#RIP #Osama

Where do we start for Osama's obit? Here's a shot:

The Islamic fundamentalist millionaire Saudi turned Afghanistan-based Mujahadeen took suicide bombing as a military/terrorist campaign to a global theatre being the assumed mastermind behind the first co-ordinated attacks on the US mainland in almost 200 years - the destruction of the World Trade Centre in New York City and the attack on the Pentagon in Washington DC by hijacked airliners - on September 11, 2001.

Here's hoping there are no celebratory doomsday/sleeper activations amongst his group if President Obama can confirm what everyone is saying. We await a statement from the American leadership.


UPDATE | 3:36pm

Pres. Obama speaking now live. It's on every radio station as I tune through the bands - all the NZ stations are taking the feed live:

I can now report...
An American operation...
has killed Osama Bin Laden...
3000+ citizens taken from us...
Al Qaeda had openly declared war on US - Osama Bin Laden was leader. Afghanistan gave them support and harbour...
National security committee met...
last week enough intel to get him...
AT my direction, in Pakistan, small team, no Americans harmed, after a fire-fight he was killed and we took custody of his body. Most significant achievement. We will remain vigilant - we are not at war with Islam. Al Qaeda slaughtered scores of Muslims...
I said we would take action in Pakistan is we had intel. Tonight I called Pres. of Pakistan. Historic day for our nations.
Americans did not choose this fight...
"Justice has been done"
And may god bless the United States of America.

I'm sure this moment is a great relief for the American population. They have the cause of their insecurity in Bubble America taken care of now, the guilty party, dead - riddled with American bullets perhaps. Enemy No.1 wiped off the board. The alcohol sales etc. will be through the roof. Partying on the streets are being reported.

So Obama was doing this directly and he didn't keep Pakistan in the loop - only telling them later. That's probably how they got him - no ISI leaks. Extraordinary. A military operation in someone else's country - without their permission - to assassinate/kidnap alive/dead the Islamic, Arab version of a real life Dr Evil character and his evil gang... it reads like one of those corny Hollywood plots.

Now fuck off out of Afghanistan - that's the next logical thing isn't it?

But that's not how the Americans roll. Obama was explicit that the battle goes on, even if he wasn't explicit (from what I recall) where exactly it would go on, or for how long, or how much it would cost.

The only reason anyone from outside a country can fight inside that country is if it's with the permission and at the request of the locals in that country and it is to fight non-local outsiders. If you are an outsider there to kill the locals (rather than other foreigners or infiltraters across a border) then that's not a great reason for you to be there. If the NZ forces are primarily there to kill locals then they shouldn't be there.

To get rid of foreign fighters - Arabs and Chechens and Pakistanis - the corrupt Karzai government has the Western alliance (including NZ) as their foreign fighters to do the job. Problem is it's always going to be more than just the job, it will inevitably involve fighting locals off-side with one another and locals off-side (quite rightly) with all the foreign soldiers all over their country.

UPDATE | 8:50PM: Some headlines from the US:

And for the curious, or the doubting, here is the unconfirmed image of Osama Bin Laden's body. [UPDATE: 03/05/2011 10am: Unconfirmed alright - a photoshopped fake of what he may have looked like according to reports this morning. There will be real photos or video, no doubt - but will the Americans release it? They said they buried him at sea, so there can be no autopsy either.]