Bin Laden’s Death at the Orderof the Nobel Peace Prize Recipient

The main reason for death and civil war remains the same: an insatiable desire to accumulate riches and power.

After a 10-year manhunt, Osama bin Laden, leader of the group, al-Qaida, was finally assassinated by the United States government. He was found in a mansion approximately 70 kilometers from the Pakistani capital and was executed with a shot to the head by an elite section of the U.S. Army,* trained to do covert missions all over the world. The only thing left to complete the mission was disposal of the body. The body was dumped from a helicopter** in the ocean in order to completely erase all traces of it. The manner in which the body was disposed mirrored the practices of the Argentinean dictatorship during the 1970s.

All the details are still a little unclear, with statements being immediately changed and questions being raised that still have not been answered. The U.S. government did not hesitate in lying, ashamedly, in their transmission of the first reports on the murder.

There has been no defense raised for bin Laden and no outrage at his murder. He has been identified as being responsible for innumerable actions leading to the death of thousands of civilians, and as a result, he deserved to be judged or condemned in order to pay for his crimes. Certainly, during the judgment process, other parties who financed and ordered such criminal actions would also have been identified. All the people who are just as responsible as bin Laden would be named. For this reason, it was more convenient for the U.S. to kill him rather than capture him.

British journalist Robert Fisk remembers how the same situation occurred with Saddam Hussein. He was hanged before he had the opportunity to testify about the poisonous gas the U.S. used against the Kurds and how he received military help from Washington to invade Iran in 1980.

The military action authorized by President Barack Obama has received a plethora of praise from many other world leaders. These countries collaborated with the U.S. government in the practice of torture to obtain information from suspects. These countries have ignored their violation of Pakistan’s national sovereignty, which is confirmed in this military action that was carried out without Pakistan’s knowledge and permission. These countries support the U.S. use of an elite force to go to any country and kill people who are considered the enemy.

They have thrown the principle of justice in the trash. The fact remains that there exists a legal process with a trial, a jury, a defense attorney and a verdict, which either acquits or convicts any human being. It’s a shame that most governments act as if they are supposed to support American interests.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed that bin Laden was the founder of an ideology of hate and caused the death of thousands of victims all over the world, primarily in Islamic countries. Sarkozy is the same president who leads a coalition of Western countries that daily bombs Libya. Shortly after bin Laden was dumped in the ocean, hundreds of civilians continue being killed, simply for being Islamic and because they live in countries that have rich petroleum reserves.

The euphoria from the murder propagated by the Obama administration and created for the convenience of the Western media does not tell the public the truth: that bin Laden was made into the “enemy” for the benefit of American imperialism. Afghanistan was the principal ally of the U.S. in opposition to Russian occupation of the country. After the fall of the Soviet Union and, consequently, the disappearance of communism, bin Laden’s terrorism played an important role in maintaining American peace. The attacks of Sept. 11 helped George W. Bush institute a global war against terrorism, so that he could declare war and occupy Iraq and Afghanistan, and finally internalize the conflict in Pakistan. This strategy allowed Bush and the American government control of the petroleum reserves and pipelines and allowed the U.S. to establish military bases close to countries like China, Iran and Russia. These wars yielded immense profits for the U.S. Defense Department and eased the economic crisis the U.S. caused in each country.

This enemy was so convenient that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recognized that Saudi Arabia was one of two principal allies of the U.S. in the Middle East, as Saudi Arabia guaranteed the necessary financial support for al-Qaida. Likewise, it remains intriguing that Pakistan, the ally of the U.S. in the war against Afghanistan, harbored bin Laden for six years and was never threatened by the Army and Secret Service for the most powerful country on the planet.

First, it was not convenient to the imperial interests for bin Laden to be captured. After bin Laden could no longer be used, it became more convenient to kill him, because if bin Laden were captured, he would testify against the U.S. Bin Laden’s death served to elevate the approval ratings for the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Barack Obama, who is seeking re-election in 2012.

Although the great capitalist powers continue with their politics, the dumping of bin Laden’s body in the sea will be of no help. Therefore, the main reason for death and civil war remains the same: an insatiable desire to accumulate riches and power.

*Editor’s Note: Osama bin Laden was killed by a team of Navy SEALs on May 2.
**Editor’s Note: Bin Laden’s body was deposited in the ocean from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.