does this cover Guantanamo Bay, Extraordinary Rendition and CIA Secret Prisons or Unwarranted Surveillance? – Thinking aloud, again.

“But this country will define our times, not be defined by them. As long as the United States of America is determined and strong, this will not be an age of terror”. Speak volumes without need for additional commentary.

A date in Kabul

It was obvious when the Taliban at first did not respond to the President’s demands on religious grounds and then vacillated about giving up Osama bin Laden and even offered to extradite him to some neutral state, they sincerity was suspect and there was no further recourse than to go to war to capture the leaders of Al Qaeda and punish the Taliban.

In general, global opinion was on the side of America to seek the annihilation of Al Qaeda and consummate regime change where the Taliban had become a totalitarian theocracy without any of the trappings of 20^th Century civilisation and a handbook of rules that would have made the Spanish Inquisition look like a kindergarten finger-painting class.

That war ended without the capture of Osama bin Laden of Al Qaeda or Mullah Mohammed Omar of the Taliban, they are still at large 5 years on, they are definitely America’s most wanted fugitives, and we have more problems in the world than to confer on them the epithet of the World’s most wanted fugitives.

Now that we’ve done Afghanistan

The main success of the war in Afghanistan is the uprooting of the Taliban regime who recently have been in insurgency leading to a call from NATO for more troops and equipment.

A fragile democracy exists in Afghanistan but that regime hardly has full control of its territorial limits and in many areas warlords run autonomous and tyrannical leadership over their local citizenry – it can hardly be called a roaring success.

Besides, the war dispersed both Taliban and Al Qaeda personnel who could have crossed into the tribal lands of Waziristan in Pakistan.

The prime objective of the Bush administration from the onset was to prevent another attack on American soil at all costs and this is how that was executed.

The American People would have required that the Taliban be defeated in Afghanistan that was accomplished, however, to be able to fight terrorists overseas rather than in America, a staging ground is required to concentrate terrorist manpower and resources.

Seeking a new terrorist haven

Afghanistan could no more be engaged as a host to that scenario, Pakistan had aligned with America in their war on terror so they were exempt, Iran had a kind of reformist regime and engaging them would have been inflammatory. However, there was unfinished business in Iraq, as it transpired the decision to attack Iraq was probably made within 2 days of 9/11.

In principle, if America were to attack Iraq on the basis of the pre-emptive war doctrine, or under the supporters of terrorism collective blanket and the weapons of mass destruction pretext, they would have carte blanche to run over the country, however, one unforeseen consequence is that it has now become a cauldron of terrorism with Americans engaged to dealing with an Iraqi insurgency and a thriving Al Qaeda murder machine.

It should then not be surprising that American soil has not been attacked since 9/11, there is no need to; the terrorists are still killing Americans as well as innocent Iraqis in Iraq. Iraqis have paid a larger price moving from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein to a pseudo-civil war where probably over 40,000 lives have been lost.

The supposed sham of a democracy that they have would require the strong arm of coalition support for years to come, the jury is out on if this experiment of democratising the Middle East would work, at least Vladimir Putin pointed said in the presence of Mr Bush in July, Russia does not want that kind of democracy. No country should aspire to that kind of democracy either.

What lies did for Iraq

Three and a half years into the war in Iraq the death toll continues to rise and this situation did not temper the resolve of America and Britain to restrain Israel from another loss of 1,000 Lebanese and 150 Israeli people due to American policies over the 5 years.

We now learn like we all knew before that Saddam Hussein had no links with Al Qaeda, no Al Qaeda operative met with any Iraqi official, there were no weapons of mass destruction, Iraq was not building a nuclear bomb and neither had they ordered yellow cake from Niger.

Mr Bush contends that Saddam Hussein was aiding suiciders (sic), let us review that issue again, suicide bombers having committed their atrocities in Israeli towns were identified, then Israel instituted a collective punishment policy of destroying the homes of property of the suicide bomber’s survivors.

In some cases, these suicide bombers owned nothing, but this punishment as a result of their act brought loss, anguish and destitution on their family and relations. There probably is a case for considering this act a deterrent, but conversely it can also be an effective recruitment tool for a new terrorist.

What Saddam Hussein did was to compensate those who had suffered loss for the actions of others and probably they were not in anyway culpable and were entirely innocent, whilst some might twist that into sponsoring terrorism, it could be argued that this was preventing the suffering of innocent people and the creation of a vengeance syndrome.

The premise of war

As Sun Tzu, the Chinese mathematician says in The Art of War on military strategy – “All warfare is based on deception” – Iraq is no less an example of how we have been lied to, cajoled, hoodwinked, robbed and disposed by evidence that turns out to be false at best and fabricated at worst.

Mr Bush and Mr Blair already have their places in history; it is unlikely they would be treated kindly when we look at the big picture of the New World Order in the 21st Century.

References

CNN.com - Senators: CIA dismissed Saddam-al Qaeda ties before war

Saddam 'had no link to al-Qaeda'

Senate: Saddam saw al-Qaida as threat

A dossier of lies to pursue the Iraqi war

Not leaving on a jet plane soon

A place off the itinerary

The news is full of passenger woes of not being able to board flights or endless queues at British airports.

A foiled terrorist plot, either intended or imagined, whichever the case, it is causing serious disruption to our way of life and freedoms as restrictions are imposed on the so many who are trying to visit the land of the free – the United States of America.

Somehow, we may never know if these plots would ever have been carried out, but the list of items that have been banned from cabin luggage would make travellers look like refugees who have just escaped a situation with only their shirts off their backs.

No handbags, no glass cases, no liquid medication, baby milk should be tasted by passenger, no contact lens solution, free-range tampons – what is this world coming to?

We soon might not be able to pass urine on the plane as the combination of urine and disinfectants might release noxious fumes.

My advice – cut America out of your itinerary, let them visit instead; then cut air travel out, if you can avoid it. However, this is also a British problem, air travel is no more looking like the fastest means of travel of you are visiting continental Europe..

The domestic science of explosives

Somehow, the banned stuff can be concocted into some sort of explosive to bring down planes, it all sounds like science fiction, and not to say that Al Qaeda seems to be been accorded a status of scientific genius that can use everyday items to create dangerous stuff.

I did not fully appreciate this craze till I went through Schiphol Airport; all the rubbish bin compartments were open and visible, and this was not for the cleaner to empty the bins but as a response to our fear of terror dressed up as being secure.

We need a rethink about all this terror stuff, name-calling and lumping groups together under an Al-Qaeda banner is getting us nowhere, the more we advocate our freedoms the more we lose our liberties to quests for greater security.

Terror mind games

These terrorists seem to create a stampede without anyone realising if the reaction is real or imagined, obviously, democratic governments are adopting more authoritarian slant to governance all in the name of greater security.

The sooner we begin to review the causes of terror and why people take up such despicable causes, we leave ourselves with false sense of security.

For one, the British government has dismissed comments by Muslim leaders that our foreign policies in certain Middle-East countries leave us vulnerable as facile – well, we ignore that view at our great peril.

References

Airport checks 'not sustainable'

Why al-Qaeda's real power may be all in the mind

Death eludes the State

Whoops! Missed death

The circus around the Al-Qaeda wannabe moves to the lion handling the whip with the man jumping through hoops of fire.

Everyone who is anyone in authority would hold a press conference to commend first, and praise each other to the point of immodesty. We would suffer the back-slapping and the roll call of names of no particular significance jostling for recognition to the point of extreme boredom. Phew!

Zacarias Moussaoui, they claim had an inside on 9/11 as he was arrested on immigration charges weeks before the event; the case was built around the view that he had knowledge of an event that the authorities might have been able to prevent.

The authorities were awash with other bits of knowledge they could have acted on but they were found wanted – Moussaoui, it would appear afterwards might have had less than a bit part or scant knowledge of the events.

Death becomes the state

What is most interesting and might be the turning point in the American polity is the whole weight of the federal government and prosecution was for the imposition of the death penalty.

There was a separate hearing to determine if the death penalty should feature in sentencing, which was almost derailed but some underhand activities by a member of the prosecution.

The defence team appealed to a greater sense of humanity; the fact that another tragedy of the death of a would-be terrorist would not bring the closure that would assuage the pain of victims but celebrate the death of a martyr to a despicable cause.

It shows that a jury can exercise a greater resolve of conscience than the machine of state which just needs to be seen doing something, even it is not right.

Death is no real justice

In Europe, we have already resolved that no vengeance is served with capital punishment; we hold the sanctity of human life as something to be valued to the point of natural expiration.

It informs why we still have serious ethical issues with euthanasia and abortion.

In the end, a jury voted in the majority and relatives of victims of 9/11 who might be in their rights in to demand the death penalty agreed to the sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole.

In some places, his sentence might be considered harsh, in that we are not certain of what knowledge Moussaoui had of 9/11 and if whatever knowledge he had would have helped the government in absolution of their dereliction of responsibility.

Where be the big fish?

More damning, is the fact that this man who has been a media celebrity for 4 and a half years is very small fry compared to the blue whales of the Al Qaeda leadership who frequently remind us that they are still about and sending forth troops for the global jihad.

At large, at peace and at liberty, they mock the global superpower to derision and more so after they could not persuade a jury of 12 to do their bidding.

This, I would say, this is the death knell of the death penalty in America, the people have spoken, I just hope the president and governors are listening.

Setting democracy ablaze with gas

Terror – an evil pre-occupation

Hardly 48 hours have past into the year 2006 and a number of uncomfortable developments are now taking place which threaten a lot more of our freedoms and liberties than the inordinate if not evil pre-occupation with the war on terror.

As usual our leaders are caught napping as their firm gaze on one issue distracts them from a bigger global picture that could creep upon us like a rolling cloud of mustard gas and envelop us like a nuclear mushroom canopy from which we have no escape.

Impossible expectations

The more obvious one is gas; this is a little battle of wills and integrity between Russia and Ukraine where hardly a week ago Ukraine was threatened with the loss of gas supplies which heretofore had been subsidised or discounted and now is to be hiked fourfold in price.

That deadline passed on New Years Day as pressure was then reduced in the gas pipelines in order to starve Ukraine of gas.

The paradox is that Russia’s gas supply network feeds most of Europe but for now passes through Ukraine where Ukraine is supposed to ethically and honestly allow gas to pass through their land to Europe even when they might be subject to privations in economy and well-being.

To expect to hold Ukraine up to a standard of international rectitude that one would hardly find examples of anywhere on earth is not only unconscionable but really laughable because Ukraine can as well close off the complete gas network and somebody somewhere will be left wanting in reputation, reliability and credibility.

Meanwhile a new pipeline is being built to bypass Ukraine into Europe through Germany where the ex-chancellor has been tapped for chairmanship of the organisation providing that service - nepotism does not become Europe just as Mr Shroeder is Mr Putin's good friend.

This is not a little local flare

This little squabble between these ex-Soviet partners is however affecting a lot more than Ukraine and Russia; countries west of this fracas are already suffering a degradation of supplies, noting that their reserves might not be sufficient enough to see through an extended gas famine.

Industries first and then probably households would be affected, and then some organisations could be asked to switch to oil which is greater pollutant than gas with its environmental consequences.

Economies would be on the wobble as gas futures reckoning for shortage could exert inflationary pressures on the European economy as a whole, whilst logistics are put in place to research for alternative gas supplies and transportation systems.

Democracy a hostage

Democracies can be put under undue pressure leading to social unrest and an unmanageable polity such that governments might not just collapse but the countries are in danger of becoming failed states from the exertion of this kind of energy starvation muscle. Classic how to create disorder.

It can be said that Ukraine is being punished for exercising their democratic right to choose who they want rather than who has been imposed from afar.

We have had strongly worded commentary from the United States State Department; however, Russia as the prospective chairman of the G-8 group of advanced economies is being appeased rather than upbraided.

The force of democratic dissent to such abuse of power reminiscent of either the Stalin times or the US 1970’s foreign policy pertaining to Central America is more a whimper and a wail than a wallop with a resounding wham!

Winning the wrong war

Here we are, winning the war on terror by preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, arresting acts money laundering and trampling on civil liberties amidst the hysteria of saving lives and promoting patriotism as a more benign enemy is destabilising the life-blood of our industries, economies, comforts and democracies.

Amusingly, only little Netherlands has self-sufficient gas supplies in the whole of Europe and what is left over does not compensate for the possibility of a catastrophic weather breakdown from this Siberian ill-wind.

This is just gas, but by the time China decides to call in the loans that underpin the United States bloated budget deficit, would the death of democracy herald another world order?

The possible unexpected

You might shake your heads and say this will not happen, however, I can just see how this can be diplomatically achieved just as we have made so much progress in North Korea, Iran, Zimbabwe, Sudan (Darfur), Russia and Ukraine.

For now, our freedoms, principles and liberties are threatened more by the realities of what Russia, China and Oil-producing countries can wield than the ideologies that emanate from Al-Qaeda adherents. It is however unlikely that this would excite the attention of our ever so astute leaders.