(The whole article is really quite wonderful and deserves a careful reading. How humbling and inspiring to see such deeply spiritual faith from the Muslim world. Read the full article here)
Yes, many feel slighted as Muslims by the dumping of his body in the sea—“if it is true”—but they feel this is just typical of the United States’ disrespect of Muslims and no big deal about Osama. And they are a bit sad that this icon of Arabic resistance to the USA superpower dominance has been killed so ignominiously, if that is indeed what happened. But the truth is he is not really that important to the vast majority here, who are also somewhat relieved and dare to nurture a tiny hope that the loss of this iconic image of Arabs as dangerous terrorists and enemies may soften the animosity that the West has held toward them since 9/11.
Most Egyptians I talked to were surprised at my concern about the “truth” of the story and the shameless incoherence of the report, and my shock at the gullibility of those who believed the account, accepting that the U.S. government had dumped into the ocean all proof of its success in needlessly killing the unarmed most valuable intelligence asset on the planet. There were video cameras on the helmets of some of those who attacked the bin Laden compound—President Obama and his inner circle saw it all in the Situation Room, and we saw them see it!—but, oh!, oops no video, there was a 25-minute blank. A terrible firefight, bullets flew! Oops, the one photo of a mattress and blood. Where are the impact marks in the walls of all those bullets? Pops, no, he was unarmed. What about that weird fake photo “leaked”? Today [Saturday] there is a video of a quarter view of a bearded old man watching Osama on TV, that’s supposedly him, um, before. …
“Malesh, malesh,” they tell me. “It doesn’t matter, Louna. Accept that he is dead, they killed him. It’s not important—he is not important to us. It doesn’t change anything if the story is not true. Accept it and things will be better, God willing.
fAnd for a very witty take on the whole issue, once again Sibel Edmonds delivers at her blog, Boiling Frogs, with these comments from five independent experts. Here is just a sample:
Two UN guys are sitting in a bar in Kabul – and one turns to the other and says “Did you hear the one about the president, the terrorism advisor and the pope?” The second guy turns to the other and says “Well – no – I have not” – and the first guys says “Me neither – but it cannot be any more funny than the way the White House has handled the narrative of the Bin Laden raid.”
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