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L: Doug, we’re going to lose a lot of subscribers talking about
the news everyone is all gaga about, but I don’t see how we can shirk
our responsibility to do so… So, Obama’s ratings drop to their
nadir, and lo and behold, he personally orders the execution of
America’s Public Enemy #1. This is a man no one has seen for ten years,
but whose alleged audio messages have long had many
people doubting that he’s even still alive. And now the body has
conveniently been buried at sea before anyone who is not directly under the
president in the chain of command can see it. Does it make me a loony
conspiracy theorist to find myself feeling that this is all too convenient
for the Powers That Be?
Doug: Look, a thinking person has to question authority – at all
times, on all issues. It’s a matter of principle, as well as prudence.
I’ve said it before, and will say it again: 90% of everything in the
media is bull. If it’s not a fabrication, it’s
opinion disguised as fact. Or facts that are modified or twisted. Or
there’s significant data left out. Often that’s not because of
some conspiracy, but rather the pure incompetence of reporters and editors
today. There aren’t any H.L. Menckens on the
scene that I can think of. I read and listen to the news mainly for
entertainment purposes, and to learn what other people seem to believe.
Do I think this is all a con job? Well, you’d
think that after spending trillions of dollars, and killing hundreds of
thousands of people, that finally, after ten years, they could catch up with
Osama, who is supposed to be the mastermind of evil itself. Frankly, at this
point, he couldn’t have been more than just a tired, sick old man. He
would probably have died naturally in a few years anyway, if he hadn’t
already died years ago.
But you’d think they could get their story
straight. First he’s hiding behind a woman, using her as a shield as he
returned fire. Then he’s unarmed. I’ve read he was killed with
two shots to the head. It sounds like a mob hit.
L: What makes you most skeptical?
Doug: The whole thing stinks, from top to bottom. You’d think that
if they knew where he was, they would have gone out of their way to take him
alive – at almost any cost. Think of the information he would have had!
But instead they seemed to go out of their way to kill him, which impresses
me as incredibly stupid and counterproductive... Unless they don’t want
him talking.
After all, Osama said several times that he had
nothing to do with the events of 9/11. But Bush used him, and 9/11, as the
casus belli for Afghanistan. It would have been interesting to know who Osama
thought was actually behind 9/11.
Then, after killing him, they dump his body in the Arabian
Sea, using the excuse that he had to be interred within 24 hours as a Muslim,
and it wasn’t possible to bury him because they didn’t want to
create a shrine. As if they go out of their way to bury every Muslim they
kill within 24 hours… I suspect that, in fact, they leave most bodies
as a treat for the dogs and the crows. We’ll now never know whose body
that was. Or exactly how he was killed.
So now, in any event, all the physical evidence has
been disposed of. It’s unclear to me if they also executed everyone
else in the house – excuse me, “compound,” as any house
government agents attack automatically becomes a compound – where they
took him. I suspect everyone was executed. Witnesses are never convenient.
L: Do you think Osama has been dead for years, as some people claim?
Doug: It’s said he was always a sick man, in need of a dialysis
machine. Maybe he has been dead for many years. But even if those in
government believe he died years ago, they never claimed it as a fact,
partially because they couldn’t present the body and prove it. And
partially because it was convenient to have the devil still roaming the world
– the better to keep the sheep frightened and huddling, looking for
their shepherd to protect them.
Who knows why they wanted him to appear dead now?
Maybe it’s just a political convenience for Obama. After all, Clinton
apparently started bombing the Serbs to distract attention from his problems
with Monica.
L: And Bush II lied to the world about Saddam Hussein having weapons of
mass destruction when his party had an election to win – that was the
excuse for going into Iraq.
Doug: It’s all very much like the movie Wag the Dog, with
Dustin Hoffman and Robert DeNiro. At this late and
thoroughly corrupt stage of the empire, art imitates life, life imitates art,
and no one knows what reality is.
L: But the government says they have DNA tests to prove it was bin
Laden. It’s proof!
Doug: The same government that claims to have killed him. But I have a
question: Quis custodiet ipsos custodies – Who watches
the watchers? I thought it was ironic that Putin of Russia –
who’s undoubtedly put out quite a few orders for hits in his day
– evidenced outrage at the way the U.S. government is trying to kill
Gaddafi, now that it seems expedient. I have it here – Putin said:
"Who permitted this, was there any trial? Who took on the right to
execute this man, no matter who he is?"
And he’s right. I find it shocking that the
U.S. government just takes it upon itself to kill people now, without even a
show trial like Saddam got. Of course the government has always had
professional killers in its employ – but it at least had the decency to
deny their existence. Now it brags about them, and parades them. It’s
always had secret prisons too – but now it’s quite overt about
Gitmo and renditions and torture.
L: What really gets me is the laughing, dancing, and singing in the
streets. I believe in self-defense and have no problem with the use of lethal
force on murderers. I even understand the urge to celebrate a victory…
But the combination of credulity and jubilation seems… frankly, rather
sad and frightening. Oddly enough, I find myself almost agreeing with the
Vatican, which came out with a statement saying that the death should prompt meditation, not
celebration.
Doug: I understand Americans were jumping around Times Square as if it was
V-J Day when it was announced. It’s sad, really. And very unseemly, and
degraded, to celebrate a murder. They’re celebrating an extra-judicial
murder performed by contract killers. That’s what SEAL Team 6, which
apparently conducted this raid, does – like the Army’s Delta
Force. They’re told to go somewhere and kill any person or persons
their “superiors” say, and they just do it. If you wear a
uniform, and work for a state, murder becomes quite acceptable, with no
questions asked by anyone.
I definitely think there are people out there who
need killing. But my view is that you should do it yourself and take
responsibility for it, if you feel that strongly about it. But government
officials are too degraded for that by any stretch. Even worse, perhaps, are
the people who go and do it because they’re told to. Certainly, they
merit a measure of respect. They are excellent physical specimens.
They’re skilled in the black arts and they undoubtedly possess a lot of
courage and sang-froid. But they’re not heroes. It’s odd that
they’re considered heroes; both they and their employers should be
brought up on war-crime charges. I expect the men among them who are decent
realize that they’re acting unethically, quit after a while, and suffer
nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder for many years after. The ones
who stay in it are simply dangerous sociopaths, like Mafia hit men.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe Osama is dead
– whenever he died. And I’m glad he’s dead. I don’t
like the things he believed in, especially his especially puritanical version
of Islam. But this is not the way these things should be handled. At least
not by a supposedly free country.
L: Well, we don’t need to draw this conversation out – the
point is made, whether people agree or not. I just hope thinking people will
do exactly that: think.
Doug: One thing they should think about is that Osama didn’t
actually present – or certainly shouldn’t have presented –
a risk to the U.S. You’ll recall that he said he was only up in arms
for three reasons: 1) the U.S. had its troops in Muslim lands; 2) the U.S.
was supporting the stooges running those countries; and 3) the U.S. was
supporting Israel, which he deemed an oppressor of the Palestinians. If the
U.S. desisted from those things, he was happy to leave it alone, in the
belief it would necessarily self-destruct.
As far as I’m concerned, his three demands are
quite just and reasonable. As for Israel, I wish those people well – as
I do the Palestinians. But it’s not my business, and it’s
certainly not that of the U.S. government. If Jews want to support Israel, or
Muslims Palestine, for whatever reasons, that’s their business too.
In any event, killing bin Laden will not solve the
so-called terror problem. I believe Al Qaeda is only a few hundred people, at
best. But largely because of the War on Terror, it’s metastasized into
scores of little organizations, and probably hundreds of lone wolves. Announcing
his death, followed by the wild and pointless jubilation of Americans will
likely only reinvigorate these people.
L: It seems ghoulish to ask, but there must be investment implications
– more trouble with Islam, likely consequences for oil prices?
Doug: Well, we’ve covered a lot of this in the past. Rig for stormy
weather: liquidate, consolidate, create, speculate, and diversify your
political risk. No point in making those points again. They remain valid. The
fact that bin Laden is now acknowledged to be dead will
change nothing – certainly not for the better.
L: Okay, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Doug: Not really my pleasure, this time, but I’m glad to do it.
Somebody needs to.
L: ‘Til next time, then.
Doug: Next week then.
Doug Casey
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