[Peace-discuss] Insightful links on OBL

[David Green]

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/05/bin-laden-and-his-sponsors-any.html

But the factors that produced Bin Laden and Al-Qa`idah are still there: the US 
is still very tempted to arm and fund fanatical groups if they think it is 
politically convenient for US "national security interests."  Look at that lousy 
Libyan Transitional Council: there are fanatics in the ranks and I assume that 
we will hear from some of them, especially once they declare the victory of 
their "holy cause."  

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/05/in-search-of-meaning-osama-bin-laden-and-the-dancing-americans.html


The idea of celebrating any death is repulsive. But perhaps, if anyone living 
today might venture even a sigh of relief at the capture (at least) of Osama Bin 
Laden (and the presumed symbolic defeat of Al Qaeda, whatever that might mean), 
it is the countless Muslims and Arabs that have, since 9/11, paid with their 
lives and dignity, directly and indirectly, for his atrocious acts in the name 
of countering imperialism and defending Islam. But if you don't see us dancing 
in the streets today it is because Al-Qaeda is and has been beyond irrelevant 
for years. For the last decade, the US War on Terror has reproduced the Osama 
Bin Laden fiction, transforming him from a relic of Cold War alliances to a 
contemporary alibi for the brutal invasion and murderous missions in Afghanistan 
and Pakistan. Those of us that know history did not begin on September 11th have 
been resisting the abrasive, suffocating encroachment of imperialist and 
reactionary elements on our lives and identities, building up to the present 
moment of revolution: between Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and 
the rest of the region, Arabs, Muslim or otherwise, are fighting to end the age 
of US puppet regimes on their own terms. One cannot help but wonder what 
"victory" the United States can claim in the murder of Osama Bin Laden on 
Pakistani soil. 

 
http://www.maxajl.com/?p=5280
 
In a similar vein, Richard Estes writes of the “perverse, unac­knowl­edged 
alliance between al-Qaeda, neolib­er­als and neo­con­ser­v­a­tives, as all three 
groups are in agreement about the urgency asso­ci­ated with the need to 
mar­gin­al­ize and impov­er­ish workers even if it is in the service of 
strik­ingly different visions of the future,” neatly tying up in a bundle what 
the forceful destruc­tion of the left in the Arab world and the withering away 
of the left in the Anglo-American world has left us with: various dystopias and 
demagogic rabble-rousing to get us to them, as poor as possible. Forget Osama. 
Do I feel safer when the louder the voice is the stupider it is? No, not really. 
Neither should you.
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