The Riddle of Bin Laden’s Death

IRD: In an operation kept hidden from the eyes of all except White House officials, long-time US nemesis and Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was killed in his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan; his body then buried at sea. Since the spread of the news of Bin Laden’s death, one question has occupied cynical minds: Why, after pursuing him for eleven years, didn’t the Americans arrest Bin Laden alive?

Fouad Izadi, political affairs analyst and a critic of US policies, believes that Bin Laden alive was tantamount to the end of the controversial 9/11 case, a situation which would contradict Washington’s policy of chaos and ambiguity.
 

IRD: Many analysts have speculated over the impact of Bin Laden’s death on US domestic politics, particularly Obama’s 2012 electoral campaign. What is your opinion?
 

FI: For me, Bin Laden’s death is strangely similar to the 9/11 incident, in that both are full of vague points. These ambiguities, of course, won’t be cleared up by Washington as it tries to create questions rather than provide answers. They have disposed into the sea the body of an enemy they were tracking for more than 10 years. How do they expect no questions to arise?

Bin Laden’s death will optimally serve Obama’s domestic interests. All the joy and celebrations in New York City following the news of Al Qaeda’s leader’s death is perfect evidence. Obama has taken a giant leap to revamp his domestic image with Operation Neptune Spear. The timing of the operation couldn’t be better. The US president’s popularity was at its ebb, with only 40 percent of Americans supporting the president’s economic policies. The concurrence of Bin Laden’s death and Obama’s domestic situation brings to the mind of many that either the news of Bin Laden’s death is false, or Obama eliminated him at this juncture to serve his political interests. Evidence, such as the location of Bin Laden’s shelter, supports their cynicism. His hideout was less than one kilometer away from a Pakistani Army military base where ordinarily only authorized individuals can enter.
 

IRD: Bin Laden alive could have provided useful details about the 9/11 terrorist attack, no?
 

FI: Considering ambiguities surrounding the official nine-eleven narrative, interrogating Bin Laden and extracting information about the terrorist attack of 2001- if of course Bin Laden was the real mastermind of the operation- would be highly useful and it could effectively end the controversies surrounding the 9/11 case. Serious questions about Bin Laden’s death will linger. His seizure would not have been a challenging task, considering that his hiding place had been identified by the Americans.
 

IRD: How do you see Washington’s Bin Laden policy?
 

FI: It’s a policy of ambiguity and the instrumental use of people on both the domestic and international stages. The US is an omnipresent superpower, and claims commitment to rules set by the international community. It is a question why they act in this way.