MEMBERS OF THE FDNY READ THE NEWS ON THE TIMES SQUARE TICKER(Monday, May 2, 2011. NY, NY) After being the most wanted fugitive in the world and the very face of radical extremist Islamic terrorism for nearly the past ten years, the man who masterminded the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City and at The Pentagon, Osama Bin Laden, has been killed in a daring operation carried out by US Special Forces and CIA Operatives. The particulars of the raid that resulted in this much celebrated milestone in our on-going “War on Terror” are headlines around the world and dominating cable TV news coverage.
The news considered so important to our government and the American people that President Obama made a late night, unscheduled televised address to report the news from the East Room in the White House. The President's quote that “Justice has been Done” has appeared in bold headlines all over the world. As word spread last night that Bin Laden had been killed in a camp in Pakistan, crowds gathered at various sites in New York City and Washington,DC to mark the occasion. There was an odd “carnival like” atmosphere reported by some present in the cheering, chanting throngs outside the White House last night while at the site where the World Trade Centers stood, the mood was mixed.
During most of the last decade, actually since October 16, 2001 when CIA Operatives and Special Forces were first covertly inserted into Afghanistan to capture or kill as many members of al Qaeda and their hosts, The Taliban, our intervention there has been full of irony. In a matter of weeks after our official military campaign began, in earnest, in Afghanistan, is has been widely acknowledged by military and government officials, that the titular head and spirit leader of al Qaeda – Bin Laden – was “trapped” in the rugged mountains of Tora Bora and was able to slip across the border into Pakistan. “We had him and we let him get away”, commented a top ranking CIA Operative who had been there. Then President George W. Bush refused the military's and CIA requests to insert a larger troop force to seal the Afghan – Pakistan border. Instead, Bush “outsourced” the Pakistani border mission to Pakistani forces many of whom had tribal and ideological sympathies with both Bin Laden and his “mujaheddin” forces and The Taliban.
Since that time Bin Laden's whereabouts had been a “huge mystery” and a “constant reminder of our lost opportunities” according to the same CIA Operative. In the intervening years our military efforts to secure Afghanistan and allow for some sort of homegrown government to “step up” and secure their own Country have been noteworthy only because of their many victories, though most were merely Pyrrhic at best, and constant set backs our military have experienced. It has become a high stakes game of cat-and-mouse as, over the years first The Taliban fell from power, al Qaeda was in disarray only to watch as both entities have seen resurgence in recent years and have proven to be more tenacious than initially expected.
The puppet regime of Afghan “President” Harmid Karzai, hand picked by the Cheney / Bush Administration to take over in the wake of the Taliban's retreat in late 2001 has been an abject failure in every measurable way. If anything Afghanistan today, despite the billions of US dollars we've poured in to that perpetually corrupt, lawless, failed Nation / State is not all that much different that it was prior to September 11, 2001. This fact is not a reflection on our dedicated and brave troops but rather on the Cheney / Bush Administration and civilian Pentagon and State Department leadership from 2001 through the inauguration of President Obama in January 2009.
Links
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/asia/osama-bin-laden-is-killed.html?hp
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/02osama-bin-laden-obituary.html?hp
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/us_raiders_slay_beast_QgxwTCzo6XLjib9bJKPckK
Posted Monday, May 2, 2011 @ 9:11AM EST
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