So, we Americans were right all along: Osama bin Laden was living in Pakistan, even though that country’s government insisted that he wasn’t. Given the size and fortified character of the Abbottabad compound, apparently built for the terrorist in 2005, it is impossible to believe that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence was genuinely unaware of his presence. As Simon Tisdall writes at the Guardian,  the discovery that climaxed in the death of bin Laden “is an enormous and dangerous embarrassment for Pakistan’s government.” We would underscore Mr Tisdall’s use of the present tense.

We Americans also seem to be treating the event as a championship victory. Score one for us! The fact that the operation against bin Laden involved the surprise invasion of an uneasy ally’s territory was not deemed important enough for a headline in today’s print edition of the Times — although Jane Perlez’s online analysis generally accords with Mr Tisdall’s. “With Bin Laden’s death, perhaps the central reason for an alliance forged on the ashes of 9/11 has been removed…” This is the real news, and it is momentous in every way. The military and intelligence officials whose cooperation made the capture of Osama bin Laden deserve every kind of praise as well as the nation’s gratitude. But we see no call for jubilation.

Drop me a line at rjk@dailyblague.com
This entry was posted on Monday, May 2nd, 2011 at 10:30 am.