The prince is married; the evil one is dead, again. Now, there is an unseemly scuffle to claim credit for killing Osama bin Laden. Hollywood might envy such a story.
Last Sunday, a CIA asset, Team 6 of the U.S. Navy SEALs, executed bin Laden and his male servants. His gloating over the murder of thousands of innocent Americans made it only natural that millions of Americans would cheer bin Laden's death.
However, there was a certain hypocrisy when many of those who condemn the death penalty cheered this summary execution. Against a soft, unarmed target, the SEALs raid was overwhelming. Now, as political claims of credit and denials accumulate, it appears to be the only clean element of a political assassination with serious terrorist and human rights implications for American citizens.
Twice before, the world was told of Osama's death. Again, we are to be denied any photographic proof of his demise.
According to President Obama's initial announcement, the administration acted promptly on information gathered from local surveillance and offered bin Laden the chance of surrender.
Now, it appears that the waterboard torture, initiated by President Bush, yielded the vital information as much as nine months ago.
The implications are that President Obama welcomed the timing of the raid as a key element in his election campaign. Last Sunday, Obama took the maximum personal credit. Only in response to media criticism did he acknowledge subsequently the role of Bush's waterboarding, a form of torture along with the death penalty, that as a presidential candidate Obama had criticized vehemently.
Waterboarding torture now risks becoming legitimized and accepted as American policy with serious implications for American service personnel captured in future conflicts. Most importantly, in the ideological war, in which we are now engaged, any nation that condones torture is weakened.
Administration officials plead that waterboarding is not torture. However, anyone with even the remotest knowledge or experience will know this to be untrue.
Initially, we were told that the administration preferred to capture Osama alive. Increasingly, evidence reveals that this was never the intent. Again, this acts as a powerful negative force in the war of ideologies. Likely it will inspire heightened feelings of revenge and greater risks of terrorist attacks on the United States.
Bin Laden was a key figure behind 9/11. As a result of this and his previous fight against the Russian invaders, he became a jihadist folk hero. Since then, there is no evidence to show that Osama has been of any executive importance to jihadist terrorist operations. Therefore, killing him likely will do little damage.
On the contrary, killing a folk hero can be dangerous and inspire increased retaliation.
Strategically, Pakistan is the only Muslim nuclear power. America pays billions of dollars each year to keep Pakistani moderates in power and to prevent them from turning for help to China in their struggle with India. The unilateral American assassination of bin Laden has embarrassed and weakened severely the moderate Pakistani government.
Should jihadist influence rise and result in their gaining access to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, their agents now will have greatly increased motivation to take the threat of nuclear terror to the homelands of America and her allies.
Americans likely will never learn the true motivation behind the burial at sea, the refusal to release the death photographs or any of the innumerable questions that have arisen regarding Osama's summary execution. However, it is clear that the assassination likely will boost President Obama's re-election chances.
