Glued
to my Talking Heads TV programming last Sunday night, when news that OBL had finally
been hunted down and killed, fittingly, like
the dog he was, one, only marginally relevant thought kept yelling inside
my head. That great scene in the old ‘I
Love Lucy’ show, where Ricky comes home, and realizes the latest crazy thing
which Lucy did, and sputtering, returns with the immortal line: "Lucy, You’ve Got Some ‘Splainin’ to Do!"
But,
as I watched the unfolding story, one which became instantly immortal and will
go down in the annals of our country’s decades-long battles with terrorist attackers,
all I could think of was that it is Pakistan who has ‘some ‘splainin’ to do . .
. . BigTime!
According
to the Center for American Progress,
Pakistan has received in aid from the US since 9/11/2001, some $7.89 Billion in
military assistance (reimbursement, actually) for their ‘help’ in our efforts
to hunt down and kill the terrorists who attacked our country and killed nearly
3,000 ordinary people trying to live through another day in their lives, as
well as to protect the US from further such attacks. During the same period, the US also gave
Pakistan some $3.1Billion in ‘economic and development assistance,’ including
food aid. That’s not all; before the
Cold War interposed some barriers, the US also gave Pakistan nearly $2Billion
between 1953 and 1961, a quarter of which was ‘military assistance.’ That was back when a Billion was still an
incredibly large number, mind you.
That’s a whole lotta love, of the green folding kind, that the US has
shown to Pakistan; and, in return . . . .?
Reports
now indicate that OBL, and his gang, lived in a monstrously-sized residence,
larger by several times than their neighbors, for some 6 years, very close –
some say a third of a mile – from important military installations (and, it is
the military which runs Pakistan, as most recognize), without telephone lines
or internet connections and with the shades and blinds drawn. I have read that neighbors commented that the
inhabitants must have been very religious and had drawn the shades to keep
outsiders from looking in and being able to see ‘their women.’ (I will hold my comments on how pathetic that
is). So, nobody noticed, surely not
Pakistan and its military. No ‘living in
caves,’ as we were all led to believe, not for OBL. Recalling the joke about how hard could it
be to find a ‘6-foot something-tall Arab towing a kidney dialysis machine
around,’ it is beyond credibility that Pakistan did not know and protect OBL in
his refugee living . . . in comfort and
luxury, might I add.
So,
Pakistan, tell us another tall tale, another yarn . . . . please, further
insult our intelligence. Are you guys kidding?!? With ‘allies’ like you, we don’t need
enemies!
Pakistan
is a most complex nation, born in throes of India’s casting off the British
Empire, who had really had made themselves comfortable on the South Asian
peninsula while they owned it; also born in blood and massacre as Muslims and
Hindus separated themselves in the worst way – unfortunately, the way many
colonial eras have ended. Pakistan not
only has a lot of ‘splainin’ to do about harboring OBL all these years – they
have still never explained how it was that Dr. Abdul Qadeer ("A.Q.") Kahn, could set up shop, and sell
Pakistan’s nuclear secrets to rogue nations like North Korea (in collaboration
with China), and perhaps Syria, among others who despise us and everything we
stand for – we still cannot even interview him, and Pakistan still protects him
like some kind of national hero. For all
we know, A.Q. Kahn still deals in nuclear weapon technology to the highest
bidder – after years of ‘home arrest’ (a polite term for having a lot of free
time to enjoy your home and lots of friends over to visit), the Pakistan High
Court declared Kahn a ‘free citizen’ of Pakistan, who could freely move within
the country; but, as late as Sept. 2009, the US declared that Kahn still
presents a "serious proliferation risk." No kidding . . . .
I cannot predict all the effects,
ramifications and blowback from the spectacular killing of OBL any better than
anybody else will be able to predict them.
No, it likely will not end terrorism from extreme Islamic forces as they
have continued to mutate and evolve.
Yes, it might engender retaliatory attacks, somewhere, somehow, as
gutless terrorists will continue to seduce the feeble-minded to blow themselves
up in the name of whatever. I found it
totally in character that reports had it that OBL tried to pull one of his youngest
of his many wives in front of him during the 40 minute firefight to act as a
body shield for him – such unchivalry is characteristic of people who are able
to convince others to die for a cause when the cause is all all-out evil (and,
frankly, insane) as Al Qaeda’s, literally, a war on modernity and western
civilization waged by people who would prefer to live in, say the year 1000.
It is a moment of triumph which we
saw savored by many who filled the streets Sunday night to celebrate. This much-needed killing, (of the Gerry
Spence-type that ‘some folks just need killin’) – may, it is hoped, bring
closure to families still grieving their losses from 9-11. The planning and execution of the raid was
brilliant, and President Obama, who gave the ‘pull trigger’ order, is to be
congratulated heartily for having the guts to do it. It also may serve to cause other TinHorn
Dictators and Madmen, like Colonel Gha-Daffy, to pause and realize, that, like
Israel after the Olympic Massacres, when you commit spectacular terrorist
violence, it is only a matter of time till you are hunted down like the dogs
that you are . . . . and that would be a very good thing in a world brimming
full of this brand of misery.