CAN’T FIND BIN LADEN? TRY LOOKING IN GRAVEYARDS!
THE VERY DEAD MR. OSAMA bin LADEN
There is this thing about great leaders: they lead. They step up in front of their followers, lift their swords high in the air, and shout: FOLLOW ME!
The history of this world has been filled with leaders without whom, certain great accomplishments would not have been realized. From time immemorial, men such as Hannibal and Alexander, Napoleon and Washington, Richard (The Lion Heart) and Joshua lead their men into battle. Often the tide of battle was turned by the strength of their personalities alone.
That's what great leaders are - public figures. They clamor for attention and publicity. They are ego-driven. They are men of courage certainly but they are also men who crave the spotlight. They are leaders because they were born to be leaders.
Once upon a time a young man - deeply religious - deeply committed to what he believed in - and very rich to the tune of half of a billion dollars or thereabouts - strode upon the public scene. Taking up the sword of leadership against those who, in his mind, defiled all that he believed in, this warrior rallied supporters to his cause. That man was Osama bin Laden.
Make no mistake about it, Osama bin Laden was a giant among men. He was genuine, dedicated and inspired. Yes, he was on the opposite side of the political spectrum from us, but leaders exist on both sides of every political dispute. This one is no exception.
In the eyes of bin Laden, the West was a great evil that had come into his world and defiled everything he believed in. It had moved troops into HIS country to support a Royal Family that he believed was oppressive. It had invaded the sacred ground of Mecca. It had brought into his homeland, ideas and concepts that were foreign to his land.
And why? Why had the invaders come? That’s easy. They had come for oil. Were it not for oil, there would have been no Western intrusion into his land. They came for the oil and in the process, they rode carelessly over his country and his countrymen. The West was the Great Devil, and whether we agree with that characterization or not, that belief became the core of his existence. And it persuaded others to join him in his fight against us.
So Osama bin Laden took up the sword and rallied his people to his cause which was to drive the Western Infidels out of Mecca and out of his country. He embarked on a holy mission to do the work of Allah.
Osama bin Laden was not a man with personal ambitions. He had no power-lust. He was not vain. What he was, was honest and dedicated and because of that, others rallied to his side. He was seen as a servant of Allah and a champion of a people impoverished in a land of riches.
To his enemies, bin Laden became known as a terrorist because he killed innocent civilians in his attacks on the West. And that was true. He did that. But it was hardly rare. Everyone engaged in combat kills innocent civilians and for the same reason - to terrorize their enemies and rob them of their will to resist. We did it when we bombed Germany and Japan and killed lots of innocent men, women, and children. Germany did it when they bombed England and Eastern Europe and Japan did it when they bombed Pearl Harbor.
War is an ugly business for sure but all bin Laden did, in his own way and with the only weapons available to him, was to do what we had all done in war before him: attack.
So why am I writing all this? Am I trying to justify bin Laden's actions and activities? No, of course not. What I am trying to do is demonstrate to you what a leader is and what a leader is not and that, for a very specific reason. I am making my argument that Osama bin Laden is dead.
Do you remember the movie, "PATTON"? Do you remember how General Patton swaggered in front of his troops? Rode around in an open jeep in a combat zone where his men could see him? There was a reason for that, a reason as old as warfare: General Patton knew his self-assurance, his confidence, his courage under fire would inspire those that followed him. And when so inspired, that they would persevere. And he was right.
The key to leadership is: VISIBILITY. You step out in front of your troops when the going gets rough, you raise your sword high above your head, and you shout at the top of your voice: "FOLLOW ME, MEN!"
And they do. You see leaders lead from the front, not from the rear.
And that's why I believe that Osama bin Laden is dead. Because Osama bin Laden was a man who was a real leader, a truly charismatic highly visible leader of men - but who suddenly disappeared.
We had heard that Obama was very sick, it had even been reported that he had a serious liver disease and was on dialysis. That notwithstanding, this was a man who once was seen all the time, who frequently gave interviews to spread his message, who put messages on videos so his followers could see him and hear him and follow him - and who suddenly completely disappeared from public view.
In the past six years, al Queda's great leader has completely disappeared. Oh sure, we have heard tapes supposedly from him and sometimes a video surfaced of someone claiming to be him (remember the Sadaam doubles?). But on one video he appeared taller and on another shorter, one time he was heavily bearded and on another not so much, one time he appeared gray and haggard and another young and vital - and none of them looked real.
I believe Osama bin Laden is dead and all this is just an attempt on the part of al Queda to keep his spirit of resistance alive.
Over the past six years, many others have heard claims that bin Laden is dead. His own followers must have heard these claims. So I ask you, if you were such a leader, if you were dedicated and charismatic and devoted to a cause, and if you were alive and functional, what would you do for those who rallied around your cause but who are suddenly beset by doubts? What would you do for your people to re-energize them, to inspire them, to urge them to continue the fight?
I know what I would do - I would either invite some independent world leaders to my cave to show them I was still on the job or if I didn't want that, I would produced another of the famous al Queda video tapes. On this one, I would show me HOLDING UP TODAY'S NEWSPAPER OR A CURRENT ISSUE OF A WORLD-WIDE MAGAZINE! Smiling I would point to the date on the newspaper and say: "YOU SEE, THIS IS ME AND THIS IS TODAY'S NEWSPAPER SO YOU CAN SEE THAT I AM VERY MUCH ALIVE!!!
FIGHT ON!"
Have you seen that tape? Did I miss it? Was it ever made?
That's what I would do. And that's what any leader would do. SHOW YOURSELF! The quickest and best way to prove to my supporters that the fight must go on is to show them that I am still here, still fighting, still leading them! This simple tape would make that point eloquently. And it would be easy to do, easy to produce, and certainly would command world-wide attention. But it hasn't been done and why? To me the reason is simple: the reason it hasn't been done is that it can't be done and the reason it can't be done is because THE MAN IS DEAD. FINISHED! KAPUT!
But if this is true, you ask, why doesn't our government say so? Well, there are a few possible reasons for that. For one thing, I can say whatever I want and there are no repercussions. But that's not true of our government or of any government. They can't afford to be wrong so until there is proof of his death, they must remain silent. For another, if they really do think bin Laden is gone, that doesn't necessarily mean his organization is gone too. That doesn't mean the battle is won. That doesn't mean the danger has past.
The followers of bin Laden are still there, diminished perhaps, but still functioning. They still want to wage war against the Infidels. They aren't yet ready to quit. So what would happen if, say the President of the United States, were to come out and say "we have reason to believe that bin Laden is dead"?
Wouldn't everyone, democrats for sure, start clamoring to come home? Walk away from Iraq? Turns our backs on what we have fought for the last five years? I can hear them now. "Osama is dead! Great, "BRING THE BOYS HOME."
Hell, they have been doing that for over three years with him alive. What would they do if they thought he was dead?
So, there may be reasons why no such announcement has been forthcoming. But I like the first one best, until they have proof positive, no matter how much they may believe he is dead, they don't dare say it. Without proof, it is only a guess and it would be a disaster if the day after the announced his death, he showed up in a video, holding today's newspaper in his hand, mocking the West.
But not to worry, it isn't going to happen because Osama bin Laden is long dead.
And that is the point of this article. The head of the snake has been cut off. All that is left is to kill the body, which is exactly what we have been doing in Iraq. And doing very well.
Nice going George.
Joey: Where people come to exercise their minds:
http://www.blogger.com/profile/00659050837324784709
JOEY
Do you wonder what we are doing in that part of the world and why they resist us so much. It's not Iraq or Global trade, it's more basic than that: they have an ages old religious culture which they see as being attacked by Western Culture which approaches Hedonism. So they resist change. Here is an article making that point and doing so very well.
On the tribal region of northwest Pakistan.
"Economic development might well "tame" these tribesmen, yet poverty is less the cause of their warlike ways than the result of a deliberate decision to preserve their traditional way of life—their Pushtun honor—even at material cost. The Islamist revolution is a conscious choice—an act of cultural self-defense against the intrusions and seductions of an alien world. Although the social foundations of the traditional Muslim way of life have been shaken, they are far from broken. So long as these social foundations cohere, advancing globalization will provoke more rebellion, not less—whatever America decides to do in Iraq and beyond. The root of the problem is neither domestic poverty nor American foreign policy, but the tension between Muslim social life and globalizing modernity itself."
