“Bin Laden’s dead.”
“Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy,” the sarcastic little New Yorker in my head instantly uttered, on hearing the news.
Since I lived in Lower Manhattan at the time of 9/11, I like most New Yorkers, recall far more than the TV images the rest of the world watched for weeks on end.
And gratefully, though I didn’t lose any family or friends, I know several people that did.
One of the things I recall most as a New Yorker in the aftermath of 9/11, was the acrid smell of burning jet fuel and debris that wafted several miles uptown… all the way to 14th Street, near where I lived.
Everyone who lived Downtown shared the same eerie feeling of standing on an avenue, looking south, and seeing a vast emptiness in the Lower Manhattan skyline.
But whether you were on an avenue or a side street after 9/11, there was no escaping that chocking odor.
And for months afterward, convoys of dump trucks rumbled down my street carrying tons of debris to landfills across the rivers. The walls of my apartment violently shook when this happened.
Every sense was bombarded.
For the fortunate New Yorkers whose friends and family were unscathed in the attack, it took well over a year before any feeling of “normalcy” returned to Downtown living.
So, like many New Yorkers, I pumped my fist on learning the news.
But now that it’s had time to sink in, just how meaningful is Bin Laden’s death?
As the millions of young protesters of the “Arab Spring” have shown, Bin Laden’s relevance waned long before he was taken out.
That’s not to say Al Qaeda and other etremist groups are no longer a threat — they certainly are.
But Bin Laden’s objective of destroying the United States is not something he could have ever carried out, no matter how many suicidal zealots he recruited.
That’s because most empires throughout history have destroyed themselves from the inside out.
And the American empire’s got a boatload of problems in the form of stratospheric debt, cities and states that have long run out of cash… and our biggest bugaboo: total dependence on Mideast oil.
I’m counting on The States to pull through but a “Plan B” never hurts.
So far this week, I’ve gotten a dozen promotions leading with Bin Laden.
I’m waiting to see if any of the big financial publishers run with a “Bin Laden’s ghost” theme in the next few weeks.
The Secret Alliance piece up top had a bunch of mailings in 2003. Bin Laden’s a stone’s throw away.
Mr. Obama’s speech was one good example of reason-why copy to justify the war 😀
Here you go to add to the swipe : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-N3dJvhgPg
P.S. It’s obvious that the speech was not spontaneous by looking at his eyes (reading something) and also from the absence of camera flash 😉
It’s a sad day to see an intelligent person such as yourself buy into yet another American propaganda spiel.
Taking a cue from the alleged storyline released by America upon assassinating OBL:
Barring the fact that NO PICTURES have been released of the extrajudicial murder…
Barring the fact that America has conducted an ILLEGAL operation by infiltrating a soverign nation with military personell…
Barring the fact that OBL has NEVER BEEN TRIED/CHARGED/CONVICTED for the numerous crimes attributed to him…
You STILL believe the main stream line that its a good kill or that the kill even happened at all.
American is chasing its own tail. OBL has been dead a long long time.
Take a look at this FOX news article, which is one of MANY from numerous independent sources.
BIN LADEN ALREADY DEAD (Dec 26 2001)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41576,00.html
Look it up yourself, OBL had kidney disease and was treated for it in an American hospital in Dubai I believe also in 2001.
But the cherry on the pie is actually an interview he did with a newspaper in Pakistan called UMMAT where he explicitly said he has nothing to do with 9/11.
Go figure it out and stop falling for cheap tricks by the establishment.
You’re smarter than that.
Tom, I’m a Gary North, Doug Casey, Marc Faber and Lee Bellinger kind of guy… but your case is pathetic.
Hate to make an ad hominem argument, but if you’re following Fox News, you need some oxygen fast.
Like Obama or not, you won’t see any more Osama videos but for a Star Trek hologram chamber.
It’s clear to any thinking person that Bin Laden communicated with the outside world long after Tora Bora… and yes, I know about Mel Gibson’s character’s taxi driver ramblings… heard them 20 years before 9/11 and I lived in New York during 9/11.
You were where? Topeka. Don’t know what you didn’t see.
Maybe you also believe a missile struck the Pentagon and not an aircraft.
Here’s a primer for the conspiracy kooks — six years old but solid.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/news/1227842
Hi Lawrence,
I’m new to your blog, and am very grateful for all the material that you have put up here. It’s invaluable — very generous of you to share it all. Have developed a swipe file in a few hours thanks to you.
And: nice brisk smackdown of the Fox News kook, too. Good job.
Kind regards,
Tim Roberts