The American Spectator : The Aftermath

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The Aftermath

By George Neumayr on 5.5.11 @ 6:08AM

Celebration and confusion follow the death of Bin Laden.

Last year, John Brennan, while repeating the Obama administration's view that Osama Bin Laden was practicing a false version of Islam, said that "jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one's community, and there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children." Yet the Obama administration ended up burying Bin Laden as a real Muslim, according him Islamic burial respects.

The administration was at pains to show that it had treated his body gingerly. As White House press secretary Jay Carney read from an official narrative, his body was not dumped into the sea but "eased" into it after proper washing and prayers.

The gesture, designed to mollify Muslims, naturally didn't. Among others, a cleric in Lebanon, Omar Bakri Mohammed, was quoted as saying, "The Americans want to humiliate Muslims through this burial, and I don't think this is in the interest of the U.S. administration." Another cleric said the U.S. had needlessly invited "fish to a banquet."

The silence from the Muslim world -- official praise of Obama for killing Bin Laden was nil a day after it -- undermines the rosy media talking point that Bin Laden's death comes as a new Islam committed to "democratic reforms" has been born in Egypt and elsewhere. Many commentators enthusiastically pointed out that Bin Laden had nothing to do with the recent Arab revolutions, as if to suggest that an emerging new Islamic order will not contain elements of the old one. But it will, and the post-Bin Laden silence foreshadows that.

Meanwhile, Obama has not been served well by staff after his moment of well-earned glory. Brennan introduced into the story of Bin Laden's capture and killing several pieces of misinformation. Perhaps eager to promote a female-friendly Islam, he announced that Bin Laden had cravenly used one of his wives as a shield. It turns out that she had voluntarily lunged at one of the Seals.

More confusion followed CIA Director Leon Panetta's acknowledgment that information leading to Bin Laden's capture came through detainees who had undergone "enhanced interrogation." This complicated matters for some of Obama's supporters, who, like MSNBC pundit Lawrence O'Donnell, speculated hopefully that any crucial information might have come "before or after" the techniques had been used.

Still more confusion followed Panetta's confident statement that photos of Bin Laden's dead body would be released. Other administration officials contradicted Panetta and now the press is reporting that Obama is set to say that he will withhold them.

Card-carrying ACLU Democrats may have also winced at the post-Brennan press conference correction that Bin Laden was unarmed, a fact which requires a level of sympathy from them for those operating under the "fog of war" that they don't normally show soldiers or police officers. The New York Times, however, was up to this task, quickly putting the White House correction into the appropriate context: "Several experts on the rules of engagement in combat said that in a raid on a target as dangerous as Bin Laden, the Navy Seals team would be justified to open fire at the slightest commotion when they burst into a room."

Obama's moment of effective leadership comes as an ideological shock for followers who wanted a war without Patriot Acts, unilateral actions, and commando raids. But for Obama, it is a boon. He can now claim plausible distance from the Nancy Pelosis when needed, thereby enjoying one of the paradoxes of American politics, that the success of one party usually follows its perceived implementation of the other party's agenda.

About the Author

George Neumayr is a contributing editor to The American Spectator.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (15) | Leave a comment

Richard Baker| 5.5.11 @ 7:39AM

Addled is the best word to describe the Administration's confusion on this subject.

Hillel| 5.5.11 @ 7:43AM

We should have had more respect for our foes traditionsl Traditionally they cut off the privy parts and place it in the desceased's mouth. Then they cut off the head. Such respect would give our enemies pause. Many Moslems believe that the corpses of bad people are devoured by demons in the grave. I believe we could arrange for a U-Tube flic of this happening to Osama...

Pecos Pete| 5.5.11 @ 8:36AM

The Community Organizer In Chief, COIC, does it again. His total lack of experience in the real world can only lead to disaster for the USA.

Bill| 5.5.11 @ 3:10PM

Maybe Islam would understand it better if we had taken a page from the Leon Klinghoffer book, placed the body of bin Laden in a wheelchair, and unceremoniously wheeled it -and him- off the deck of the carrier into the sea.

Smirking Weasel| 5.5.11 @ 4:24PM

If Brennan, Obozo, etc., are not liars, they're craven cowards. Wunderbar!

WRJonas | 5.5.11 @ 4:41PM

Confusion everywhere. Among the questions I have is if two choppers transported the Seals to the compound and one became inoperative did they all leave in one chopper ? That would seem to be extremely risky.. Why did they go to and Afghanistan rather than back to the carrier? Were the Seals left in Afghanistan and the CIA moved in to finish the mission ? And how did the body get from Afghanistan to the carrier.
Excuse me , but I smell a rat here. Could the whole burial at sea be a cover story and in fact Osama is laying stiff in a morgue somewhere? Too m any things don't add up. Maybe that canvas body bag is full of potatoes and rocks.

Richard Baker| 5.5.11 @ 7:06PM

Jonas:
Depends on which helicopter they used. The ACL (Aircraft Cabin Load) can be one number of people while the aircraft can actually lift many more in an emergency and still be within limits.

Richard Baker| 5.5.11 @ 7:33PM

Mistake. I remembered the meaning of ACL incorrectly. It means Allowable Cargo Load.

simon templar| 5.5.11 @ 7:56PM

I can not recall in my lifetime any situation or event that has been so mishandled by an administration and the media with such confusion, contradiction, corrections in story, and inconsistency as this one. What the hell is going on here? Today we learn the chopper was not destroyed but in the hands of the Paks. Today, we learn only one had a gun and there was no significant firefight. It changes from hour to hour. If this keeps up I should expect it was not Osama but his cousin Ted (other side of the family) that was shot. This thing in NY, I hear was mostly one big photo op for his excellency.

simon templar| 5.5.11 @ 8:00PM

" Perhaps eager to promote a female-friendly Islam, he announced that Bin Laden had cravenly used one of his wives as a shield. It turns out that she had voluntarily lunged at one of the Seals."
Uh, George, that has changed in the last hour, sorry. We hear now that the wife was pushed out in front of him by him as he peed his pants with fear and reached for his gun.

Occam's Tool| 5.5.11 @ 10:49PM

This distracts from out cluster fu in Libya. Apparently, Israeli and European Union mercs are now going to Libya to fight for Gaddafi! Weirder and weirder it gets, although I can see the Israelis' point: the Rebels are going to be much worse than Mr. G. Much worse.

firebrand| 5.6.11 @ 12:55AM

Will we ever address the question of how the OBL"mansion" (which looks like a Costco Tire Shop) ever sprung up unnoticed by neighbors?

Obviously, Pakistan has no zoning laws. No building permits. No EPA. What about tax rolls? Who owned the "lot" the mansion was built on? Or do you - in Pakistan - just drive around until you see a chunk of land with nothing on it and start pouring concrete and stringing barbed wire? (Or "bob war", as we called it back inTexas)

A few years back (we are in California, now) I wanted to make a modest addition to my house. I had to go before the Planning Commission, who at first said no - - the reason being that it had never been done before and that is what Planning Commissions are there for - to thwart any plan not their own..

I kept returning to meetings, pressing my case, until they tired of arguing with me and thought they would make enough hurdles for me to clear, that I would give up.

This was a room approximately 12 X 15. I had to have an Environmental Impact Study done. I had to have 35 copies of my blueprints made and circulated to residents from blocks around - if one had objected I could not proceed. As I live on a corner, I could not possibly "cast a shadow" on my neighbor's property - another insane law in my county. Still we went through the cast-shadow phase of attempting to bar construction.

I am just saying, if Islamabad had half the restrictions we have, a house 8 times the size of neighboring houses might have raised a few eyebrows.

Could we have an inventory of HIllary's jewelry box and see what kind of gifts Pakistan might have given her when she was First Lady? There has to be
a better reason for defending Pakistan as a friend besides their allowing us to shower money on them year after year to keep our place in their heart.

Besides having no-talent architects, Pakistanis have cheezy interior decorators and Osama and his family lived like pigs. Why is that? Where is the opulence? Where are the 24K gold bidets? The TV looked like it was about 18", sitting on what looked like an orange crate.. My neighbors have TVs the size of their garage doors. In every room.

Maybe the Seals mussed it up some, and I am being unnecessarily harsh and even insensitive. Or maybe it was just because we dropped by unexpectedly.

Michael Tomlinson| 5.6.11 @ 1:12AM

al Qaeda is supporting Obama's surrogates/rebels in Libya. In fact, the area the Obama "warriors" come from is the heartland of Libyan Muslim fundamentalism and support for al Qaeda.

Dee See| 5.8.11 @ 10:47PM

----SUPER article.

NOW, back to the corporate media cover-up
of the greatest world nuclear disaster in human history (Fukishima) even as chart busting radiation and burns are reported in Kent England
(twice as far from the source as we).

SEE Alan Watt report 'Humiliation of Information' pt. 2 on Youtube.

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