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| Not in cave, but a five-star Fort |
Or not. If you believe, as I do, that the x-rated heaven or Jannat, conjured by the "Prophet" Muhammad was a result of his epileptic fits. Still, you gotta envy OBL if Muhammad happens to be right. Though I'm blowed if I know what sheltered eggs of ostriches have to do with the bashful sex on offer...
US forces got him in a helicopter drop-in shoot-out. And he's now been buried at sea.
A couple of curiosities and a question:
First: Obama (not Osama) said that Osama (not Obama) was not a Muslim. So, just to get it straight, neither one is Muslim. But, at the same time, his body was treated with Islamic deference:
A U.S. official later said bin Laden had been buried at sea and the remains were handled in accordance with Islamic practice, which calls for speedy burial. [ref]So, which is it? Is he Muslim or not?
If not, why give him the burial "in accordance with Islamic practice"? If he is, then what is the President on about? Of course, OBL is indeed a Muslim and a learned one at that. In his writings he quoted extensively and correctly from Islamic doctrine to justify Muslim attacks on western infidels. Forget "grievances" like the US occupation of Saudi Arabia or Iraq, and forget the Israel-Palestinian conflict. If all those "grievances" were addressed, OBL would still urge Muslims to kill or subdue (make convert to Islam) all we non-Muslim infidels in the world.
Second: he was not in some cave in Afghanistan, but just up the road from Islamabad, in a town of 120,000. He was in a fort, built some five years ago. But the Pakistanis didn't know where he was?? Riiiight.... Meantime just coming in over BBC Radio is the unsurprising news that the Pakistanis are playing down their alleged involvement in OBL's capture (something which Obama had played up, presumably to show that these so-called "allies" are not entirely worthless). That's because, the young lady is explaining, the Muslim world views OBL as a hero, and not a terrorist, as a "good Mulism". That one'd be on the money. Just in (16:00), our Aussie PM, Julia Gillard "acknowledges the Pakistani contribution to the war on terror". What would that be? one would like to ask our Jules.
Postscript: Beebs now saying that Pakistan is going to be "severely embarrassed" at where OBL was found, just 60 clicks up the road from the Presidential palace. It was just a few months ago that the Pakistani government were denying vehemently to, inter alia, Hilary Clinton, that he was most certainly not in Pakistan. And mocking those who suggested otherwise. Meantime, of course they knew where he was. How could they not??
Third: What will the Muslim world reaction be? I just googled that ("Muslim reaction to Osama bin Laden's death"), and there's only one report of a fellow called Dr Zaher Sahloul who said "we stand and celebrate with the rest of the country" and the rest of the search results are just variants of that same, comforting, report. Only one blogger seems to be wondering, as I do -- I said as much to my partner -- what will the reaction be in Egypt, the rest of the Middle East.? We wait and see.
Just coming in on Beebs Radio: 10,000 people now in Times Square, NY. It's 5 in the morning there! Here's a TV screen grab, a few hours back:
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| Geraldo and the crowd in New York. Okay! I admit it; it's FOX news.... but I'd also been looking at BBC, Bloomberg and CNN, promise.... |
