So, Osama is dead. Which is to say, he’s a martyr. Of the many gifts the US gave him in his life, and they were many, this may be the last one. Some say he didn’t want to be martyred, at least not right this moment, and no doubt that’s true. But the difference between seeking martyrdom and not minding that much exists. He didn’t really go that far out of his way to avoid death. He could have shaved the beard, had some plastic surgery and disappeared into Indonesia. He would never have been found. His compound was not heavily guarded. Bin Laden need never have been in the line of fire.
And remember, unlike most recent American presidents, Bin Laden did lead troops from the front line. He didn’t dodge combat.
Westerners and global elites tend to think that everyone is like them. They aren’t. Leaders of organizations like al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Hezbollah and Hamas (and I conflate them only in the sense that they are all subject to assassination campaigns by their enemies, not because they are the same type of organization or desire the same things) know that the job comes with a good chance of getting very dead.
Until westerners get this through their soft heads, they will continue to make major strategic errors. The assassination program against the Taliban may be something they hate, may be something they fear, but it has not stopped them. The assassination programs run by Israel have as often made their situation worse as better.
In healthy organizations leadership is far less important than western leaders think it is. Western leaders think they’re indispensable. They aren’t, and neither is the enemy leadership in most cases. There are some exceptions, but they are rare in properly operating organizations. The death of the previous leader makes him a martyr, and the next man in line steps up. The dead leader, rather than one more reason to quit fighting is one more reason to keep fighting. The basic policies continue, and the assassination is more likely to make the organization stronger ideologically than to weaken it.
Shorter post: just because for most Western elites nothing is worth dying for, and any price is acceptable to live, doesn’t mean everyone thinks the same way.
Clarissa
I almost had a heart attack when I saw “So, Obama is dead” in my blogroll. It’s only when I got to the part about the beard that I realized whom you actually meant.
Ian Welsh
Yeah, woops. Corrected. I should always say Bin Laden to avoid such mistakes.
Celsius 233
Very timely post; and a reminder that westerners are physically soft and flabby of brain.
And when addressing specifically U.S. westerners; totally devoid of critical thinking skills.
I probably won’t live to see it; but paybacks going to be a bitch!
Joe Beese
John Caruso: “Osama bin Laden rejected a life of extraordinary wealth and privilege to live in caves, constantly on the move, at risk of dying at any time either thanks to the price on his head or from easily treatable illnesses—all in order to fight for the causes he believes in. Whatever I might think of his tactics or ethics, I don’t doubt his stated motives.”
Morocco Bama
If Osama’s motives were to inculcate the greatest disparity in wealth the world has ever witnessed, then he was a huge success. The Plutocrats should “all hail” Osama….if not for him, they wouldn’t have doubled their wealth in nearly a decade, whilst all the rest slip into permanent poverty.
dcblogger
It seems that one of bin Laden’s sons got away
http://spacetimecurves.blogspot.com/2011/05/every-action-creates-reaction.html
so maybe we will have another round of terrorist whack a mole.
it has not worked for the Israelis and it won’t work for us.
dcblogger
Four Dems vote ‘present’ on honoring Bin Laden mission
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/161233-four-dems-vote-present-on-measure-honoring-bin-laden-mission
wow, I did not suppose any Democrat had it in them
Ian Welsh
Well, I wonder if Hamza will be able to get revenge. And so the cycle continues. If he was at the compound during the raid, missing him is kind of embarassing.
Andy Lewis
Embarrassing, or part of the Forever War plan?
David
Any guesses who or possibly what, will be the next “Emmanuel Goldstein” ?
Morocco Bama
How about a Chinese guy this time? Shake it up a little….a new Bob, a new Weave. Keep them on their toes.
Lisa Simeone
Somebody from Iran or Pakistan.
Formerly T-Bear
@ 233 ºC
Although the history is lost on those who followed or were too young to be aware, the American backed assassination of Diem in Vietnam marked the beginning of the public policy of political assassination (following closely on CIA/Council of Foreign Relations/Dulles Bros. attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro in Cuba that established the policy. This was followed by the removal of Sukarno in Indonesia and Allende in Chile as a method of enforcing hegemonic political dominance. Later the method was used to exercise control over Pakistan and Bangladesh. Read “The Trial of Henry Kissinger” by Christopher Hitchens (ISBN 1-85984-398-0) for a fully detailed accounting that no defamatory action was ever undertaken to prevent its publication (a superb test for veracity of accusation).
So the assassination of Usama bin Laden is nothing new in US policy, what is new is the blatant application on disinformation, no effort taken to provide a official or consistent narrative, one not beset by contradictions and outright falsehoods intended to cloud the public record, obscure events from public oversight and fog forever the pages of history that concern this criminal act against an unarmed individual, aroused from sleep, using the full strength, the resources and backing of the US government. At this time, considering the totality of disinformation fed the public, no aspect of the narrative can be refuted or rebutted, let alone confirmed, public discourse has been subverted, and the application of law made inoperative. The thwarting of habeas corpus accomplished by kidnap of the body from the surviving family and irretrievable oceanic burial assures no public inquest will ever occur to find answers that might point to criminality (or remove the question of criminality for that matter). This exercise has been “the perfect storm” of disinformation and deception in the service of propaganda.
When a government resorts to these tactics as its modus operandi, its days of ascendency are numbered, its authority corrupted, its legitimacy is in question, and its epitaph being readied.
JustPlainDave
Set of issues has been studied to some extent by Jenna Jordan (with Pape’s CPOST). Paper here: http://cpost.uchicago.edu/pdf/Jordan.pdf. Personally I think she omits the issue of potential selection bias, but it’s well worth using for structuring one’s thinking.
JustPlainDave
Hi Ian – think I may have a comment hung up in your filter. In any case, Jenna Jordan’s work on decapitation is worth looking at here. Those interested can google “Jenna Jordan” and “When Heads Roll”. Should take those interested to the pdf I was trying to link to.
madamab
Osama bin Laden rejected a life of extraordinary wealth and privilege to live in caves, constantly on the move, at risk of dying at any time either thanks to the price on his head or from easily treatable illnesses—all in order to fight for the causes he believes in.
OBL was not living in a cave, he was living in a compound in Pakistan for the past six years. And he had a private doctor on site, supposedly.
Yes, he was willing to die for his beliefs, that’s true. No need to make him into some self-sacrificing hero.
Celsius 233
Formerly T-Bear
May 16, 2011
@ 233 ºC
When a government resorts to these tactics as its modus operandi, its days of ascendency are numbered, its authority corrupted, its legitimacy is in question, and its epitaph being readied.
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Yes; a stroll through our vainglorious history which is constantly re-written to further our despotic goals. I love the quote from Frederick Douglass which so aptly illustrates our present position;
“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them,and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both” F. Douglass
John J Sears
This discussion reminded me of a study I’d heard of a while back, stating, basically, that decapitation/assassination isn’t likely to do much good, and might increase fatalities significantly instead… particularly with religiously motivated fanatics: http://irps.ucsd.edu/assets/017/7167.pdf
Morocco Bama
OBL was not living in a cave, he was living in a compound in Pakistan for the past six years. And he had a private doctor on site, supposedly.
And how exactly do you know this since you speak of it as though he were your neighbor and you visited him every other day?
What, exactly, for example, is a compound? That word is bandied about to describe dwellings in the Middle East….as though it were meant to conjure a militaristic and combative perception. Why not just say neighborhood like Mr. Rogers would say it. What better place to hide OBL….in Mr. Roger’s Neighborly Neighborhood…….in Mr. McFeely’s closet.
chicago dyke
ian is showing how much like an honorable black man he would be if he weren’t white. yes. not everyone is afraid to die for a cause, or even to be a ‘martyr.’ some people are even happy about that possibility, because they really do care about their cause that much.
i like to put it as simply as possible. i say to war-supporting morons, “so. if your daughter’s wedding was bombed by a rocket launching helicopter crew from a foreign country, that was incorrectly identifying your home as a ‘terrorist’ holdout, would you be pissed enough to kill her murderers, and those of your family?” and that answer is almost always yes.
nation, politics, identity… none of this matters when your family is bombed into pink paste. this is simple enough to understand for most people. but i guess Villagers don’t get it. and i’m not surprised they don’t; one of the purposes of wealth is to make your generation and those in your family after yours oblivious to this reality, that 99% of the world’s population must suffer. being rich also means not dealing with reality, which i guess is part of the point of being rich.