It was strange to awaken on a Bank Holiday Monday morning to hear news of the killing of Osama Bin Laden hidden in a large private residence in the Pakistani equivalent of a military town like Aldershot or Sandhurst. If anyone in the military or government knew he was there, it suggests there was a conspiracy to conceal. If nobody knew, it reveals an almighty level of incompetence on the part of Pakistani military intelligence. The oddness of all this was compounded by the fact that the first intimations of the raid came from a Pakistani tech worker tweeting, well before White House announcement, about the late night arrival of helicopters and loud explosions heard in his Abbattabad neighbourhood.
Given a record of questionable loyalties on the part of some in the Pakistani intelligence services and military, the Americans can't be blamed for not forewarning anyone of the discovery of their number one target for the past decade. Regrettably, violation of another nation's sovereignty as a means to an end is nothing new. Murders and kidnappings are part of the shameful history of foreign adventures for the USA and other super powers. In this era of instant global communications, used by the ruled as well as the rulers, nothing can be done secretively or remain hidden for long without someone disclosing it and maybe someone else demanding an explanation. The exercise of power without accountability sooner or later, is becoming increasingly more difficult. But, as we see in Libya and Syria, those with a grip on power, will strive even more brutally and ruthlessly to retain it, preferring to be destroyed than relinquish it. The ancient ways of tyranny still persist wherever they gain a foothold.
The speedy disposal at sea of Bin Laden's body as a means to avoid a pilgrimage cult around his grave will be controversial, even if it's not contrary to islamic law and custom - not least because evidence of identity has not been formally published or independently verified. In his native Saudi Arabia everyone, even royalty is buried in unmarked graves, but the Saudis declined the offer of re-patriating and disposing of his body. They disowned one of their own wealthy offspring who refused to behave according to type.
Today has seen public jubilation by Americans, still affected deeply by the experience of 9/11. But will this lead to true healing of those memories? The recent Qu'ran burning episode by an American fundamentalist pastor only led to loss of more innocent lives in different part of the world. The glee of revenge soon turns bitter with the prospect of reprisal atrocities from Al Q'aeda. Maybe, as experts have suggested, followers are now less organised to effect any immediate action, but it is still to be expected sooner or later somewhere in the world. That's the trouble - violent acts spawn more violent acts. Only the truth will set the world free.
I would like to have seen Bin Laden reduced to size by having his day in the international criminal court, like Karadzic, Milosevic and the other authors of Balkan genocide who saw themselves as above the law. How one could prosecute or defend charges of incitement and conspiracy to commit mass murder, in a way that involved the best of islamic as well as secular lawyers is not easy to envisage, but perhaps that's the kind of challenge the global village community has to take on board as part of educating all its citizens in the ways of justice and peace.
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