Osama's death 'a good career move'?

[EFerrari]

Al-Qaeda's leader might appear to have died with a bang, but he had long since died with a whimper.
Robert Grenier Last Modified: 02 May 2011 08:12


For Osama bin Laden, violent death must have come as a blessing. It has given him, at least fleetingly, a seeming prominence that in fact had long since ebbed away, not only in the Muslim world, but even within al-Qaeda itself.

To many in the US, for whom bin Laden's demise is indeed an important event, president Barack Obama's announcement represents long-delayed justice for the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the fulfillment of a long-standing promise from two quite different US presidents. But in the Muslim world, where bin Laden and the movement he spawned produced the vast majority of their victims, the enigmatic Saudi's passing represents something quite different.

One supposes that for bin Laden, if he had any clear conception of his place in the world nearly 10 years after the attack which brought him to global prominence, life must have become unbearable. For the violent extremists whom bin Laden has sponsored and encouraged, it is a mark of pride that they seek death for what they believe. And even for those among them who hide in the shadows, it is with the conviction that they live today to strike at their enemies tomorrow.

But for bin Laden, who might well have met martyrdom with many of his followers at Tora Bora, such was his megalomaniacal conception of his importance that he believed his greatest contribution to the movement would be to ensure his own survival, even as those around him were martyred for the cause.

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/05/20115272712668919.html

[texshelters]

1. This is a lot of conjecture about a man

few know. Perhaps he was content in his retirement. I don't know. But to say he was agonizing over his place in history is silly. Still, a thought provoking article. And, it's on al Jezzera English non-the-less.

Peace,
Tex Shelters

[EFerrari]

2. I thought it was an interesting way to begin to think about

what his experience might have been these last quiet years. :)