As we are rejoicing in the knowledge that the dark enemy Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces a few days ago, one might consider taking a short break from the festivities and reflect over the incident.
Whether or not Osama bin Laden was actually killed on the 2nd of May by a special forces team and subsequently buried at sea, or if this was just a publicity stunt to market Barrack Osama Obama as a powerful president before the 2012 election is not what I will discuss here.
The world has been presented with the fact that the USA flew in a handful of helicopters with 25-35 SEAL & CIA operatives with the sole mission to assassinate an unarmed man in his bed with his wife (one of them). Furthermore this operation took place in a sovereign state and in a town teeming with soldiers from that state. The world seems to have accepted this – but should we?
If we do accept it, we need to ask ourselves: Why is the USA allowed to take this action? Are all countries allowed to take similar actions?
Very few would argue that the USA is the beacon of democracy and fairness – the light in a dark world and a nation of enlightened moral people: and therefore their operation a few nights ago was morally beyond question. In fact there is only one reason why we are accepting that the USA did what they did: Fear of being next. As the USA has now risen to be the only super power in the world, there are no-one left to challenge them. As little nervous dogs we therefore wag our tails and clap our hands.
But imagine if he had been hiding in Amsterdam, Newcastle or Paris. Would we have accepted a US commando night mission here? Would the US have deemed it necessary to inform the Dutch, English or French authorities? And let us take the questions even further. What would have happened if this US commando mission had been caught in action? How would the Pakistani government have reacted to what they could only have seen as an attack on one of their army groups? Would they have believed the stories that “O – we were just looking for this guy who we believe did some stuff we kinda thought was un-cool”?
How would Obama have reacted had a battalion of Pakistani special forces engaged his cowboy team? We know that the US had fighter-bombers and drones hanging over the compound to assist should the commandos meet resistance. Would they had been called in? How could this have escalated? 
In my opinion the USA acted counter to all laws of man. They broke international treaties and did so without even batting an eye. The USA owns this world and just pissed off their territory to include a “small” nuclear power like Pakistan. You think they would think twice before assassinating enemies of their state in another country? My thoughts can only go out to poor Julian Assange – hope he got a good life insurance, though that will of course be void when he is declared a terrorist!
Okay let the flaming comments begin :)
Sarah Palin actually suggested the use of US special forces to hunt down Julian Assange. It’s going to be fun to see what happens if the republicans get in charge in 2012. Imagine Donald Trump as president with Sarah Palin as vice president. It’s going to be a blast.
Regarding the killing of Osama, there has been a huge US military presence in Pakistan for years. I think the pakistanis pretty much accept that there’s a bunch of cowboys playing “hunt the terrorist” within their borders. They’re probably not happy about the situation, but they do realize that they can’t do anything about it.
If Osama had been hiding somewhere in Europe it would have been much different, the capture would certainly have been completed by local police. As long as Sarah Palin isn’t in charge of anything I can’t imagine US military operations being conducted around here.