Driving into work last night the radio abruptly informed me that the President was going to make a special address, which was pushed back a few times. By the time the address was officially made the wire services and news agencies were already reporting that Osama bin Laden was dead(although the details varied wildly). Soon Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House turned into a fair facsimile of Brandenburg Gate in Berlin during the fall of The Wall.
Now, time for me to start pooping on the Parade.
(1)Anyone who says Obama didn't take a great politic risk himself in signing off on this Op is smoking crack. Sending a special forces team into Pakistan, right near where one of our CIA agents got held after fighting off two Pakistani ISI agents? This had the potential to be a huge clusterfuck, and still he signed the order. So mad props to him.
(2)What is different today from yesterday? Well, OBL is dead, but OBL is largely symbolic at this point. Vengeance has been meted out, which is making a lot of people(including myself) feel good about it, but in function AQ of today looks a lot like AQ of yesterday. And you can be sure AQ is going to try something to get revenge while we're doing our Victory Lap.
(3)There is no way, from a Public perspective, that the Pakistanis can still pretend that they are on our side. That the US Government decided to hold the operation so close to our chest and not even inform our "ally" of it until after the shooting was done doesn't bode well. At all. Thanks for nothing Pakistan.
(4)The rapid burial at sea of OBL and lack of photos released is already making the conspiracy theorists froth that OBL wasn't killed. Seeing as Osama was shot in the fucking head, I suspect he may not have been recognizable and any photos the US may have are not really fit for human consumption. Oh well. There are photos of Elvis on the slab in the Morgue and people think he's still alive.
A friend of mine said it best on Facebook:
The Sheikh is dead. Ten years, as dogged as the pursuit of Hannibal after the fall of Carthage. And just as certain.
Ave Imperator.
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