ADELE FERGUSON 5/12/11

Osama bin Laden’s finish

SO THE POST mortem continues.

Why did it lake so long to locate Osama bin Laden if he had been living in the same place since it was built six years ago?

What was the extent of knowledge in Pakistan about his whereabouts?

Did we do the right thing in burying bin Laden at sea or set off a conspiracy theory that we lied about killing him that will go on ad infinitum?

Who should get the $50 million reward we offered for information leading to the capture or conviction of bin Laden?

Does the fact we achieved our primary goal of killing the instigator of 9/11 on President Obama’s watch guarantee Obama’s re-election?

OK. LOCATION. I have written all these many years since 9/11 that I didn’t believe bin Laden hid out long in caves in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He travels with too many relatives, aides and bodyguards to manage that kind of existence. Besides he was a millionaire and could afford to live wherever he wanted so long as he didn’t go out in public where his six feet five inches attracted attention.

We now know that the mansion where he was found in Abbottabad was built in 2005, presumably for a courier he trusted but undoubtedly with his own money since post office clerks like the courier couldn’t afford such digs. The courier’s family lived there along with a third unidentified family that occupied the top two floors of the building. We tracked the courier to his home and took the long shot that the third family was bin Laden. We don’t know for sure yet exactly how long bin Laden was there, from the beginning or did he allow time for curiosity to wane and move in later.

I also have written how difficult it has been for us to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan when we don’t know for sure which side the locals are on. Even now we suffer attacks from locals pretending to be on our side but using the advantage of nearness to kill us. We reportedly have been close to bin Laden a few times but he was tipped off in time to escape, which is what I expect would have happened if we hadn’t stiffed Pakistan on our plans to raid the mansion. Bin Laden could have been paying hush money.

I AGREE with the burial at sea to avoid possibility of a shrine on land for his body. Remember Evita Peron whose remains were stolen and kept hidden for years? We already are being accused of lying so we will eventually have to make public the pictures and videotapes we are said to have to prove it was bin Laden.

Who should get the reward which started out at $25 million and was doubled by Congress in 2004? Probably whoever tipped us off about the courier.

As for our president, I thought he had too many “I’s” and “my’s” in his post-bin Laden speech. He took too much credit for what was done despite the fact we used tactics from the Bush days he has publicly opposed.

People are glad bin Laden is gone but they have more important things to occupy them like being out of a job,paying $4 a gallon for gasoline with predictions it will go to $5 or $6, seeing the price of food head for the sky and trying to stay in their homes. They have no reason to believe that another four years of Obama will change any of that since he is a flop when it comes to management and he’s the one who is trying to wean us from oil.

I think he will be re-elected, however, not because of bin Laden, but because he is black. Many Americans rejoiced in making history by electing the first black president and they won’t be willing to give up on him until he gets the eight years available to him.

(Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, Wa., 98340.)